Does Ice Cream Really Cool Us Down?

It’s winter and it’s really cold outside. Let’s think some warm thoughts. Or cool thoughts.

Let’s explain. We often enjoy our ice cream in the summer months and talk about how it “cools us down”.

Believe it or not, the cooling effect of ice cream is tied to how our body temperature works. That’s the subject of a recent article that takes a look at the relationship between ice cream and body temperature.

The process of maintaining an optimal body temperature is called thermoregulation. It turns out human beings can control individual body temperature independent of the environment. This means our bodies generate our own heat. This certainly helps in the cold weather months. However, during the times of hot weather, our bodies need to avoid overheating.

Here’s where it gets a little confusing. When it gets warm out, our natural inclination is to ingest something cold. Hence, the ice cream. There is that initial cooling when we take that first taste of ice cream, our bodies then starts to work on digesting the ice cream. This process actually generates heat within our bodies. It may not actually be enough to make us feel hot.

There are nutrients in ice cream that the body must break down. Ice cream also tends to be pretty heavy with the calories and calorie-laden food requires more work from the body to break down.

Does this mean we should not eat ice cream in the summer? Ha! That’s just crazy talk. Look, there is still a re-hydration effect with ice cream so there is some immediate cooling gratification. So let’s go ahead and enjoy our favorite flavors of ice cream in the summer. Actually, let’s enjoy our ice cream all year round. Praline’s delivers the best homemade ice cream taste around. It’s always cool to enjoy Praline’s.