What are the harmful effects of drinking ice water?

In hot weather, many people use ice water to cool down and quench their thirst. However, using too much ice water regularly will directly affect your health such as sore throat, tooth decay, and affect blood circulation.

What are the harmful effects of drinking ice water?

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Causes digestive disorders

Lao Dong newspaper quoted Healthline as saying that when you drink ice water, the digestive system's ability to absorb nutrients to create energy is limited. This can lead to dehydration.

In addition, ice water will cause blood vessels to constrict, hindering digestion and not allowing them to function properly. Common problems when drinking cold water are stomachache, nausea, and upset stomach.

Weakens the immune system

When you drink cold water right after a meal, it can create excess mucus inside your body.

This reduces the function of your immune system, making you more susceptible to illness. Common problems caused by drinking cold water include runny nose, cough, cold, sore throat.

Drinking ice cold water in hot weather is very dangerous for your health.

Causes fat accumulation

Many people believe that drinking ice cold water can make the body work harder, thus burning more calories. However, this is completely untrue.

In fact, cold temperatures in the body cause fats to harden and clog, making it difficult for the body to burn them, leading to weight gain.

Constricts blood vessels, causing bloating and indigestion

VTV News online newspaper quoted MSc. Dr. Le Thi Hai, nutrition expert, National Institute of Nutrition, saying that although the weather is hot, our body temperature is always at 37 degrees Celsius. When you drink a glass of ice cold water (even only 15-20 degrees Celsius), it will constrict the blood vessels in the body, affecting the digestion and absorption process. Thus, you feel full and have indigestion.

In addition, people have the habit of drinking ice water while eating. If the food is fatty, the cold water will solidify the fat, causing indigestion.

Energy consumption

When you drink cold water, your body will have to expend energy to heat that water into your body.

Sneezing, runny nose, sore throat

Drinking a lot of cold water will increase mucus secretion in the body, weakening the immune system. Many people who drink cold water will often sneeze, have a runny nose, sore throat, etc.

Vinmec General Hospital's website quoted Doctor Dong Xuan Ha - Endoscopy - Gastroenterology Specialist, Vinmec Ha Long International General Hospital, saying that to avoid sore throat from drinking cold ice water, flu, or even heat shock, when you have just come back from the sun or feel thirsty, you should only drink a small amount of ice to cool down. Do not drink water that is too cold immediately.

You should drink ice water slowly.

Experts advise that you should not drink too much cold water on a summer day. To cool down in the summer, you can drink guava juice, green tea, black bean juice. Along with that, you should eat lots of vegetables and fruits rich in potassium such as pennywort, tomatoes, jute, and fish mint./.