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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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Could Cold Liquids Cause Freezing Of Arteries In Heart?

I recently started working at primary care physicians offices with physicians coming in from a temp service covering for the primary while he is on vacation. A physician with over 40 years of practice and I were having lunch the other day outside at the panic tables. We are located in Northeast Florida and are have some extremely hot summer days lately. As we are finishing our salads he proceeds to tell me to avoid drinking ice cold water when I am outside. To drink room temp or slightly cool water, and that if it is ice cold to drink it in small sips. Never guzzle down ice cold drinks when I’ve been outside, worked out at the gym, or have done any activity that has cause my body temp to get high or over heat. If I do drink ice cold drinks with I high body temp or after overheating I am risking a heart attack. That the cold liquid can cause the arteries in my heart to freeze and lead to a heart attack. Naturally I had many more questions for the Doctor and asked as many as I could before returning to work and have done follow up research on the web. But I am finding conflicting answers. I am hoping the fine physicians on here can inform me if this is true or false. As well as send me some links to continue my research. Thanks so much for the help and time put into answering my question.
Tue, 30 Sep 2014
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Internal Medicine Specialist,  's  Response
In terms of physics, I don't see how it is possible that your heart arteries would freeze from drinking ice cold water, especially if your body is overheated. The amount of cold water you'd have to drink to make a heat exchange like that would be impossible. The only thing I can think of that he might be referring to would be a cold-induced spasm of the arteries. You may have sometimes gotten a "cold headache" with localized cold causing temporary pain in nose, sinuses, and head, which may be due to blood vessel spasm, but the cold water you're drinking wouldn't be coming in close contact with the heart vessels. Perhaps the "shock" of drinking very cold water could cause a spasm (as could happen if you were thrown into a pool of ice water), but I have personally not seen anything like you're describing. Hope this helps.
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Could Cold Liquids Cause Freezing Of Arteries In Heart?

In terms of physics, I don t see how it is possible that your heart arteries would freeze from drinking ice cold water, especially if your body is overheated. The amount of cold water you d have to drink to make a heat exchange like that would be impossible. The only thing I can think of that he might be referring to would be a cold-induced spasm of the arteries. You may have sometimes gotten a cold headache with localized cold causing temporary pain in nose, sinuses, and head, which may be due to blood vessel spasm, but the cold water you re drinking wouldn t be coming in close contact with the heart vessels. Perhaps the shock of drinking very cold water could cause a spasm (as could happen if you were thrown into a pool of ice water), but I have personally not seen anything like you re describing. Hope this helps.