Is it true that drinking cold water and eating ice cream when you have a cold is harmful?

It is a common idea that cold foods and drinks, especially dairy products, worsen colds. We decided to check if this is actually true.

Judging by publications V Internet, many users learned about this prohibition when they were still children, from their grandmothers and parents. Some representatives of these generations continue believe that cold drinks and food only provoke illness and are therefore strictly prohibited for colds. Comes to cases, when ice cream was heated in the microwave and only then children were allowed to eat it. Interestingly, this idea has become established not only in the Russian-speaking space - on English-language parenting forums you can also meet such a statement.

The danger of eating cold foods for diseases of the throat and nose is explained primarily by their temperature. Many still believe that colds are called that because they are caused solely by the body cooling down, that is, by hypothermia. However, this is not true. A cold is an ARVI (acute respiratory viral infection), and, as the name suggests, called entry into the body of a pathogenic virus, including one of the four “old” coronaviruses. You can become infected with ARVI only from a carrier of the disease - through personal contact or through objects. The situation is similar with sore throat - acute tonsillitis. This is a bacterial disease caused mainly by streptococci or staphylococci, and in more rare cases by fungi and other pathogens.

There are separate research, suggesting that inhaling cold air causes the mucous membranes to dry out, which in turn makes them more susceptible to viral penetration. However, in the case of both a cold and a sore throat, the disease simply cannot occur without contact with the pathogen - regardless of how many cold drinks a person drinks or how many servings of ice cream he eats. Further consumption of cold foods cannot aggravate the situation either, since the disease develops due to the multiplication of the pathogen in the body.

At the same time, colds and sore throats have similar symptoms - in particular, a sore throat. Cold drinks and ice cream are quite effective against it. In fact, their action can be compare with applying cold to the injured area - the temperature effect constricts blood vessels and may slightly decrease edema. Pediatrician Evgeny Komarovsky even recommends ice cream for frequent illnesses: “If a child has frequent sore throats, chronic tonsillitis, or a constant sore throat after a cold one, then the algorithm of action is standard: today you go to the supermarket and buy a kilo of white ice cream. And you start eating this white ice cream like medicine. A teaspoon three times a day.”

There is also another argument by opponents of ice cream - some believe that it, like other dairy products, increases mucus production during a cold (popularly called snot). This belief is much older than our grandmothers; mention of such a connection can be meet in Arabic medical treatises of the 12th century. The idea that dairy products are associated with worsening disease is quite widespread and today.

To test this claim, scientists held experiment. Using special food technology, they created soy milk that tastes indistinguishable from cow's milk, and asked a group of 125 volunteers to drink a glass of either cow's milk or soy milk. Among the subjects there were those who believed in the connection between dairy products and the appearance of thicker mucus, and those who did not consider this version to be fair. The volunteers drank 300 ml of the drink and then described their feelings. 39% of subjects complained of “a membrane in the mouth, throat or tongue,” 31% noted “the need to swallow more often,” and 42% reported that “saliva became more viscous, making it more difficult to swallow.” There was no difference between those who drank cow's milk or soy milk. True, all the volunteers were healthy at that time. 

Therefore another experiment. 60 volunteers were infected with rhinovirus type 2 and asked to describe their symptoms, the nature of discharge and the total weight of mucus released per day for ten days. The subjects drank from zero to 11 glasses of milk per day. Those who believed in the “more dairy, more mucus” relationship did report having more severe symptoms, but the weight of mucus they produced was no different from the weight of those who did not believe in this pattern. The scientists concluded: “There was no statistically significant association between milk and dairy product consumption and mucus production in healthy adults, asymptomatic or symptomatic, with rhinovirus infection.” More recent studies also confirm lack of pattern: “People who believe in the theory that mucus volume is related to milk they drink report more respiratory symptoms after drinking it” - but there is no evidence for this. Milk is also not able to worsen the course of asthmatic attacks.

That is, scientists have not yet discovered evidence that dairy products, including ice cream, worsen the course of colds. It is believed that the subjective sensations experienced by the volunteers may be due to the fact that milk is an emulsion and when mixed with saliva Maybe the formation of flocculls - small flocculent particles. They could be the cause of that “coating” in the mouth that both those who drank cow’s milk and those who drank soy milk complained about.

Thus, cold drinks are by no means contraindicated during a cold, but, on the contrary, can reduce pain in the throat. You shouldn’t give up ice cream either - it also provides some relief and does not worsen the course of the disease.

Not true

What do our verdicts mean?

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