Imagine being on the beach, thirsty under the hottest hours sun, and see one of the classic ice cream carts on the seafront pass. Optimal! Ice cream you refresh yourself momentarily (and knows you!), but shortly afterwards it leads you to have almost more thirsty than before.
It seems almost paradoxical, but science provides us with clear answers: after eating an ice cream we try more because of thehigh concentration of sugars, which recall water from the cells of our body, in fact dehydrate itand trigger the need to drink. To this is added a second more subtle effect: the Freddo On the tongue and throat he temporarily reduces the perception of thirst. The result? While we eat ice cream, we are not thirsty, but as soon as the feeling of cold vanishes and the sugars begin to make their effect feel, the body corrects the shot and makes us one Sudden thirst. What looked like a moisturizing food proves to be, at least physiologically, a powerful stimulus to dehydration.
Gelato sugars dehydrate our cells
Gelato is a food rich in simple sugars: sucrose, glucosefructose e lactose. These sugars, once ingested, enter the intestine and are quickly absorbed into the blood, increasing theplasma osmolaritythat is, the concentration of compounds dissolved in the blood. To restore the water balance between intracellular areas (inside cells) and extracellular (outside the cells), The water is recalled out of the cellsbecause for osmosis it tends to go from more diluted solutions (cells) to more concentrated solutions (the blood where more sugars are present), however leaving the cells temporarily more “dry”.
The increase in concentration of sugars and blood blood sugar is also perceived by some receptors that control thewater balance of the body and immediately report this anomaly to the brain, in the so -called “center of thirst” present in the hypothalamus. When the osmolarity of the blood rises, in fact, the brain interprets this signal as a loss of water, Even if in reality there is still no real dehydration: we do not lose water by sweating or urinating more, but there is only one passage of water from inside outside the cells.
Consequently, the brain stimulates the sense of thirst to restore the volume of liquids. This explains why, especially in very sweet ice cream (and therefore very rich in sugars), the sensation of thirst is particularly intense already after a few minutes.
The cold deceives the brain
While we eat an ice cream, the brain also receives another signal, this time deceptive: the Freddo. The low temperatures activate particular receptors in the mouth, called TRPM8 receptorsthe same managers of the feeling of freshness of the chin. When these receptors are stimulated, they send a sort of “water reassurance” to the brain: in practice, we seem to have drank and be hydrated in advance, even if the water has not yet arrived in the blood.
This phenomenon, called “pre-acepative mechanism“, It is a body strategy to regulate the thirst before even a real change in the liquid balance sheet. However, the effect lasts only a few minutes: as soon as the temperature in the mouth is restored and the sugars begin to exert their osmotic effects, the brain receives new signals – this time authentic – to dehydration.
The result is a thirst that re -emerges decisively, often underestimated up to that moment. It is precisely the interaction between thedeception of the cold and the imbalance created by sugars To make ice cream a food only apparently thirst -quenching, but which can instead increase our need for water. In short, we can say that it is good for our frozen friends: with post-gelated thirst, who does not buy a bottle of water?
Sources
