{"id":11926,"date":"2025-11-06T13:04:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T12:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/?p=11926"},"modified":"2025-12-03T13:30:29","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T12:30:29","slug":"it-is-not-true-that-ice-makes-you-gain-weight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/2025\/11\/06\/it-is-not-true-that-ice-makes-you-gain-weight\/","title":{"rendered":"It Is Not True That Ice Makes You Gain Weight"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Original article<\/em><\/a> (in Serbian) was published on 4\/11\/2025; Author: Teodora Koledin<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The tabloid Informer published <\/a>a story with the unusual claim that \u201cice makes you gain weight.\u201d Describing ice as a \u201csilent saboteur of diets<\/strong>,\u201d the author supports this assertion with arguments derived from traditional Eastern medicine. However, when asked by Traga\u010d<\/strong> whether consuming ice could lead to weight gain, Stanford University medical professor <\/a>Dr. Christopher Gardner<\/strong> gave a clear answer \u2013 no<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Informer<\/em> article states that \u201cwhen we consume too many cold drinks or food directly from the refrigerator, the body has to spend extra energy to warm it up to internal temperature.\u201d According to the journalist, this process depletes Qi<\/em> (the so-called flow of life force), slows down circulation, and \u2013\u00a0as ancient healers claim \u2013\u00a0freezes internal flows of energy and blood. \u201cWhen Qi is blocked, energy and water, instead of circulating freely, begin to accumulate in the body. This can lead to swelling, water retention, a feeling of dampness in the body, and digestive problems,\u201d Informer<\/em> concludes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similar disinformation \u2013\u00a0claiming that drinking cold water increases belly fat \u2013\u00a0 has already circulated on social media abroad, but it was debunked <\/a>by the French fact-checking outlet AFP Fact Check<\/strong>. Several other websites described the same assertions as \u201cmyths\u201d (1<\/a>, 2<\/a>), meaning claims with no basis in reliable scientific data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Experts: Informer\u2019s theses about ice don\u2019t hold up<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In a response to Traga\u010d<\/strong>, Professor Christopher Gardner<\/strong> \u2013 who is also director of the Nutrition Studies Center at Stanford \u2013 said he would be \u201castonished\u201d if anyone had ever tested this hypothesis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf the caloric content of the drinks consumed is the same, with or without ice, I have no reason to believe the impact on weight could be different,\u201d the professor said, noting that the only \u201cqualification\u201d to this statement could be the dosage, or quantity. But even in that case, if you drink somewhat more (cold) liquid than usual, the effect described by Informer<\/em> should not occur<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We also consulted Dr. Ivana \u0160arac<\/strong>, a research associate<\/a> at the Institute for Medical Research, University of Belgrade, whose field of interest is nutrition and metabolism. In her response, Dr. \u0160arac stated that \u201cice and cold drinks cannot make you gain weight<\/strong>\u201d and that the claims in Informer<\/em> are \u201ccompletely inaccurate and without any scientific basis.<\/strong>\u201d Dr. \u0160arac added that there are even opposing opinions suggesting that consuming cold drinks and food can speed up metabolism by stimulating thermogenesis, and thereby glucose and fat consumption in the body:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cAccording to some claims, drinking 250 ml of cold water can burn 7 additional calories to heat it up to the body temperature of 37 degrees Celsius. However, this effect is negligible in terms of weight reduction. To lose weight, at least a 300\u2013500 calorie deficit is needed. There is evidence that exposure to cold for a certain period can speed up metabolism (through activation of the adrenergic nervous system and stimulation of the \u2018browning\u2019 of fat tissue, meaning the development of brown fat cells responsible for thermogenesis, warming the body, and burning calories), but all of these studies were conducted on animals, while studies on weight-loss effects in humans are lacking.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

As for research testing the effects of ice or cold liquids on the human body, there isn’t much. A 2008 study<\/a> showed that consuming cold fluids before and during exercise can reduce the rise in internal temperature and extend cycling time. Another study<\/a> examined the effects of beverage temperature on body weight and composition, but the experiment was conducted on rats. Based on its results, researchers concluded that \u201cconsuming cold water increases muscle mass gain and reduces body fat gain due to increased energy expenditure.\u201d However, it should be noted that this does not necessarily mean the effects would be the same in humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Informer<\/em>\u2019s article was also republished on the portal Atvbl<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Original article (in Serbian) was published on 4\/11\/2025; Author: Teodora Koledin The tabloid Informer published a story with the unusual claim that \u201cice makes you gain weight.\u201d Describing ice as a \u201csilent saboteur of diets,\u201d the author supports this assertion with arguments derived from traditional Eastern medicine. However, when asked by Traga\u010d whether consuming ice […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":11927,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[316],"tags":[402,674,675],"class_list":["post-11926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fact-checks","tag-diet","tag-ice","tag-nutrition"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11926"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11928,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11926\/revisions\/11928"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}