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

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce3r77d9n90o

Regularly drinking beverages like tea and coffee at very hot temperatures increases the risk of cancer of the food pipe or gullet, known as oesophageal cancer, UK research suggests.

Researchers say the findings, from a study of nearly a million people, make this the largest to date to establish the link.

In the study, people who had their drinks "very hot" had around a three times higher risk of the cancer than "warm" tea or coffee drinkers - although experts stress the overall chances of developing this cancer are low.

Steaming hot liquid can damage the cell lining of the food pipe on the way down to the stomach.

86 points · 34 comments · view on lemmy.world

34 Comments

Number_103@lemmy.world · 90 pts · 3d (11 replies)

I don’t think I’ve ever heard the esophagus referred to as “the food pipe” before

GingerGoodness@lemmy.world · 21 pts · 3d (1 reply)

The BBC tends to emulate NHS writing guidelines for patient education materials when they're covering health topics. The standard is to use very plain language with a reading level of a 10 year old to make the information accessible.

https://service-manual.nhs.uk/content/how-we-write

https://service-manual.nhs.uk/content/health-literacy

jnod4@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 1d
[ removed ]
Calfpupa@lemmy.ml · 14 pts · 3d (1 reply)

My grandpa would say this before throating a hotdog

Mister_Hangman@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 2d

My grandpa still talks about him very fondly.

Atelopus-zeteki@fedia.io · 9 pts · 3d

Generally in medicine it is (never) referred to as the Food Tube. I can't even complete the process of considering reading this article.

SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca · 7 pts · 3d

only on Pornhub.

sik0fewl@piefed.ca · 4 pts · 3d (2 replies)

“Food pipe cancer” is just a lot easier to say than “esophageal cancer”.

L7HM77@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 3d (1 reply)

Yeah, in the same way "poop chute cancer" is easier to say than "colorectal cancer".

Jimbabwe@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 2d

It’s all one big cancerous pipe, really.

yetAnotherUser@discuss.tchncs.de · 4 pts · 1d

The BBC is being linguistically neocolonized by Germans it seems

::: spoiler The evidence

:::

HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2d

Pie hole

grte@lemmy.ca · 14 pts · 3d (5 replies)

The work [...] defines any drink at 65 degrees Celsuis or above as "very hot" and posing a potential risk.

TwodogsFighting@lemdro.id · 7 pts · 2d

Every single pensioner drinking their burning hot lava soup.

Atelopus-zeteki@fedia.io · 3 pts · 2d (3 replies)

I checked the temp on my espresso this morning, 60C, that is Celsius or perhaps Centigrade. Also not drinking 6 espressos daily, may help.

HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2d (2 replies)

Also not drinking 6 espressos daily, may help.

The study didn't go that far and neither should we

Atelopus-zeteki@fedia.io · 2 pts · 2d (1 reply)

I just had my first. Tasted so good, #2 may not be far behind.

HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 1d

yeah, i used to be in a cult that hated coffee. i do not know what i was thinking. okay i know what i was thinking but like, you know the phrase. she was cute

DoucheBagMcSwag@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 8 pts · 1d

"the food pipe"

I get slightly unsettled reading this

Atelopus-zeteki@fedia.io · 8 pts · 3d (3 replies)

I dl'd the cited reference, and did a keyword search. There was no "food pipe" in the article.

Hot Drinks and Oesophageal Cancer: Prospective Analyses in Around 1 Million UK Adults https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ijc.70654

Certain types of brain damage result in difficulty remembering nouns. Do you suppose the author, Michelle Roberts, is suffering from this, or is it Her editor?

mushroommunk@lemmy.today · 19 pts · 3d (2 replies)

It could also be they wanted to dumb it down for the average person. I know several people who would have no idea what "Oesophagus" is but could tell you what a "food pipe" is.

deepfriedchril@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 3d (1 reply)

Skipping right over throat.

Dozzi92@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2d

I wonder if throat simple means from top of the shoulders to back of mouth for some people, and so it's not inclusive of the entire esophagus? Trying to rationalize this strange choice of word in my head.

Goldholz@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 7 pts · 3d

Time to read a study and see how this article quoted it wrong to bait clicks

DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 1d

It's sort of like pain is a warning. Weird.

Steve@startrek.website · 4 pts · 2d (3 replies)

Food pipe.

Z745812939054@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 2d (1 reply)

grub gutter

Atelopus-zeteki@fedia.io · 1 pts · 2d

tasty bits tunnel

Photonic@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2d

Ceci n'est pas une pipe d’alimentation

Son_of_Macha@lemmy.cafe · 3 pts · 1d

This isn't new information

spacegoat@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 3d

Not that it matters but I guessed at this 15 years ago after reading about the link between acid reflux and esophageal cancer

Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 2 pts · 2d

a similar things happen with uncontrolled gerd, causes barrets oesophagus, and makes that are prone to cancer, the cells in the lining goes through "changes" to resemble intestinal cells(which is a precursor). something similar happens here likely.

TheWilliamist@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 3d
BigBenis@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 1d

Am I the only one here who grew up with the term "food pipe" in my vocabulary??

HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2d

Beyond normal esophagal damage or just on par with it?

I can see people assuming "I got mucosa I'm fine" but that wouldn't be giving these results if it were true