What Is the Ice Hack for Weight Loss?

Drinking, Immersion, and Supplements

Medically reviewed by Josephine Hessert, DO

Ice hacks for weight loss have trended on social media. You might have come across a few interesting strategies that promote various forms of ice therapy for weight loss. Some of the different ice hacks for weight loss include cold exposure, Himalayan ice hack, Alpine ice hack, or eating cold foods to burn more calories and fat.

The article will discuss the theories, risks, and possible benefits of ice hacks for weight loss.

What Is the Ice Hack for Weight Loss?

The various social media posts that promote ice hacks for weight loss fall into a few categories, as follows:

• Consuming cold beverages, foods, and ice

• Cold treatments such as cold showers, cold baths, cooling vests, ice packs

• Specific supplements sold to be taken in addition to ice water, such as the Alpilean supplement, which includes Himalayan herbs and is also called the alpine ice hack and Himalayan ice hack

Each uses some concept and form of ice for weight loss, which is why they all seem to trend together.

Consuming Cold Food and Beverages

The simplest ice hack for weight loss is drinking ice-cold beverages (especially water), placing ice in your drinks, or consuming food that’s cold (rather than hot or room temperature). Social media influencers who promote these methods might share how much weight they've lost and may also suggest how often you should consume cold food or drinks.

Physical Cold Exposure

Another ice hack for weight loss involves exposing your body to cold temperatures. Methods include:

• Taking cold showers

• Cold water immersion (ice baths)

• Wearing cooling vests

• Placing ice packs on your body

• Hiking in the cold

• Keeping a cold temperature indoors

You might come across social media influencers walking outside, exercising in the cold, or jumping into a cold pool.

Learn More: When Is It Too Cold to Run Outside?

Supplements

One type of ice hack involves purchasing certain products that are claimed to replicate the effects of ice or cold. Social media posts for this ice hack may be sponsored by the products' manufacturers or vendors. Vendors may provide instructions to influencers, or influencers may describe their own experiences with these products.

Could the Ice Hack Help You Lose Weight?

The science behind ice hacks for weight loss is based on theories that have been tested in a laboratory setting. But there’s scarce evidence when it comes to actual human weight loss.

What the Research Says

Research shows that cold exposure may affect certain muscle proteins in a manner that stimulates fat breakdown.

The authors of a 2022 International Journal of Molecular Sciences article concluded that it can be assumed that exercise along with cold exposure might be the best way to gain "beneficial health effects.”

It's still unsettled whether cold exposure can lead to weight loss in a real-world setting. A review published in 2022 in the journal Frontiers in Physiology included an analysis of experiments that measured the effect of cold exposure on metabolism (the process that changes food into energy in order to fuel the body).

While the studies were all done differently and the results weren’t consistent, the authors suggested that cold exposure could improve energy expenditure (calorie burning) in adults, which is beneficial against obesity.

Another review of research studies published in 2022 examined the effects of cold water immersion on humans. The review authors noted that cold water exposure appeared to reduce fat tissue and improve insulin sensitivity.

Insulin sensitivity is how well your cells respond to the hormone insulin, to draw sugar in from the blood. Improved insulin sensitivity could help prevent diabetes. However, the researchers concluded that results in the studies surveyed were inconsistent, and they couldn’t make definitive claims of any benefit.

Learn More: Insulin Resistance vs. Diabetes: Explaining the Differences

What Does This Mean for You?

When it comes to practical implementation of the various ice hacks for weight loss, it’s hard to determine whether they actually work since they are not controlled research experiments that define quantity, duration, or a consistent type of ice hack. Also, there's no documented evidence that these methods actually work for people who are trying to lose weight.

In addition, medical guidance does not exist to determine the effects of ice on weight loss, the best methods for losing weight with ice, if certain populations could benefits more than others, and whether any weight that's lost stays off.

Safety of the Ice Hack for Weight Loss

It’s important to know that there are possible health risks associated with using ice hacks for weight loss. While some of the ice hacks based in social media have not been thoroughly evaluated because they are so new and diverse, there are well-documented risks of cold exposure in general.

The type of hack, as well as its method and your underlying health, will have a significant impact on the safety of these methods.

Gastrointestinal Side Effects

One of the known risks of consuming excessively cold food or drink is delayed gastric emptying, which means slow digestion.

If you have certain underlying digestive issues, such as gastroparesis (slow intestinal movements), consuming excessively cold food or beverages may worsen it. Gastroparesis is one of the effects of diabetic neuropathy (nerve damage due to long-term diabetes).

Unusual exposures to cold food or drinks can alter the gut microbiome. The gut microbiome is the community of bacteria and other microbes that live in the digestive system. It helps protect the body from infection and facilitates the breakdown of food so it can be chemically converted to useful nutrients.

Alterations in the gut microbiome can lead to health benefits for some people. But research suggests that cold exposure through eating and drinking can have both beneficial and harmful effects on the gut microbiome.

Conclusions have not been drawn on whether consuming cold food for weight loss will benefit your digestive system. Some research suggests that various underlying conditions or risk factors could impact whether cold food or drinks could be beneficial or harmful.

More research is needed to get specific and accurate direction about this point.

Cardiovascular Risk

The American Heart Association warns that cold plunges can have a dangerous effect on heart rate and function, especially in people with heart disease. No matter how healthy you are, plunging your whole body into cold water will affect your heart rate, breathing rate, blood pressure, and hormone function.

Some athletes use a cold water plunge to help promote fitness and athletic performance. However, challenging your body with sudden and extreme strategies is not recommended and can cause hypothermia (excessively low body temperature).

Instead, professional athletes are encouraged to train by gradually building skills with guidance from experienced coaches.

Unknown Risks

The safety and dangers of weight loss supplements are less clear—and there are many unknowns. Supplements are not subjected to the same scrutiny as over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription medications.

Those who promote supplements may make unsupported claims. Furthermore, a product label may not accurately reflect the contents.

Ineffective and Possibly Dangerous Supplements

The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health notes that no dietary supplements sold for weight loss have been proven effective for long-term weight loss, and some even have dangerous side effects.

Adding the Ice Hack to a Weight Loss Program

Many experts agree that weight loss is based on how many calories you take in and how many calories your body uses.

Any weight loss strategy you try needs to be sensible, focusing on reducing calories and increasing physical activity. Tricks to help your body metabolize your calories faster haven’t been proven safe or effective.

Although ice hacks may not lead to weight loss, drinking ice water rather than beverages containing calories may help you avoid consuming too many calories. Walking outside in the cold may not lead to the type of weight loss hacks promise, but walking in general can help promote healthy weight loss.

Avoid Cold Injury

If you use ice packs, be sure to protect your skin from cold injury by wrapping the ice in a towel and avoiding unusually cold packs. Also, dress warmly when walking outside in cold weather to avoid frostbite and other dangers of cold exposure.

Protect your fingers with mittens or gloves, and wear a coat, scarf, hat, and warm socks and shoes.

Summary

A variety of ice hacks for weight loss circulate on social media. Some influencers who promote them may have experienced weight loss by using these methods, and some may be promoting a product that they are trying to help sell.

Scientific studies in the laboratory setting suggest that cold may cause more energy consumption, potentially burning more calories. However, there’s no evidence that ice supplement products, exposure to cold temperatures, or consuming cold food, ice, or cold drinks would lead to weight loss in a real-world setting.

Drinking more water and taking brisk walks in cool temperatures can be good for overall health.

Read the original article on Verywell Health.