Breakfast key to cancer risk

A fry up in the morning is not healthy

Starting the day with a traditional cooked breakfast and a steaming cup of tea may increase a woman's risk of throat cancer, research suggests.

The best way to minimise risk is to begin the day with a light breakfast such as cereal or fruit.

These factors go a long way to explaining why women in the UK die of oesophageal cancer much more frequently than their European neighbours

Professor Nick Day

Scientists found that women who eat a fry up each morning are at twice the risk of the most common form of throat, or oesophageal, cancer.

Cancer of the oesophagus - the tube connecting the stomach with the upper throat - affects approximately 7,000 people in the UK every year. Radical surgery is often needed to try to halt its spread.

Drinking lots of tea - particularly when piping hot - also seems to increase risk, perhaps because of the burning effect of the liquid as it passes down the food pipe.

But the researchers warned that skipping breakfast altogether is no way to avoid the disease.

A food-free morning carries an even greater risk than a plateful of sausages, bacon and egg.

Focus on women

Lead researcher Dr Linda Sharp, of Aberdeen University, said: "Studies into oesophageal cancer have often concentrated on men, where the major risk factors are smoking and drinking.

"But women have, at least in the past, tended to smoke and drink less heavily than men, and we wanted to know if other lifestyle factors influenced women's risk."

Scaldingly hot drinks may burn the inside of the food pipe, causing damage which in time could increase the risk of cancer

Dr Linda Sharp

Concentrating on the most common form of oesophageal cancer, called squamous cell carcinoma, the researchers questioned 156 women with the disease from Oxfordshire, East Anglia, Trent and Eastern Scotland about their lifestyles.

Women who ate a cooked breakfast each morning were at more than twice the risk of developing oesophageal cancer as those who began the day with a light breakfast - classified as anything other than a fry up.

But women who skipped breakfast altogether had a risk that was a startling five times higher than the light breakfast group.

Professor Nick Day, of the Cancer Research Campaign, said: "As in other parts of the world where women have relatively high rates of oesophageal cancer, there's a strong link with poor diet and drinking lots of very hot tea.

"By poor diet, I mean not only the low intake of salads, fruit and fruit juice, but also the pattern of eating, notably the tendency to skip breakfast.

"Taken together, these factors go a long way to explaining why women in the UK die of oesophageal cancer much more frequently than their European neighbours."

Tea risk

Around 30% of cancers may be preventable by dietary improvement

Dr Tim Key

The study suggested that women who drink lots of tea are at over three times the risk of the disease of non tea-drinkers, although because of the large amount of variation between women, the evidence was not conclusive.

But women who consumed their hot drinks immediately after making them were three times more likely to develop the disease as those who waited a while for their drinks to cool down.

Dr Sharp said: "It's interesting that the risk seems to be higher with tea than with coffee, but perhaps people drink their tea at a higher temperature."

The study also confirmed that smoking can increase women's risk of oesophageal cancer.

Dr Tim Key, a diet expert at Imperial Cancer Research Fund, said: "Research into diet and cancer is very important as around 30% of cancers may be preventable by dietary improvement."