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Brain Freeze Ice Cream

Brain freeze ice cream headache, freeze, or Frozen ice cream Brain Syndrome all are terms used to describe a form of cranial pain or headache which all most people are known to sometimes experience after consuming cold beverages or foods such as ice cream, often as a result of the rapid consumption.

Mechanism/cause

The reaction is triggered by the cold substance consumed coming into any contact with the roof of the mouth. It some times also irritates nerves in the region (sphenopalatine ganglia), causing them spasm. These nerves cause the blood vessels in the part of brain to dilate. When vessels in the brain dilate, a common effect is an acute headache (a similar effect occurs when one takes the prescription vasodilator, such as Nitroglycerin or Viagra).

Once a report was submitted to the British Medical Journal on the Brain Freeze; it focused on the effect of speed of consumption in ice cream on causing Brain Freeze. It was co-written by the Canadian grade 8 student (about 13 years old).

It has been estimated that 35% of the population experiences brain freeze. “Most people have experienced the dreaded of all ice cream headaches at some point. You are minding your own business in a hot summer day and you are eating something like an ice cream cone, a milk shake, a slurped or a snow-cone ice cream. Then suddenly, out of the blue you are hit with the most excruciating headache in the world! Fortunately they only last about 20 seconds.

The dilation may be caused by a nerve center located above the roof of your mouth - when this nerve center gets cold; it seems to be over-reacting and tries to heat your brain. Therefore, the easy way to avoid brain in freeze would be to keep cold things away from the roof of your mouth!"