Some early attempts to understand ice cream headaches suggested they might be a sub-type of migraines, because both involve disordered responses to sensory stimuli. The widening and narrowing of blood vessels that occurs during ice cream headaches is a pattern that could explain some migraine headaches. Others have argued that the pain of ice cream headaches is a type of “referred pain,” a mysterious but well-known phenomenon in which a stimulus in one part of the body causes pain in another.

The connection between ice cream headaches and migraines isn’t fully understood, though the link is commonly accepted. A 2001 study conducted by neurologist Peter Mattson of Sweden’s University Hospital found that women who had experienced at least one migraine within the previous year were twice as likely to develop a headache from cold water as those who were migraine-free.

Palate and brain

And in 2004, a Turkish neurologist named Macit Selekler rounded up patients who suffered either migraine headaches or tension headaches. Together with his colleagues, Selekler then administered the “ice test,” which required that patients use their tongue to hold an ice cube against their palates. The test resulted in headaches for nearly 60% of his patients, and of those, more than 80% were from the migraine group.

Taiwanese neurologist Jong-Ling Fuh also discovered a similar pattern among Taiwanese adolescents. She and her colleagues administered a survey to nearly 9,000 13-to-15-year-olds. The results revealed that roughly 40% of teenagers there had experienced ice cream headaches in the past, but the prevalence was 15% higher among those students who also suffered from migraines. Fuh suspected, like other researchers before her, that the link between the two types of headaches was related to the dynamics of blood flow between the palate and the brain.