The study was conducted on more than 328,000 participants in the British Biobank, and lasted 12 years, to monitor daily eating habits and their impact on stomach health.
The results showed that drinking very hot beverages, such as tea and coffee, increases the risk of developing stomach cancer.
The researchers analyzed not only the quantity of beverages consumed, but also the participants' preferred temperature. They found that people who drank more than eight cups of very hot beverages a day were 54% more likely to develop stomach cancer compared to those who preferred warmer drinks or drank them only rarely.
The researchers found that the effect was most pronounced among those who regularly drank very hot beverages, with the risk more than doubling when consumption exceeded eight cups a day, regardless of age, lifestyle, smoking, and other factors.
Experts believe this is due to chronic thermal irritation of the stomach lining, which promotes inflammation and tissue damage, creating a favorable environment for the development of malignant tumors. The study suggests that drinking beverages at a moderate temperature could be a simple step to reduce the risk of developing stomach and gastrointestinal cancers.
The results were published in the journal Food & Function
