Ice Cream and Sinus Infections: The Link to Artificial Flavorings

Hi there, I'd love to say that this is concept isn't true for me, but I've been suffering from a sinus infection that started 2 days after eating a frozen yoghurt at Pinkberry. Thanks for this research, I'm adding it to my arsenal for my clients.

I must say that this is THE most ridiculous thing that I have ever read. But I find it even more ridiculous that it's actually true! Last night I went with a bunch of friends to Dairy Queen and I got a strawberry shake. 3 hours later, when I was back at home, I started to feel rather crappy so I just went to bed. I am now still in bed with flu like symptoms. This has NEVER happened to me before. Why does it happen to some people and not others? Why am I experiencing this now where I have not before?

Oh my gosh! I am glad I came across this site. My husband thought I was crazy, but I get a sinus infection about two to three day's after eating ice cream at Dairy Queen. We have a dairy queen right by our house, and my husband eats their a lot, and doesn't seem to have any problems. For some reason I do, and I have stopped eating Dairy Queen and most ice creams because I was tired of getting sinus infections. Thank you for sharing this with the world. I don't get many sinus infections anymore because I don't eat ice cream.

As much as I don't believe in eating foods that are processed with additives and preservatives I don't really think it's what is causing peoples reactions to eating ice cream. If you ask any Chinese medicine practitioner they will tell you that ice cream is very cold in nature and dairy is considered damp in nature. When you put the two together it's causing a cold/damp condition in the body. An acupuncturist could probably explain this much better but I've know n for years that when I eat ice cream I'm taking a huge risk that I might get sick the next day.

I have suffered severe sinusitis attacks for a number of years particularly after the birth of my second child. i have sometimes wondered whether eating desserts with custard have caused some of the terrible attacks I have suffered. Now that I have read about some of the ice-cream related problems by others I feel that there must be a link. On many an occasion I have woken up with pain around my eyes following an evening on which I have eaten custard. I am definitely going to try the apple cider vinegar treatment.

I have had my suspicions for some time now about my reaction to chocolate chip mint ice cream. I seem to always get sick with bronchitis that lasts months. I have been a skeptic of this connection since I grew up eating ice cream ( this flavor always a favorite) with no problems. I did it again last Friday night and it started Saturday and I have been stick with bronchial asthma for a week. I also get sick eating cold cereals with bht that didn't bother me as a kid. This site puts it together for me. I'm done with ice cream. Is it the corn in cereals (the rare treat of Lucky Charms)? Or the BHT?

Thank you so much, I am in the throws of a megga sinus attack with no other reason for it than a new brand of icecream which states its the Smooth icecream with the worlds finest vanilla flavour! Sourced from Madagascan vanilla..........Now I am informed and will go back to making my own with homegrown strawberries and NO artificial flavours.. Its such a relief to learn its not the icecream as such but once again its the Ad-ins.....

Cider vinegar massage and steaming are finally providing me relief thanks to sites like yours who care enough to help.

I knew it!!! I should have looked this up years ago! Thank you. I get horribly sick every single time after eating my favorite ice cream, Hagendaz vanilla Swiss almond. I am sick today, sinus and all. Had homemade papaya shake with carnation evaporated milk last night. So was it the milk? Was it the brown sugar? Was it that it was too cold? Or all of the above? I would really appreciate your feedback. thanks again to everyone.

Have you checked into fungal infection as reason for sinusitis. One quick remedy could be mixing 1% johnson's baby shampoo (probably anything that has surfactant would do) with 99% water. put in nose with eye dropper. it clears away biofilm. I used it for sinusitis headache and it worked to some extent.

Some have used gut bacteria and put into nose. I'd consider also treating with antifungal.

Here is a treatment protocol someone wrote up. it's very informative.

http://www.phytotechdr.com/blog/chronic-sinusitis-natural-treatment-protocols

let me clarify what I just said about 1% shampoo solution

to make nasal solution I used ... 1 cup water, 1/4 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp johnson baby shampoo ... but this is 2% solution so one can use less than a tsp of shampoo ... the baking soda and salt is needed ... you can use eye dropper or nasal spray bottle to put into nose

Thank you for your article on ice cream and sinus infections, Saturday I went to my local market they had Klondike bars buy one get one free, I been waking up everyday since with a horrible headache and clogged nasal passages, like it says in the article I do not have a runny nose. I just wanted to share my experience so anyone reading this knows it is true, from now on I will be staying away from ice cream.

I believe my 5 yr old is definitely feeling the correlation right now. He was on day 3 of his zpak for his sinus infection and feeling so much better. On day 4 he ate a child-size chocolate frosty from Wendy's. Today, day 5, he became feverish and his sinuses are hurting him terribly. He is miserable and keeps waking up crying. I am definately going to keep my eye on his reaction to ice cream and the likes from now on. So glad to have found this thread. Thanks.

The same thing happened to me I had 2 scoops of 31 flvaors icecream and the next day woke up congested with phlem in my through and other flu symptoms.

After my son had a soft cream ice cream from a well known multi national, his nose was blocked all night. He had "NEON green" discharge from his nose the next day. I googled "neon green discharge to see what was going on, and was amazed at how many people had flu like systems and neon coloured discharge after eating ice cream.

What on earth are they putting in the ice cream?

If my husband eats ice cream before bed I can be sure he will snore for at least half the night.

I finally got him to realize this, and things are much quieter now. If he wants to eat dairy now, he eats it much earlier in the day.

In my opinion dairy products are generally not tolerated well be a lot of people who do not realize it is the dairy causing thier issues. It may be an allergy, or lactose intolerance, but the results are really icky. :-p

Hi Debbie, Because we don't have truth in labeling in Australia we won't ever know the full list of ingredients. It can be fun for your son to help you make ice cream. The cheap ice cream makers can work quite well providing you remember to have the bucket pre frozen. This way you can use the milk and sweetener that suits you. You can even add a little colour with a teaspoon of beetroot juice. I have not done it but I can't see why you could not add a teaspoon of wheatgrass/barley powder to get a tinge of colour. All the best.

I have had this problem for a while. Not only ice-cream, but anything that is sweet. If I have cookies, candy/chocolate & etc. & that was the last thing I ate before going to bed, I develop sinus the next day. I have gotten into a habbit of eating something spicy (eg. Hot chips) & goto bed if I do so. It doesn't happen to anyone I know, therefore I guess its very limited to few of us.

Avoid dairy. Dairy causes thick mucus to form in the body.

Stop eating dairy, a mucusless diet is the only way to rid yourself of sinus and many other issues..... Hope this helps

sinus infection/ice cream connection

I found this site looking for natural sinus infection cures. Something definitely rings true with the ice cream connection. My family went to Baskin-Robbins for their .31 cent scoop night. We never go there, for lots of reasons but, decided it would be a rare treat. This was April 28th. I of course didn't make the connection when I got really sick after. Sinus infection and bronchitis (likely caused by sinusitis)that was treated with antibiotics. The bronchitis seems to have gone, but sinuses not even touched by the drugs. I just tried the ACV treatment and an hour later...WOW! I want to cry. It's been bad these past few years...if this works as good as it seems to, I feel hope! I am breathing through my nose. It's almost shocking how much oxygen I feel like I'm finally getting. It's interesting that the rest of the family didn't get sick like me, but they were super tired for days after. Interesting stuff!

This is feedback for the page regarding Ice Cream and flu.

I found this website when looking for a natural cure for sinus infections. I'm going to try to ACV and will post results.

However, we noticed that IMMEDIATELY after I had eaten a heavily flavoured ice cream from the store, I became suddenly ragingly ill. I developed an overnight sinus infection and seem to have the flu as well. I have eaten this brand of ice cream before, as they advertise 1/2 the fat and 1/2 the sugar in this type and it seemed safe in the past to have a little every once in a while. I can be lactose intolerant to a small degree, so ice cream is a rare treat. This time, it was on a giveaway type of sale that seemed odd to us, they were giving away 2 large containers if you bought one. I tried a mint chocolate chip where they make the ice cream green, I've never eaten that kind before, I bought it for someone else to enjoy and just sampled it for fun. I felt bad within 2 hours of eating it. I already have a serious illness to deal with, and now I am so sick I can hardly move, I'm wheezing, fever, sinuses are so infected, and my ears are totally blocked. I already had pain in my skull previously so not sure if that is a symptom also. Just wanted to add to this page, I'm a little concerned that children are eating this stuff and getting so sick, that's very alarming, where's Michael Moore on this one :).

I am allergic to Sulfates and Sulfites. I am guaranteed a migraine and/or sinus infection after eating either or. I just learned at the source below that the crystalization process for icecream includes Calcium Sulfate. It depends how bad with how much is ingested. I had Chicken Marsala, that had intense wine flavor, and coconut ice cream. I have had a rough time with a sinus, upper respiratory, and eyes tearing for 3 days now. Im starting to understand how many foods I need to avoid.

http://www.foodsci.uoguelph.ca/dairyedu/icingr.html

Citrate and phosphate ions decrease tendency for fat coalescence (Sodium citrate, Disodium Phosphate). They prevent churning in soft ice cream for example, producing a wetter product. These salts decrease the degree of protein aggregation. Calcium and magnesium ions have the opposite effect, promote partial coalescence. Calcium sulfate, for example, results in a drier ice cream. Calcium and Magnesium increase the degree of protein aggregation.
Salts may also influence electrostatic interactions. Fat globules carry a small net negative charge, these ions could increase or decrease that charge as they were attracted to or repelled from surface.

There is definitely something to this! I haven't had a sinus infection in years, since I started eating nothing but organic foods. I ordered a small milkshake from the golden arches for my daughter. When she was done, I had the last 1/8th of it. She didn't get sick, but less than 24 hours later, I had a massive sinus infection. No more milkshakes!!

P.S. I love you guys at Earth Clinic! The ACV with water has almost kicked it.
Thank you so much

So my son in law loves Yogutland and loves to take me there when I go visit them. Will this on the same category of a Burger King? :(

I have been a fan of this site for a while and last night was the first time I have seen this info on the connection between certain ice cream and sinus infections. Yesterday (Sunday) my 15 year old son started getting a sinus headache. He has been having some allergy issues for the last week or so because of all the heavy pollen. By evening time last night he was in a lot of pain with severe sinus pressure in his head and chest and throat pain from a frequent dry nonproductive cough. He was also having chills and running fever by late last night. I came here to look first (as I always do) for a home remedy for sinus infections. After reading this I immediately went to ask him if he had eaten any type of ice cream or milk shakes in the past few days. He said that Friday after school he had a milk shake from Wendy's. Hmmm. Interesting (48 hours later he has a sinus infection). Thanks for the info. Great Job again Earth Clinic.