The World Health Organization’s research arm has downgraded its classification of coffee as a possible carcinogen, declaring there isn’t enough proof to show a link to cancer.
But the International Agency for Research on Cancer, or IARC, also announced in a report published on Wednesday that drinking “very hot” beverages of any kind could potentially raise the cancer risk, and it classified them as “probably carcinogenic” to humans.
In particular, it cited countries including China, Iran and those in South America, where teas such as the bitter herbal infusion mate are traditionally drunk at extremely high temperatures — above 65 or 70 degrees Celsius (150 or 160 Fahrenheit) — considerably hotter than drinks would normally be served in cafes across North America and Europe.
Experts convened by the Lyon-based IARC concluded that there was inadequate evidence to suggest coffee might cause cancer, according to a letter published in the Lancet Oncology.
“I’m not really sure why coffee was in a higher category in the first place,” said Owen Yang, an epidemiologist at Oxford University who has previously studied the possible link between coffee and cancer. He was not part of the IARC expert group. “The best evidence available suggests that coffee does not raise the cancer risk,” he said.
Drinking very hot beverages, however, just might.
Dana Loomis, deputy head of the IARC program that classifies carcinogens, said they began to look into a possible link after seeing unusually high rates of esophageal cancer in countries where drinking very hot beverages is common. He said that even at temperatures below 60 degrees Celsius (140 Fahrenheit), hot beverages can scald the skin, and that consuming drinks at even higher temperatures could be harmful.
Loomis said very hot beverages might cause a “thermal injury” in the throat that could eventually promote the growth of tumors, but that evidence was limited. He said there wasn’t enough evidence to suggest if eating very hot food might also be risky.
Other experts said that people should remain focused on the leading causes of cancers including of the esophagus and that there were more important changes they could make other than waiting for their drinks to cool.
“Quitting smoking and reducing alcohol consumption are much more significant for reducing cancer risk than the temperature of what you’re drinking,” said Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society. Brawley said the cancer risk posed by drinking hot beverages was similar to that posed by eating pickled vegetables.
Still, he welcomed the news that coffee would no longer be deemed a possible carcinogen.
“As a heavy coffee drinker, I have always enjoyed my coffee guilt-free,” he said. “But now there is scientific evidence to justify that.”
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
What about the pesticides that are being sprayed on coffee. .Bladder cancer.Lost more than one friend to this and they were coffee drinkers.
Sure it was the coffee? Coffee is generally roasted, which would cook off a lot of gunk. Other things, like grocery-store fruits and vegetables, would be more likely to retain pesticides. Association is not causation–unless you really do believe that ice cream makes murderers.
caffine gives my arrithma. Also affected my brother the same way.
Several large-scale studies done over the past 20 years have shown that people who drink coffee are only 1/3 to 1/2 as likely to commit suicide as those who don’t. If that were a pharmaceutical. the inventor would get the Nobel Prize. But since it’s an inexpensive, largely safe, Natural substance, the news was buried by the w*ores mainstream media, whose livelihood depends on payments from the pharmaceutical racket, who in turn, depend on people remaining miserable. But you can find those studies by simply googling “coffee, suicide”
I remember a “60 Minutes” program studying the old, old. Meaning living past 90 years old. These folks had a few things in common. First was 1 or 2 cups of coffee daily. Next was 1 or 2 alcoholic drinks a day. Next, if I get away with this on the Horn site, the couple had intimate relations until very late in life. There’s the roadmap for a happy, long life.