Consuming hot foods and beverages can be dangerous. They shock the digestive system, inhibit nutrient absorption, and above all, increase the risk of developing gastric and esophageal cancer!
Hot foods & beverages may increase the risk of Gastric cancer!
Eating hot foods or drinking hot beverages may increase the risk of developing gastric cancer.
Actually, beverages and foods reach the gastric tract only a few seconds after ingestion. Gastric mucosa can’t protect the stomach effectively against high temperatures of food or liquids.[1]
For instance, drinking warm tea (50oC or 122 F) is much safer, as compared to drinking hot tea (60oC or 140 F). Hot foods or beverages may increase the risk of stomach and other cancers by up to 3 times.
On the other hand, people who prefer eating warm foods have about 80% lower risk of developing gastric cancer as compared to those who regularly eat very hot meals!
Hot meals may increase the risk of Esophageal cancer
Moreover, eating hot foods and drinking hot beverages has been linked to an increased risk of esophageal cancer.[2,3,4]
In fact, high temperatures of tea, water, and food can significantly increase the risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma by more than 2-fold. Most noteworthy, regular drinking of “burning hot” tea can increase the risk of esophageal cancer up to 4-fold.[1]
Esophageal cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors! Also, it’s one of the leading causes of cancer death. Furthermore, it has a poor prognosis!
Other common causes of esophageal cancer are high intake of alcohol, smoking, poor diet, and high consumption of pickled vegetables.[5]
Hot foods are harder to digest
Additionally, you should avoid eating hot foods if you have digestive issues.
Actually, food temperature plays a key role in gastric emptying. Hot meals are emptied from the stomach faster than warm meals, or meals at room temperature.[6]
Practically, a pretty hot meal (60oC or 140F) can significantly accelerate gastric emptying, as compared to a warm (37oC or 100F) meal.
We can tolerate hot food better than hot beverages, although they cool down more slowly during the transit to the stomach.
It takes 5-30 min for the temperature of ingested food to reach the temperature of the body.
Even pretty cold meals (4oC or 39F) accelerate gastric emptying. Cold meals or beverages at 12oC (54F) don’t have any significant negative effect on digestion, though.
Therefore, you better have warm meals, or meals at room temperature for better digestion. On the contrary, you should avoid pretty hot, or pretty cold meals and beverages! Extreme food temperatures shock the digestive system. They may even inhibit nutrient absorption.
Above all, better wait a few minutes before starting to eat a really hot meal.
