Why Eating Ice Cream Gives You Brain Freeze

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The instant headache brought on by ice cold food and drinks is the bane of the summer with ice-cream lovers often seen clutching their foreheads waiting for the gripping pain to ease. Scientists have noticed that migraine sufferers are more prone to 'brain freeze' and wondered if the phenomenon could be turned to their advantage.

In experiments by researchers at the National University of Ireland in Galway and Harvard Medical School, a team of 13 healthy volunteers deliberately induced the brain freeze so the effects could be studied. It was found that the pain was brought on by a rapid increase in blood flow through a major blood vessel in the brain, the anterior cerebral artery.