Iranian researcher's study on the relation between drinking hot tea and esophageal cancer comes first in the scientific articles of Muslim World, awarded by OIC Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation (COMSTECH).

Iranian researcher's study on the relation between drinking hot tea and esophageal cancer comes first in the scientific articles of Muslim World, awarded by OIC Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation (COMSTECH). 

The Iranian tea study comes from researchers including Farhad Islami, a research fellow at Tehran University of Medical Sciences in cooperation with Akram Pourshams, Dariush Nasrollahzadeh and other members of the team, reported Taqrib News Agency (TNA). 

They interviewed 300 people with confirmed cases of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, as well as 571 healthy people of similar backgrounds. 

Participants answered questions about their tea-drinking habits; including how hot they usually drank their tea (very hot, hot, warm, or lukewarm) and how long they let the tea brew before drinking it. 

Nearly all participants -- 98% -- said they drank black tea daily. 

Esophageal cancer was eight times as common among people who drank "very hot" tea, compared to warm or lukewarm tea drinkers. By the same comparison, hot tea drinkers were twice as likely as warm or lukewarm tea drinkers to have esophageal cancer. 

So Islami's team checked data from more than 48,000 local people who were served tea and indicated their preferred tea temperature, which was checked by a digital thermometer. 

The findings: 39% drank their tea at temperatures less than 60 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Fahrenheit), 39% drank their tea at 60-64 degrees Celsius (140-147 degrees Fahrenheit), and 22% drank their tea at 65 degrees Celsius (149 degrees Fahrenheit) or higher. 

Islami's team notes that too-hot liquid could injure esophageal cells, paving the way for esophageal cancer. 

Islami's study is "the most compelling test to date" of that theory and even though the study was conducted in a unique setting, "the findings are relevant to clinicians and researchers in many settings," states an editorial published with the study. 

Apart from the medal and $ 3,000 award of COMSTECH, this research has also been printed in British Medical Journal (BMJ). 

Dr Farhad Islami is a MD graduate of Tehran University of Medical Sciences in 1994 and received his Ph.D in epidemiology from King's College London, London University in 2010.