Coffee, tea join list of 80 cancer-causing agents

Super-hot drinks can trigger disease, says a 10-country arm of World Health Organization 

Damn, that coffee's hot!

Well, that very pick-me-up — or similarly super-hot drinks — are not only likely to burn your tongue, they might well be cancer triggers.

According to an article by Alice Park in the current Time magazine, the World Health Organization (WHO) says liquids such as coffee and tea belong on the list of cancer-causing agents.

An organizational arm of WHO, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), checked 1,000 studies that looked into links between high-temp drinks and various forms of the disease and found anything above 149 degrees fahrenheit hikes the risk of esophageal cancer.

Dr. Otis Brawley

The conclusions of that study by the IARC, which is composed of 23 scientists from 10 countries, were published recently in Lancet Oncology.

As with virtually every piece of research, however, there's another side.

Dr. Otis Brawley, the American Cancer Society's chief medical and scientific officer, believes smoking and excessive alcohol are much bigger perils, the Time piece notes.

Interested in more info on some of the 79 other substances — including exposure to UV radiation from the sun, air pollution, red meat and DDT — that can be cancer risk factors? Check out "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," a VitalityPress book I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers.