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.
In contrast to cafes in North America and Europe, infusion teas are often served considerably hotter, at above 65 or 70 degrees Celsius.
Experts convened by the Lyons-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 the University of Oxford 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 programme 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.
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