As I’ve written before on the International Agency for Research on Cancer’s (IARC) report on red meat, they have just come out with a new study on coffee, maté and very hot beverages.
In this latest study, 23 scientists from across the globe convened in Lyon, France to comb over the thousands of studies of both humans and animals, they have available to determine the evidence for causing cancer in coffee, maté and hot beverages.
To recap on how IARC summarises their findings, please refer the the below chart:
From my earlier blog, their conclusion for processed meat is a rating of ‘1’; and for red meat a rating of ‘2A’.
Back in 1991, the IARC committee concluded that coffee and maté are ‘2B’, but in this report they re-classified the two beverages to now a ‘3’ as more studies have come out.
This is a big WIN for the coffee industry!
However, in this study, IARC has also concluded that hot beverages are classified as ‘2A’.
They define a hot beverage as any beverage that has a temperature of 74ºC or above.
This means that hot beverages and red meat are now in the same category – ‘2A’!
Now, before you freak out and stop drinking hot beverages, or if you’re on the other end of the spectrum and you shrug off this report as another fear-mongering cancer report, there are a couple of key takeaways that are of some value.
Takeaway #1:
All conclusions made by IARC are based on how strong the evidence is and NOT on what the degree of risk is. In layman terms, they believe there is enough evidence to link the substance to cancer but the degree of risk is knowing how much of the substance will in fact cause cancer and this is still unknown. This is known as dose-response which I also have written about in more detail in my red meat blog.
Takeaway #2:
The re-classification of coffee to Group ‘3’ supports other studies that deem coffee as a healthy drink and you can read more about it in my coffee blog here. If you’re going to consume a lot of coffee, you should choose an organic bean like Lanna Coffee’s organic Manlao River bean.
Takeaway #3:
Most coffee and teas are served below 74ºC anyways, so you don’t need to worry too much about the temperature of these beverages. Just make sure if it’s freshly brewed off boiling water (which is at 100ºC) to give it a few minutes to cool down!
I know all these scientific studies can sometimes put your mind in a tailspin, especially when they backtrack and make a different claim. Who knows what they say now will be the same message 10 years later. But know that although science is not perfect, it is still the North Star we should be following and not whatever is popular and trendy to do. And the solution is not to throw your hands up in the air and declare that you’re just going to do whatever you feel is right. You can read about the reasons why in my earlier blog here.
After all, science is a process that takes time to unravel and to discover the truth. You can bet that the media will continue to misuse scientific references to cause knee-jerk reactions in order to catch more viewership.
Learn to weed out the reputable sources from the ones that spread misinformation.