transcript

British Medical Journal

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KATY CLARK: Anyone who drinks tea or coffee will be interested in a new study out of Iran. The study was conducted in the rural northeastern province of Golestan. That region has an extremely high incidence of cancer of the esophagus. Twenty years ago, scientists began speculating that the high cancer rate might be related to how locals drink their tea. They like it especially hot -- hotter than most Westerners like it. Dr. Reza Malekzadeh conducted a new study and has found strong evidence that hot tea is indeed the culprit. His results appear this week in the British Medical Journal.

DR. REZA MALEKZADEH: We just started to do this study about ten years ago and it takes about seven years for us to complete this study and to measure the tea temperature in about fifty thousand people in the high risk area. And then by comparing the people who get cancer and who don't have the cancer we're able to prove that drinking very hot tea would increase the risk of this cancer about five times.

CLARK: How hot are we talking about? How hot do they drink their tea?

MALEKZADEH: It's usually more than sixty five degree Celsius.

CLARK: 150 degrees Fahrenheit or so?

MALEKZADEH: Yes, something like that.

CLARK: What is the temperature that you would recommend people drinking their tea or their coffee at?
MALEKZADEH: Sixty, I think, would be safe.

CLARK: About 140 degrees Fahrenheit for our audience, anyway. And why does it make such a difference, the temperature? What happens inside of the throat?

MALEKZADEH: We really don't know. But an hypothesis is that this hot tea would damage the mucosa and probably produce some damage to DNA which may initiate or aggravate the carcinogen processing.

CLARK: How much of a concern should this be for people outside of this particular region in Iran? I mean, should we be concerned about it when we get our hot coffee or our hot tea from McDonalds or something like that known to be extremely hot?

MALEKZADEH: Yeah, I think everybody should be careful and should wait when they're going to drink the tea or coffee just four, five minutes.

CLARK: The province in Iran, this Golestan Province just about 400 miles or so north east of Tehran, is this something unusual to this region that they drink really hot tea and they drink it quickly? I mean, do you know anything about how that became something that the people there would do?

MALEKZADEH: Yeah, this is an area inhabited mainly by Turkmen.

CLARK: Turkmen.

MALEKZADEH: Turkmen are present in north eastern Iran. Present day Turkmenistan and this is a tradition, really, going down to even China. These people have used to drink very hot in the past.

CLARK: Well, are the people in the Golestan Province taking your study to heart, are they changing their tea drinking habits?

MALEKZADEH: Yes, as a matter of fact, the people have been receptive for this news because this was some issue that we have already raised it, because the question was there. People have started, really, to not drink very hot tea and for the same reason the incidents of esophageal cancer has declined. And it has declined during the last twenty years. And we now conducting several radio and television public education.

CLARK: What are the chances of surviving this type of cancer? Is it treatable?

MALEKZADEH: This is not a good cancer to have. As a matter of fact, in Iran, the people who develop this cancer, they come very late to the doctor. A majority of these people die two years after their diagnosis. Therefore, this is a cancer that we should prevent, really.

CLARK: It sounds like your work may go a long way to helping that. Very interesting to speaking with you.

MALEKZADEH: Thank you.

CLARK: Professor Reza Malekzadeh helped lead the study that linked drinking hot tea to esophageal cancer. The study is published in the British Medical Journal. Thank you.

MALEKZADEH: Thank you very much.

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