Ice Cream Headaches…Or "Brain Freeze" As It's Commonly Called

November 29, 2003

Recently, the British Medical Journal did a study of 145 middle school students with an average age of 13 years, describes the influence on “brain freeze”, headaches sometimes associated with eating very cold foods. Half the students were asked to eat a portion of ice cream in less than 5 seconds, while the others were told to take more than 30 seconds. Nine of the slow eaters reported headaches while 20 of the rapid eaters did, confirming that cold on the palate may stimulate headaches.

A surprising finding was that 80 percent of the students reported having had ice cream headaches at some time in the past.

The good news is the headaches only lasted 10 seconds!

This article was in a special section labeled “evidence that really matters.” The authors of this study were the eight-grade daughter of a medical school faculty member and her father.