Hot tea tied to higher cancer risk for smokers, drinkers

Drinking scalding hot tea is associated with an increased risk of esophageal tumors in people who also smoke and drink alcohol, two habits that already make many cancers more likely, a Chinese study suggests.

Among Chinese adults who drank at least one beer, cocktail or glass of wine daily, those who also consumed burning hot tea every day were 5 times more likely to develop esophageal cancer than people who drank tea at any temperature less than once a week, the study found.

For current smokers, drinking scalding hot tea every day was associated with roughly twice the risk of esophageal cancer as consuming tea less than weekly.

“Keeping away from both tobacco and excessive alcohol use is the most important means for esophageal cancer prevention,” said study coauthor Dr. Jun Lv of Peking University Health Science Center in China.

“Under this increased risk of esophageal cancer from smoking and drinking alcohol, if people like drinking very hot tea, the risk of developing cancer will be synergistically higher,” Lv said by email.

But by itself, drinking hot tea doesn’t increase cancer risk, Lv said.

China is among the countries with the highest incidence of esophageal cancer, researchers note in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Because tea drinkers in China, especially men, are more likely to drink alcohol and smoke, previous studies haven’t offered a clear picture or whether burning hot tea might be an independent risk factor for esophageal tumors.

While some prior research has suggested tea may help protect against tumors in the digestive tract, other studies have shown repeated consumption of very hot food or drink might damage the esophagus and help tumors take hold, the researchers note.

For the current study, researchers examined data on 456,155 adults ages 30 to 79 who completed questionnaires about their smoking, alcohol and tea habits.

At the start of the study, none of the participants had cancer. Researchers followed half of the participants for at least 9 years. During the study, 1,731 people developed esophageal tumors.

People who drank scalding hot tea, consumed excessive amounts of alcohol and also smoked had more than five times the risk of esophageal cancer than individuals who didn’t do any of these things.

The study wasn’t a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how the temperature of tea might impact the risk of esophageal tumors.

Another limitation is that study participants reported on their own smoking and drinking habits, and their reports could be unreliable. Researchers also only had data on tea consumption from one point in time, when people joined the study, making it impossible to know how changing habits might have impacted the cancer risk.

“People probably do not estimate their tea temperature perfectly, and this is one of the main limitations of the study,” said Neal Freedman, author of an accompanying editorial and a researcher with the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland.

“Drinking tea at a lower temperature should not be considered as a replacement for smoking cessation and limiting alcohol intake,” Freedman said by email. “Nevertheless, accumulating data suggest that drinking very hot tea may also increase the risk of esophageal cancer, and it may be prudent for people who drink very hot beverages to wait until it cools down a bit before drinking, whether or not they also smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol.”

source: news.abs-cbn.com

'Magnum, P.I.' creator Glen Larson dead at 77

Television writer-producer Glen Larson, whose works include "Magnum, P.I." and "Battlestar Galactica," has died of cancer at age 77.

The famed television titan died at UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica, California, of esophageal cancer late Friday, his son James told The Hollywood Reporter.

Larson wrote and produced some of the best-known prime-time television series of the 1970s and 1980s -- often humorous, family-friendly programs that appealed to a wide audience.

He was behind series such as "It Takes a Thief," starring Robert Wagner, "McCloud," "Quincy, M.E." and "Knight Rider," featuring David Hasselhoff as a crime fighting hero with a superpowered Pontiac.

But Larson is perhaps best known for the 1980-1988 "Magnum, P.I." starring a mustachioed Tom Selleck as a private investigator in Hawaii.

"Battlestar Galactica" enjoyed a shorter run -- it was taken off air in 1979 after only one season, but went on to become a cult hit among loyal fans in the 2000s.

At a cost of more than $1 million per episode, Larson said the show could not be sustained, but he wished it had stayed on air for longer.

"I was vested emotionally in 'Battlestar,'" he said in a 2009 interview with the Archive of American Television. "I don't feel it really got its shot, and I can't blame anyone else; I was at the center of that."

Both "Battlestar Galactica" and "Knight Rider" were remade in the 2000s.

Mainstream appeal

Larson said his popularity was not accidental. Instead, he tailored his work for an audience whose tastes he tried to predict.

"I fell in step with an audience taste-level that I knew how to judge and deliver for consistently," he said.

While Larson enjoyed popularity and a loyal following, he did not see as much critical success.

Though nominated for three Primetime Emmy awards -- two for "McCloud" and one for "Quincy M.E." -- he never took home a statue for his work.

Larson said he had no regrets about his failure to win awards, and was satisfied with having pleased audiences during his lengthy television career.

He said his shows "were enjoyable, they had a pretty decent dose of humor. All struck a chord in the mainstream."

"What we weren't going to do was win a shelf full of Emmys," Larson said. "Ours were not the kind of shows that were doing anything more than reaching a core audience. I would like to think we brought a lot of entertainment into the living room."

Critics accused him of copying other series in his own shows, most notably with "Battlestar" which was thought to be based on "Star Wars," a claim Larson dismissed.

"Television networks are a lot like automobile manufacturers, or anyone else who's in commerce. If something out there catches on with the public... I guess you can call it 'market research,'" he said.

Born in Long Beach, California, Larson started out his career in the television business as an NBC page, following a stint as a singer with the pop group The Four Preps in the 1950s.

His first television credit came in 1966 as a writer on an episode of "The Fugitive."

Larson is also behind series such as "Alias Smith and Jones," "B.J. and the Bear," "Switch," and "The Six Million Dollar Man: Wine, Women and War."

He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1985.

Larson is survived by his wife Jeannie, his brother Kenneth and nine children from previous marriages.

A memorial service will be held in the near future, his son said.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com