Brain freeze or stomach flu
Summer, of course, includes an ice cream every now and then. Unfortunately, ice can cause annoying ailments, namely stomach flu and headaches (the so-called ‘brain freeze’). How did that happen? And can that be prevented?
The quality of ice cream in the Netherlands is good. You don’t have to worry about getting stomach flu or food poisoning from an ice cream here.
Resist the tropical ice cream truck
Eating unpackaged scoop or soft serve ice cream in warm or tropical countries is often not a good idea. The basis is milk or cream: a wonderful breeding ground for bacteria, especially if the ice cream is not kept cold enough. A shame if you see your beautiful holiday fall into the water due to stomach flu or diarrhea. So resist that nice cart on a sunny square and rather buy prepackaged ice cream or scoop ice cream at a busy ice cream parlor.
Headache due to ‘brain freeze’
About 33 percent of people experience a sharp, stabbing headache while eating ice cream. Brain freeze, it is also called. This is due to stimulation of nerve endings in the palate that give an impulse to the fifth cranial nerve. You feel this as a sharp pain.
Eating slower doesn’t help. You cannot really prevent it; the only solution is not to eat ice cream.
Sources):
- Plus Magazine
