Ice Cream And Cocaine

These two things have more in common then you might think. Foods like ice cream affect the reward center of the brain. When we eat ice cream, a signal in our brain goes off and we see higher dopamine activity. Dopamine is a hormone that basically makes us feel good. When you eat certain foods, like ice cream, you will experience higher dopamine activity and you will feel good. This is where emotional eating can become a problem.

So this sounds pretty good. If you are feeling down or in a bad mood, just eat some ice cream and you will feel better. There are a few problems with this. The first should be obvious. If you are eating ice cream every time you are bummed you will probably start packing on some pounds. There is also another very big problem with eating ice cream frequently.

A new study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition looked at the brain's response to frequent ice cream eating. Previous studies have shown that weight gain leads to reduced reward-region responsivity to high calorie food consumption and reduced dopamine receptors. What they found was that those that consumed ice cream on a frequent basis had a reduce response in the reward center of the brain.

This means that the more you eat ice cream the less you will feel good from it. So to respond to that you will start to increase the amount of ice cream you consume to try and boost your dopamine levels. You just won't get the same response anymore from the same amount of ice cream. Sound familiar? Yes, drugs like cocaine work the same way. This is why people get addicted and need to take more drugs and more often to get the same feeling from them. We essentially build a tolerance to drugs and ice cream.

I do think there is something you can do to help prevent this. Well, the easy answer is to just stay away from ice cream. But for some, myself included, this is not an option. I'm not a big dessert/sweets person but I cannot pass up ice cream. The main point of this study I feel is the idea of frequency. It is ok to indulge in ice cream or other treats, but it should not be every time. Just me, it is worth the wait. If this is something you do just every now and then you will not risk reducing your dopamine receptors and you will still get that good feeling from it. So instead of having ice cream as a staple at the grocery store, just stick to it for special occasions or maybe to reward yourself if you have been really good with your workouts and diet.


You Stay Healthy San Diego,

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
San Diego Premier Training
My Workout Creator