Ice cream as a healthy food? Researchers wanted to bury these findings. Let's look for a mechanism of action instead.
Liposomes, galectin-3 inhibition, resistant starches, structured water. Maybe?
Nutrition Sherlocks, here’s the puzzle:
Since the 1980s, researchers at Harvard University have collected "food-frequency questionnaires" and medical data from thousands of healthcare providers around the United States. In 2005, they released a study that looked at one cohort of that data, which followed men between 1986 and 1998.
The researchers found that a high dairy intake, especially a higher low-fat-dairy intake, was associated with a lower risk of diabetes. "The risk reduction was almost exclusively associated with low-fat or non-fat dairy foods," Harvard said in a news release.
Specifically, the study had found that men who consumed at least two servings of skim or low-fat milk each day had a 22% reduced risk of developing diabetes. And the study found the same risk reduction among men who had at least two servings of ice cream every week. (Johns, 2023, advisory.com)
How could eating ice cream be beneficial for health? The findings were rechecked, and then kind of suppressed when the data remained significant. There was also a smaller benefit found for yogurt consumption.
Could it be a microbiome effect from emulsifiers used in ice cream?
The health benefit of moderate ice cream intake (2 servings per day = 1 cup total) may be due to the intactness of the original milk emulsion in ice cream production (liposomal nutrient delivery) compared to when milk or yogurt is made. Ice cream, like pudding, also has starches which were thought possibly to be microbiome friendly. Seaweed sourced guar gum, carrageenan, or agar agar may be used to thicken and stabilize ice cream similarly to corn or tapioca starch in pudding.
Guar gum has been found to have colitis inducing effects on microbiome health, though. (Paudel, et al., 2022) Most commonly used emulsifiers have been found to have negative effects on the microbiome, except for lecithin. (Naimi, et al., 2021)
Commonly used emulsifiers in ice cream do not seem like they would be helping health significantly. Eating other seaweeds used as food is likely beneficial for microbiome health. (Shannon, Conlon, Hayes, 2021) So it may be a moderation issue, or the intensity of the emulsifying power is simply too strong for our intestinal lining which needs to maintain a jelly like layer that includes negatively charged sialic acid proteins on the intestinal lining.
I use sassafras leaf Gumbo file powder as an emulsifier or ground flax seed meal, I prefer the golden seed meal over the grittier brown flax seeds.
Reasons I type - more legible:
Gumbo File - anti-inflammatory and possibly anti-cancer
This information about the health benefits and history of the spice currently known as Gumbo File was added/expanded at the end of a recipe that I was typing up because the notes were hard to read: but the Gumbo File information became part of the NRF2 promoting diet story (
Back to the article:
Pudding may have been included with ice cream in another study that found benefits for "Dairy-based dessert" intake. (Johns, 2023, advisory.com) Resistant starches in pudding would be beneficial for the microbiome.
The liposomal membrane structures in milk are more complex, tri layer, than standard bilateral membranes. Butter churning breaks that up. Less processed milk is likely still in a structured water form, quantum flow, compared to processed extractions made from fresh whole milk. (Johns, 2023, advisory.com)
It was pointed out that ice cream has fat content leading to a low glycemic index which would promote more stable blood sugar than a carbohydrate food. If a person ate a bowl of ice cream instead of a bowl of fat free sorbet which has a high glycemic index, their blood sugar wouldn’t become as elevated after the fattier dessert. (Johns, 2023, advisory.com)
More mixed macronutrient snacks and meals does reduce risk of a rapid blood sugar spike which could help against risks associated with Type 2 Diabetes. A frozen fat free dairy free sugary fruit sorbet would be a simple carbohydrate load that would rapidly be digested and reach the blood stream as increased blood glucose. It is also more likely to be overeaten as fats have a satiating effect. Bitter tastes also help so a black walnut ice cream may have some Nrf2 promoting benefits.
A potential confounding factor was mentioned - The study used data from an older self-reported food survey study, which is a database now that has been used by many teams. Limitations of food surveys can be under-reporting of foods a person thinks of as a negative and over-estimating those thought of as healthy.
Did I eat a pint of coffee sorbet in one sitting? (*two cups, 4 servings) Why yes, I did. And it was delicious and I will try not to buy it again, as that is simpler for me than trying to eat only a small amount of something so sweet and delicious.
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This post of mine is where milk sugar and heart disease intersect, or one of the posts. The post is CoV focused, as spike seems to increase galectin-3. Milk sugar and pectin reduce risks of excess galectin-3, which is often elevated in heart disease too.
VEGF, galactin-3, chimeric spike, and milk sugar. (substack.com)
And the milk sugar inhibition effect on galectin-3 would also protect against diabetes.
“There are also a large number of animal experiments revealing that Galectin-3 promotes the inflammation of pancreatic islet β cells and insulin target organs, leading to pancreatic β cell failure and insulin resistance, which in turn leads to diabetes.” (Li, Li, Zhou, Xiao, 2022)
The researcher or team who found the ice cream pattern in the database published a research study the next year with a larger database combined from three previous studies, and found dairy fat not to be directly linked to Type 2 diabetes risk. It mattered what other calories it was being substituted for. Whole grains were more protective than dairy fat, but dairy fat was more protective than refined carbohydrates or other animal fats. (Korat, et al., 2019)
“We used data from participants in 3 prospective cohorts: the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (HPFS), the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS), and the NHS II.”
“Conclusions: Dairy fat intake was not associated with T2D risk in these cohort studies of US men and women when compared with calories from carbohydrate. Replacing dairy fat with carbohydrates from whole grains was associated with lower risk of T2D. Replacement with other animal fats or refined carbohydrates was associated with higher risk.” (Korat, et al., 2019)
Disclaimer: This information is provided for educational purposes within the guidelines of fair use. While I am a Registered Dietitian this information is not intended to provide individual health guidance. Please see a health professional for individual health care purposes.
Reference List
‘How ice cream can impact your health (hint: it might be good for you), David Merritt Johns reports for The Atlantic. April 14, 2023, https://advisory.com/daily-briefing/2023/04/14/ice-cream
(Choi, et al., 2005) Choi HK, Willett WC, Stampfer MJ, Rimm E, Hu FB. Dairy Consumption and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Men: A Prospective Study. Arch Intern Med. 2005;165(9):997–1003. doi:10.1001/archinte.165.9.997 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-abstract/1152788
(Korat, et al., 2019) Ardisson Korat AV, Li Y, Sacks F, Rosner B, Willett WC, Hu FB, Sun Q. Dairy fat intake and risk of type 2 diabetes in 3 cohorts of US men and women. Am J Clin Nutr. 2019 Nov 1;110(5):1192-1200. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/nqz176. PMID: 31414137; PMCID: PMC6821544. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6821544/
(Li, Li, Zhou, Xiao, 2022) Li Y, Li T, Zhou Z, Xiao Y. Emerging roles of Galectin-3 in diabetes and diabetes complications: A snapshot. Rev Endocr Metab Disord. 2022 Jun;23(3):569-577. doi: 10.1007/s11154-021-09704-7. Epub 2022 Jan 27. PMID: 35083706; PMCID: PMC9156459. https://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9156459/#:~:text=There%20are%20also%20a%20large,in%20turn%20leads%20to%20diabetes
(Naimi, et al., 2021) Naimi, S., Viennois, E., Gewirtz, A.T. et al. Direct impact of commonly used dietary emulsifiers on human gut microbiota. Microbiome 9, 66 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-020-00996-6 https://microbiomejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40168-020-00996-6
(Paudel, et al., 2022) Paudel D, Tian S, Joseph G, Prodes E, Nair DVT, Singh V. Guar Gum-Induced Changes in Gut Microbiota Metabolic Activity and Intestinal Immune Response Augments Susceptibility to Experimental Colitis. Curr Dev Nutr. 2022 Jun 14;6(Suppl 1):992. doi: 10.1093/cdn/nzac068.021. PMCID: PMC9194036. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9194036/
(Shannon, Conlon, Hayes, 2021) Shannon E, Conlon M, Hayes M. Seaweed Components as Potential Modulators of the Gut Microbiota. Mar Drugs. 2021 Jun 23;19(7):358. doi: 10.3390/md19070358. PMID: 34201794; PMCID: PMC8303941. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8303941/
What about drinking raw, whole milk? I’ve heard it has miracle benefits.
Your right about the impulse control needing to happen at the store. Once the coffee sorbet, or whatever it is, is home your gonna eat all of it. That's how it always is.