Does Ice Cream Make Your Body Warmer? The Surprising Truth Behind the Treat

September 29, 2025 •

3 min read

While the initial chill of ice cream offers a refreshing sensation, the body's internal processes often have the opposite effect. In fact, due to a metabolic process, a scoop of ice cream can actually make your body warmer shortly after eating.

Quick Summary

Eating ice cream provides a temporary, localized cooling sensation, but the energy required to digest its fats and sugars causes an increase in your body's core temperature. The initial cold feeling is brief and does not significantly lower your overall body temperature.

Key Points

Temporary Cool: Ice cream only provides a temporary cooling effect in your mouth and throat, which is quickly reversed.
Metabolic Heat: The body expends energy to digest ice cream's fats and sugars, generating heat in a process called the Thermic Effect of Food (TEF).
Limited Impact: The overall increase in core body temperature is small and regulated by the body, but it does mean ice cream isn't a long-term cooling solution.
Better Cooling Options: For effective cooling, opt for water-rich foods (like watermelon) or proper hydration rather than calorie-dense treats.
Nutrient Digestion: The high fat and sugar content in ice cream require significant energy to metabolize, increasing body heat.
Brain Regulation: Your hypothalamus detects the internal temperature drop and triggers a warming response to maintain core temperature, adding to the heat produced.
Hydration is Key: Staying hydrated with water is the most beneficial way to regulate body temperature in the heat.

The Science of Feeling Cool vs. Actually Cooling Down

When you first enjoy a spoonful of ice cream, the cold temperature triggers receptors in your mouth and throat, sending a signal to your brain that provides an immediate, albeit temporary, sense of cooling. This initial relief is a physical response, not a change in your core body temperature. It's the same principle as holding an ice cube—the surface feels cold, but it doesn't drop your internal temperature.

The real story unfolds in the digestive process. For your body to break down and absorb the nutrients in ice cream, it must expend energy. This metabolic activity, known as the "thermic effect of food" (TEF), generates heat. Since ice cream is rich in fats and sugars, it has a notable thermic effect, meaning the warmth produced during digestion ultimately outweighs the fleeting cool sensation you experienced when eating it.

The Thermic Effect of Food Explained

The thermic effect of food (TEF) is the energy required for your body to digest, absorb, and metabolize the food you eat. Every macronutrient—protein, carbohydrates, and fat—causes a different level of TEF:

Protein: Has the highest thermic effect, requiring 20-30% of its usable energy to be expended for metabolism.
Carbohydrates: Fall in the middle, with a TEF of 5-10%.
Fats: Have the lowest thermic effect, at 0-3%.

While fat has a low TEF percentage, ice cream's high fat content means a significant amount of total energy is released as heat during digestion. Combined with its sugar content, this metabolic process is what ultimately warms your body from the inside out, despite the initial chill.

Why Hydration is a Better Way to Cool Down

To effectively cool down, the goal is to lower your core body temperature or help your body's natural cooling mechanisms work more efficiently. This is where hydration and certain foods become more effective than ice cream. Consuming plenty of water helps your body sweat, which is the primary way it releases heat. When sweat evaporates from your skin, it draws heat away from the body.

Opting for foods with a high water content and low caloric density, such as fruits and vegetables, can aid this process without triggering a significant thermic response. Examples include:

Watermelon and melons: High water content helps hydrate and cool the body from within.
Cucumber: A hydrating and low-calorie choice.
Herbal teas: Warm or room-temperature beverages can trigger a sweating response that cools the body more effectively than cold ones.

Comparing Cooling Effects: Ice Cream vs. Watermelon


Feature	Ice Cream	Watermelon
Initial Sensation	Immediate, but temporary and localized cool.	Immediate, refreshing cool from high water content.
Long-Term Effect	Warming due to thermic effect of digestion.	Supports body's natural cooling through hydration.
Thermic Effect	High due to fat and sugar content.	Low, mostly water and natural sugars.
Overall Hydration	Negligible; high calories and sugar can impede hydration.	Excellent; high water content promotes hydration.
Metabolic Response	Body works harder to digest, raising core temp.	Low metabolic load, aiding natural temperature regulation.

The Role of Your Body's Thermoregulatory System

Your body's temperature regulation is a sophisticated process controlled by the hypothalamus in your brain. When you consume something cold, like ice cream, the hypothalamus detects the internal temperature change and initiates a warming response to maintain a stable core temperature. This involves redirecting blood flow and increasing metabolic activity, further contributing to the heat generated during digestion. While the effects are not drastic, they explain why ice cream isn't an effective long-term cooling strategy.

In Summary: A Treat, Not a Thermostat

In conclusion, the belief that ice cream is a perfect way to cool down on a hot day is largely a myth. While it offers a pleasant, brief cooling sensation in the mouth, the long-term metabolic process of digestion generates internal heat that counteracts this effect. For genuinely and effectively lowering your body temperature, staying properly hydrated with water and choosing high-water-content foods are much better strategies. Understanding this scientific reality can help you make more informed choices about what you consume, especially in warmer weather, while still enjoying the occasional cold treat for its delicious flavor rather than its cooling power. For further reading on the body's metabolic processes, visit the National Institutes of Health website at https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2211287/.

Frequently Asked Questions

The initial cooling sensation is a temporary, localized effect caused by the cold temperature of the ice cream coming into contact with your mouth and throat. This provides immediate, but brief, relief.

The thermic effect of food (TEF) is the energy your body uses to digest, absorb, and process nutrients. Because ice cream is high in calories from fats and sugars, your body expends energy to break it down, which generates internal heat.

Yes, all foods generate some heat during digestion, but to different degrees. Macronutrients like protein have a higher thermic effect than carbohydrates, while fats have the lowest percentage. High-calorie foods like ice cream cause a more significant overall heat increase.

No, the overall increase in your core body temperature is relatively small and short-lived. Your body's natural thermoregulatory system works to keep your core temperature stable, but it does mean ice cream is not an effective method for long-term cooling.

For effective cooling, focus on hydrating with water and consuming foods with high water content, such as fruits (watermelon, berries) and vegetables (cucumber). These options help regulate your body temperature without a high thermogenic effect.

Similar to ice cream, drinking cold water triggers your body's regulatory response to warm itself up, but the effect is generally minimal. For optimal hydration that supports cooling through sweat evaporation, room-temperature water is often recommended.

Drinking a hot beverage can actually help you cool down in certain situations. The heat can trigger a sweating response, and as that sweat evaporates from your skin, it cools your body down more effectively than a cold drink might.