Full English breakfast and steaming tea harms the health

The traditional British cooked breakfast and a mug of hot tea in the morning may increase a woman's risk of throat cancer, research suggests. A report by the BBC this week explains that scientists at Aberdeen University, Scotland 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. 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.

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 five times higher than the light breakfast group.

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