# Why does ice cream make you thirsty?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ice-cream-make-you-thirsty/8670
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 15, 2000, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ice-cream-make-you-thirsty/8670 "2000-03-15T05:42:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Popillia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Popillia)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2000, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ice-cream-make-you-thirsty/8670/1 "2000-03-15T05:42:00Z")
All my life I’ve heard that ice cream makes you thirsty. I remember as a kid always being told this, and I guess it was because we would always want a drink after eating ice cream. Well on the way to work tonight I stopped and got a Nutty Buddy ice cream cone, and as soon as I was done eating it I noticed I was extremely thirsty and of course I recalled what I was told as a kid.
Has anyone else ever experienced this, and if it is true, why does ice cream make you thirsty?
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### Author:  [@funneefarmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funneefarmer)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2000, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ice-cream-make-you-thirsty/8670/2 "2000-03-15T12:46:00Z")
Well after looking at ingredients lists for both ice cream and cones I’d guess it is the salt in the cone. Do you get the same thirst after eating ice cream in a bowl ?
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### Author:  [@Sassmouth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sassmouth)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2000, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ice-cream-make-you-thirsty/8670/3 "2000-03-15T13:47:00Z")
I get thirsty after ice cream in a bowl OR in a cone. I think it is very common. Our Baskin Robbins even has a little water cooler set up in the store for those of us afflicted with Ice Cream Dry Mouth Syndrome.
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### Author:  [@Alphagene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alphagene)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2000, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ice-cream-make-you-thirsty/8670/4 "2000-03-15T14:31:00Z")
WAG:
Could it be all the sugar/sweeteners in the ice cream? The high concentration of sugar left in your mouth could make you thirsty.
* * *
**Gypsy** : Tom, I don’t get you.
**Tom Servo** : Nobody does. I’m the wind, baby.
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### Author:  [@pluto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pluto)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2000, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ice-cream-make-you-thirsty/8670/5 "2000-03-15T23:50:00Z")
FWIW, I always thought it was the sugar, too.
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“You have no choice but to be impressed.”
Tony Rothman and George Sudarshan
_Doubt and Certainty_
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### Author:  [@GasDr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GasDr)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2000, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ice-cream-make-you-thirsty/8670/6 "2000-03-16T00:37:00Z")
It’s the sugar. After your blood glucose reaches a certain level, it is dumped into the urine by your kidneys taking water with it leading to dehydration and thirst.
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### Author:  [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2000, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ice-cream-make-you-thirsty/8670/7 "2000-03-16T02:41:00Z")
I get thirsty even if I drink a malt. And also if I am thirsty drinking milk doesn’t help it.
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### Author:  [@Popillia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Popillia)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2000, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ice-cream-make-you-thirsty/8670/8 "2000-03-16T05:50:00Z")
Not to disagree with the sugar theory, but if that is what causes it then why wouldn’t I have the same sensation after eating a candy bar or hard candy?
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### Author:  [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)
#### Post date: [March 17, 2000, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ice-cream-make-you-thirsty/8670/9 "2000-03-17T06:08:00Z")
Just a SWAG but ice cream (like most dairy products) tends to leave a kind of film in your mouth after eating it. I’ve experienced the same effect after eating cheese or drinking milk. I suspect the sensation of being thirsty in this case is due to the urge to wash the film off.
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“It turns out it isn’t so much a law of physics as it is a local ordinance.”
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### Author:  [@SkySlash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkySlash)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2000, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ice-cream-make-you-thirsty/8670/10 "2000-03-16T19:43:00Z")
Most ice-cream has the base-ingredients for Formaldehyde in it…that’s your answer 😃
No joke either…eat up!
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In my limited experience, I’ve discovered everyone is an idiot until they’ve prove themselves otherwise!
-SS
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### Author:  [@funneefarmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funneefarmer)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2000, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ice-cream-make-you-thirsty/8670/11 "2000-03-16T23:19:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Originally posted by SkySlash:
> \*\*Most ice-cream has the base-ingredients for Formaldehyde in it…that’s your answer 😃
>
> No joke either…eat up!
>
> \*\*
Hydrogen, Carbon and Oxygen.
Milk inactivates ingested Formaldehyde.
A good little fact to know in case you end up drinking shots of it in the back of the funeral home.
Milk it does your body good.
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### Author:  [@Alphagene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alphagene)
#### Post date: [March 17, 2000, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ice-cream-make-you-thirsty/8670/12 "2000-03-17T00:31:00Z")
Hm, if I may merge my theory with tanstaf’s: The milky film left in your mouth is also high in sugar. So you have a film of sugar throughout your mouth. The film itself not only makes you thirsty, it also harder for your saliva to wash away the sugar.
* * *
**Gypsy** : Tom, I don’t get you.
**Tom Servo** : Nobody does. I’m the wind, baby.