That's a Relief: Ice Cream Probably Doesn't Cause Brain Damage | Discoblog | Discover Magazine

So sweet… so painful. You try to hold back, to stop yourself from over-indulging, because you know what will happen: That crippling, brain-piercing pain of the ever-feared brain freeze will ruin your ice cream love-fest.
Bjorn Carey of Popular Science discussed this terrifying condition with medical experts, seeking their opinion:
First, let's get one thing straight. "This condition is referred to as an 'ice-cream headache,' " says Stacey Gray, a sinus surgeon at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston. "It's a very technical term."
Gray also noted that, even though no studies have been done on the exact cause of ice cream headache, she believes we can safely rule out the theory that imbibing overly cold edibles actually lowers brain temperature or causes brain damage. The pain that comes from slurping that Slurpee doesn't have anything to do with the brain, she says.