Extremely cold water can make my stomach cramp, if I drink very much of it at once.
I think the USA is rather unusual, in world terms, in its taste for drinks to be served just about at freezing point. That’s not really a common thing globally and takes some getting used to. Ice-cold drinks make my mouth hurt (not my teeth, just a general ache of the mouth) if drunk too fast, and you can feel the coldness hitting your stomach which is kind of odd. Plus you can’t really taste the beverage if it’s freezing cold. I can see why it’s a popular thing in, say, the desert states in summer, but people still seem to drink icy-cold drinks even in winter in the northern states.
I’m pretty sure there’s no health issue, though. (BTW as I posted a few days ago, I was told a similar thing in Switzerland 15 years or so ago: that drinking cold beer while eating cheese fondue was a bad idea as it would solidify the cheese in my stomach.)
I’ve heard people in Japan express the cold water is bad for you belief, but it’s not particularly strong and cold beverages are readily available. The explanation I got was along the lines of oils and fats coagulating. I always figured it was a holdover belief from back when water had to be boiled to ensure safety.
Data point: my relatives in Poland believe the same thing. It’s gotten a bit better now (better water quality, better understanding of the importance of hydration) but I remember being served glasses of piping-HOT water as a kid visiting in the summertimes.
God, I was perma-thirsty visiting that branch of the family tree. 
One time to avoid cold water is right before you have to speak or sing. I’ve been taught by various professors and mentors over the years that ice cold water will “shock” your vocal chords, which is not something you want right before a public speaking event. I also avoid dairy, soft drinks, etc. Room temperature water or a cup of luke-warm tea works for me.
But as for long term damage, uhh no.
When I was in HS, I played games with a friend. When we came in all overheated, we could have only two of those 4 oz paper cups of cold water or three of room temperature water, orders of his father who was a doctor! With his head up an asshole; he actually was a proctologist.
On a warm day like today (29 C) I drank a 16 oz glass of ice water.
There’s bottled water aplenty, and often it’s not available cold. Plus, I drink the water from the moonisipal wader suply with no bad affex.
Actually, I really do drink the municipal water. I have a whole house filter that keeps out most of the bad stuff.
Ha. No
Well, if it’s on Bookface, it MUST be true! :smack:
Sure, drinking cold drinks can cause hypothermia, but I guess by the time this becomes somewhere near a threat you would have to drink a minimum of 10 litters of Iced water – now, this is an uneducated estimate, since I never really tried just that.
Sure enough, drinking or eating to much of everything can cause problems to your digestive system, but having ice cubes in your water will not cause you any harm.
I was also told in Germany (Adults/Teacher/Parents, etc….), that distilled water is deadly – that also turned out so TRUE – Since I’m clearly died and came back from the dead.
Also, if you ever come across this 5 Sundays occur only every 823 years myth…… that’s also not true, this happens every year – at least ONCE, sometimes even 2, 3 or 4 times every year.
Well. . . since the OP has been answered, just consider this:
A water molecule is only one oxygen atom away from hydrogen peroxide, a substance so volatile that it basically explodes if it is kept in too high a concentration.
Also, our blood is iron-based. Think about how water rusts iron. It’s doing the same thing to your blood!
Personally, I stay away from the stuff as much as possible.
Indian people also don’t drink a lot of cold water. Admittedly, they don’t drink a lot of water in general.
I love an icy cold glass of tap water. Nothing is better. I don’t understand bottled water in the States, at all.
Anaamika, I recently gave up soda (killed me to do it) and have been drinking much more water. Tap water with ice??? Delicious. Never used to like water when I was hooked on the bubbly crack, but now that I have kicked the soda habit, water is great. And tap water is the best. I bought myself a nice water bottle that I pack with ice before I leave home. I don’t want to be even tempted to be swindled on the street by anyone selling bottled water!
You should drink the water rather than try to inhale it. That way, it won’t affect the temperature of your vocal cords, which are located in the air passageway, and not the food passageway.
I’d heard of not drinking something too cold, specially too fast, as in “it will make your throat hurt!” - but never heard it attributed to any effect on fats. Given that it’s said most commonly by caretakers to children, I suspect it’s also intended to avoid it “going the other way”.
Legend used to blame the death of Philip the Handsome on having drunk too-cold water too fast when he was all het up from playing jai-alai in the sun, but nowadays the most common theories are a typhoid he was already developing by the time he went to play, or sunstroke.
I can believe that. Also that if you gulp it down too fast, you can get an ice cream headache. As to the congealing fats, I have stomach acid and bile to deal with that.
I knew someone who worked Renfaires in hot areas. He said that he’d discovered that his body would adjust to the heat, so that after a bit he’d be comfortable, unless he drank something chilled. If he did that, he body shifted back to wanting to be cooler and he’d be miserable until it adjusted back. If he drank only room temperature beverages, though, he’d be fine.
If that’s typical, I can see why avoiding cold water would be promoted. The momily (does anyone else remember momilies?) about digestion could just be the thing that was successful in promoting the idea whereas the true reason got shrugged off. Final effect: spread a story about digestion - get surrounded by people who are less grumpy from the heat.
Of course, if you’re going into and out of AC areas, you’re not going to adjust anyway. Oh, and according to CalOSHA training docs, it takes 14 days of working in the heat for your body to adjust as much as it’s going to. They warn to be careful not to overextend in that period, and to drink enough water. They do not warn agains drinking cold water.
Drinking a large amount of extremely cold water very quickly, when you are already overheated, is probably not the smartest thing. I know someone who said he passed out when he did that.
Not that this is drinking cold water, but I’ve heard of someone actually dying from dumping a large 5 gallon bucket of ice water on their head, when they were already extremely overheated. Apparently the shock stopped their heart. Don’t know if it actually happened.
I actually don’t think of bottled water as being a particularly US thing. In fact, the US is pretty damned good in your average restaurant providing you with unlimited tap water. My experience throughout Europe (and, yes, I understand it’s not a homogeneous mass of peoples and traditions) is that tap water is a bit more unusual to be served at a restaurant, and a bottled water of some sort (more often bubbly than not, in my experience) is more typical
Of course you are technically right, but the esophagus and the trachea are immediately adjacent, separated by fractions of an inch at the vocal chords.
Yes, and the whole point of all the facetious responses to drinking cold water being bad for you is to tweak those who forget the body’s ability to regulate temperature… to within a few tenths of a degree. The stomach doesn’t get icy cold, the contents get warmed up by the warm blood pumped through the lining of the stomach.
And it’s even less likely you can cool off the voice box. Cold water passes quickly through the esophagus, a tube that’s filled with warm blood, just like the larynx. Does your neck get cold when you drink ice water?
If drinking cold waters ‘shocks’ the vocal cords (sorry, have to point out, no ‘h’) such that it affects singing, then it would affect talking, wouldn’t it? When was the last time that drinking cold liquids affected your speech? Or that you felt that your cords were ‘shocked’?
I’m sure that the vocal cords get cooled down more so by the simple act of breathing in relatively cool air than what drinking a cold drink could ever do.