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Scientists investigating a possible connection between the average temperature that people have tea and cancer of the esophagus have suggested that people in Kenya, particularly in the west, drink the hottest tea in the world.
The study, published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, looks into trying to explain why there are many cases of cancer in western Kenya. “Thermal injury from hot food and beverages” has been mooted as a possible cause, it says.
According to a summary, the researchers have not drawn any definitive conclusions but suggest that the evidence should be evaluated further.
But Cancer Epidemiology has published a tea temperature chart indicating that, among the countries surveyed, Kenyans like it the hottest – at 72.1C.
The study asked healthy individuals above the age of 18 who were accompanying a relative to an endoscopy unit to participate. Participants were asked their initial preferred temperature of chai consumption. Men preferred their chai at an average mean temperature of 72.6 C. Women liked it at 70.2 C.
Thermal injury from hot food and beverages and exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have been proposed as important risk factors for esophageal cancer in other settings.
The beverage of choice in western Kenya is milky tea (chai).
