Very hot tea can raise risk of oesophageal cancer, suggests study

Combined with excess alcohol consumption, scaldingly hot tea raises relative risk fivefold, says Chinese researchers

Very hot tea combined with heavy alcohol consumption can increase the risk of oesophageal cancer by five-fold, research suggests.

The cancer, which starts in the oesophagus, was already known to be linked to drinking alcohol and smoking, but those risks are heightened by the addition of daily cups of "burning hot" tea, scientists discovered.