Breaking News: Hot Tea Now Causes Cancer. Also, You are Going to Die Someday

According to Dr. Canqingng Yu (and colleagues) of the Natural Science Foundation of China, drinking hot tea now contributes to the possibility of an increased risk of cancer. They claim that it can specifically increase the risk of esophageal cancer up to five times. Dr. Yu writes:

"Compared with participants who drank tea less than weekly and consumed fewer than 15g of alcohol daily, those who drank burning hot tea and 15g or more of alcohol daily had the greatest risk for oesophageal cancer."
They also claim "Abstaining from hot tea might be beneficial for preventing esophageal cancer in persons who drink alcohol excessively or smoke." Link

Now, of course, this study is predicated on individuals that smoke and drink. Presumably those particular activities irritate the gullet, which could make the prospect of drinking already hot tea even more dangerous when it comes to aggravating that particular area of the human body.

Whether this new development regarding hot tea is objectively true or not (and the research seems to indicate it is), the issue here is less scientific fact, and more of the paranoia that modern medical research, when merged with click-bait media provides for the general public.

I admit, I read the article hastily when I first viewed it a day ago, however like many of these "please click on me" sources of news (fed by the Facebook news aggregator, which is where I received my particular story) are enticing the reader based on initial emotion of panic alone. I'm certain tea drinkers from all over the globe had a bit of startle upon reading the title of the article in question alone.

Coffee has faced similar accusations in the past. Some statistics indicate that coffee is terrible for you and may cause forms of cancer, other studies indicate it might be absolutely great for you to consume in order to REDUCE cancer.

This teeter-tottering of scientific data and media insanity more than likely leads a lot of consumers towards some sort of a cognitive dissonance where nothing is true, while at the same time everything is true. Will that next latte you just purchased at Starbucks reduce your life expectancy by a couple of hours? Will that pot of green tea you are brewing for your family flood your body with cancer-fighting antioxidants, or will it have you in a hospital bed years down the line? What can you safely rely on to not destroy your physical well-being anymore?

The answer is: you cannot. Our lives have been utter chaos since we exited the birth canal (and in some cases, started way before that particular life event). Nothing is set in stone, and you could be gone from this planet tomorrow in some freak accident that you couldn't even predict... and that has nothing to do with how hot your tea is.

My question to you is this: Are you actually living your life? Or are you constantly worrying about whatever negative snippet that the media provides next? Are you actively investigating every corner of whatever subject that's motivated and instilled passion in you since can first remember? Have you ever ran freely through some forgotten woods, sending care to the wind? Do you love passionately, or is your "love" dictated by a script you never even had a part in writing?

You are going to die someday. It could be today, or tomorrow. It could even be decades from now. This is the only real truth that can be extracted from an information landscape chock-full of injecting fear and paranoia into your very spirit.

This author's cliche advice? Stop caring about the numerous avenues that could sniff out the candle that is your life, and instead be bold and daring. Write your own script; weave your own tapestry. Make sure your tea is lukewarm...

Not your life.