Drink more hot water when it's cold? Be careful! Exceeding this temperature may cause cancer

When the weather gets cold, you can’t live without it: hot water (even if the weather isn’t cold, I can’t live without it). Chinese people have a special attachment to drinking hot water.

"Have a cold? Drink more hot water!"

"Stomachache? Drink more hot water!"

In the eyes of many people, a cup of hot water seems to be a panacea, so they often remind others to drink more hot water. But you may not know that "heat" may also cause cancer!

Today, let’s follow Professor Yan Wenhui, Director of the Oncology Department of Changsha Taihe Hospital, to explore this in detail.

1. Is it true that “hot” water causes cancer?

In the minds of Chinese people, hot water is a magical thing that can heal everything. No matter what kind of illness you have, the simple phrase "drink more hot water" can solve most of the problems. Hot water has remained the top cheapest health product with its unchanging attitude in the face of ever-changing situations.

However, as early as 2016, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) under the World Health Organization (WHO) pointed out in a carcinogen assessment report that drinking hot drinks above 65°C has a carcinogenic risk and listed it in the Class 2A carcinogen list . It should be noted that "hot drinks above 65°C" here are not just hot water and hot tea, but also all hot solid, liquid, and food that can be eaten.

Recently, the "hot water brigade" suffered another heavy blow. A study published in the British Journal of Cancer revealed for the first time the mechanism by which high temperature promotes the occurrence of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (a type of esophageal cancer), and proposed that the heat activation temperature is 54°C , which is lower than the high-temperature dietary risk temperature of the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Another prospective study published in the International Journal of Cancer pointed out that people who like to drink tea above 60°C will increase their risk of esophageal cancer by 41% .

In addition, a study published in the American Annals of Internal Medicine by the School of Public Health of Peking University showed that people who have the habit of smoking and drinking, if they often drink hot tea above 65°C, their risk of esophageal cancer will increase fivefold .

Studies have repeatedly warned the public that eating too hot food for a long time may greatly increase the risk of cancer.

2. Why does drinking “hot” water cause cancer?

The mucous membranes of our mouth and esophagus are very fragile, with a normal tolerance temperature of 40-50°C. Once it exceeds 65°C, it may cause mucosal damage, ulceration and other problems .

Although the mucosa has a certain self-repair ability, long-term drinking of hot drinks will cause the mucosa to be in a long-term and repeated process of "damage-repair-re-damage-repair", which will increase the abnormal atypical cells and may eventually lead to the occurrence of esophageal cancer.

Especially in winter when the temperature is low, people prefer to eat hot porridge, hot soup noodles and other foods, and drink hot water, hot tea and other beverages, which are more likely to cause a high incidence of esophageal cancer . Even if you are lucky and don't get cancer, long-term hot drinks can cause problems such as oral ulcers and esophageal ulcers.

3. What does 65°C mean?

Someone did an experiment. At room temperature of 25°C, boiling water poured into a glass needs to be left for 15 minutes, and porridge just out of the pot needs to be left for 10 minutes before the temperature drops to 65°C.

Our usual dishes, especially those with more soup, are basically above 65°C within a few minutes after cooking. So the temperature around 65°C is not as hot as we think.

This temperature that poses a risk of cancer is actually not far away from us.

4. What is the appropriate temperature for eating?

This is scary! It turns out that overheated things are harmful to health. Does that mean I can drink ice water "openly"?

Of course not ! Although, studies have shown that drinking colder water (4°C) can improve exercise endurance in hot environments compared to drinking warm water (37°C).

However, too cold water (0℃ ice water) may cause stomach cramps, cold stimulation headaches, toothaches and other problems. Drinking ice water for a long time and in large quantities will indeed cause the gastric mucosa to be continuously stimulated by cold, thus affecting digestion! For people with gastric diseases such as gastritis and gastric ulcers, drinking ice water may cause stomach pain, bloating and other discomfort symptoms, aggravating gastric diseases! The suitable eating temperature for the human mouth and esophagus is about 10 to 40℃ , and the highest temperature that can be tolerated is about 50 to 60℃.

5. Which eating habits are likely to cause esophageal cancer?

The average incidence of esophageal cancer ranks eighth among malignant tumors. China has always been a country with a high incidence of malignant esophageal cancer . It is also one of the countries with the highest mortality rate among patients with malignant esophageal cancer in the world. The mortality rate has ranked fourth among malignant tumors.

Director Yan Wenhui said: " About 70% of esophageal cancer patients in China are already in the middle or late stages when they seek medical treatment . In addition to canceration, esophageal ulcers also have the risk of perforation and bleeding. If esophageal cancer is discovered early, the tumor only exists on the surface of the mucosa. Treatment only requires the removal of this section of mucosa under gastroscopy, and the cure rate is very high. However, if the tumor has broken through the mucosa and continues to grow under the mucosa, an esophageal resection surgery is required, so it is still necessary to try to detect and treat it as early as possible."

There are many causes of esophageal cancer. In addition to long-term love of drinking hot water and eating hot food , bad eating habits such as eating too fast, eating too much, often skipping breakfast, loving to eat late-night snacks, drinking strong tea, and excessively liking to eat spicy food may also induce esophageal cancer.

6. Tips for Esophageal Cancer Care

In daily life, we must choose a good diet: do not drink too hot drinks, do not eat too hot food ; chew slowly when eating, do not eat hard food, and reduce the damage of food to the esophagus; do not eat leftovers, expired and moldy food ; do not be picky eaters, and have a balanced nutrition; do not drink a lot of alcohol, long-term stimulation of alcohol is not only harmful to the esophagus and the entire digestive tract, but also has certain damage to the liver and gastrointestinal tract; maintain a regular work and rest schedule, and do not stay up late.

In short, for healthy eating, just keep it warm, and drink more warm water at about 40°C. Hot drinks and hot food should not exceed 65°C!!

Source: Changsha Taihe Hospital

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(Edited by Wx)

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