Very hot drinks may damage the food pipe and increase cancer risk

• The International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified drinking "very hot" beverages (above 65°C) as probably carcinogenic, with repeated thermal injury to the oesophageal lining potentially increasing cancer risk
• Patients should be counselled to allow hot drinks to cool before consumption, as acute thermal damage to oesophageal epithelium may accumulate over time and promote malignant transformation
• The risk appears independent of the beverage type itself; counsel patients to wait several minutes before drinking tea, coffee, or other hot liquids, particularly those with existing oesophageal disease

Steaming hot liquid can damage the cell lining on the way down to the stomach, experts say.

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