You
may want to put down that steaming cup of Joe as it can increase your chance of
developing a specific type of cancer, the World Health Organization has
announced so.
Beverages
surpassing 65 degrees Celsius may increase the risk of tumours in the esophagus,
which resides in the chest area below the throat, according to USC's Mariana
Stern and 22 other scientists from 10 countries.
They
met at the WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France,
in May to determine if drinking coffee, mate or other very hot beverages causes
cancer.
"Enjoy
your coffee or mate, but make sure it's not very hot," said Stern, adding
"There is physical evidence that very hot beverages can contribute to cell
injury in the esophagus and thus contribute to cancer formation."
The
group scoured more than 1,000 studies on over 20 different types of cancer. The
scientists concluded drinking any beverage hotter than 149 degrees Fahrenheit
is "probably carcinogenetic to humans," placing scalding hot drinks
in the same category as DDT, frying food at high temperatures, consumption of
red meat and the human papillomavirus.
According
to the National Coffee Association, coffee waiting to be served should sit at
180-185 degrees Fahrenheit (82-85 degrees Celsius). That's around the
temperature McDonald's restaurants served coffee before a well-known lawsuit
prompted the fast food chain to sell coffee at a temperature of 10 degrees
lower - still far above what the researchers consider safe.
The
scientists downgraded a cup of joe from "possibly carcinogenic" and
hot mate from "probably carcinogenic" to safe for consumption as long
as neither is scalding hot.
In
1991, the WHO gave coffee that classification based on a much smaller database
of studies. Now, the scientists highlighted some studies that associated coffee
with cancer when the real culprit was probably tobacco smoking, which is highly
correlated with heavy coffee drinking, according to the report.
The
researchers estimate that a cup of coffee a day decreases the risk of liver
cancer by 15 percent. In other words, the scientists are giving coffee lovers a
free pass to drink as much coffee as their bladders can handle.
Their
results are published in the journal Lancet.
Representative
Image
Source: ANI
This is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Accordingly, it is difficult to figure out when to end it. But then, this is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Period.
ConversionConversion EmoticonEmoticon