Ice Cream – Summer time solace with health benefits

Summer time and the only solace we find is in ice creams, and once we decide to have ice creams – the right flavour for the right mood sets us free from all stress and strain of a workaholic lifestyle. This interesting food item has some equally interesting past history – During the 5th century BC, ancient Greeks ate snow mixed with honey and fruit in the markets of Athens. The father of modern medicine, Hippocrates, encouraged his Ancient Greek patients to eat ice “as it livens the life-juices and increases the well-being.” In 400 BC, the Persians invented a special chilled food, made of rose water and vermicelli, which was served to royalty during summers. The ice was mixed with saffron, fruits, and various other flavours. The Roman Emperor Nero (37–68 AD) had ice brought from the mountains and combined it with fruit toppings to create chilled delicacies. In the sixteenth century, the Mughal emperors used relays of horsemen to bring ice from the Hindu Kush to Delhi, where it was used in fruit sorbets.

Today, modern machineries are employed to manufacture ice creams in factories, to satisfy the taste buds of the consumers. Ice cream is such a sweetened frozen food, which is being loved across all age groups. However, a scoop of ice cream can be beneficial to your health in many ways.

There is no denying that ice cream isn’t exactly a health food. Its main ingredients are cream, milk, sugar and flavouring. That being said, ice cream does provide your body with a handful of key nutrients, including bone-strengthening calcium and phosphorus, blood-pressure-lowering potassium and energizing B vitamins. It also provides a decent amount of protein, which is important in tissue repair and cell growth. Here’s a reason women may want to indulge in ice cream: A Harvard study published in the journal Human Reproduction suggests that consuming full-fat milk or ice cream may improve your chances of having a baby.