Rocky road. Vanilla fudge ripple. Pralines and cream. The hardest decision in the life of some ice cream enthusiasts is choosing a flavor. Government officials, though, have made that choice a little bit easier after they stormed a London ice cream shop and confiscated a flavor made from human breast milk.

Dubbed “Baby Gaga,” this mammary morsel—a blend containing Madagascan vanilla pods, lemon zest, and, yes, human milk—debuted last Friday and was so popular that it sold out the same day. Touted as organic and free-range (I hope so!), this ice cream was created from the milk of 15 lactating women, who were paid $2.40 for each ounce of milk, which explains its whopping price of over $22 per serving.

London authorities put the kibosh on this ice cream after they received two complaints from people who were squeamish at the thought of ingesting a stranger’s body fluids. The fear (beyond the awkwardness factor) is that people innocently enjoying a novel ice cream flavor could contract hepatitis—a virus that can be passed on through breast milk. So is Baby Gaga really dangerous? (more…)

So sweet… so painful. You try to hold back, to stop yourself from over-indulging, because you know what will happen: That crippling, brain-piercing pain of the ever-feared brain freeze will ruin your ice cream love-fest.

Bjorn Carey of Popular Science discussed this terrifying condition with medical experts, seeking their opinion:

First, let’s get one thing straight. “This condition is referred to as an ‘ice-cream headache,’ ” says Stacey Gray, a sinus surgeon at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston. “It’s a very technical term.”

Gray also noted that, even though no studies have been done on the exact cause of ice cream headache, she believes we can safely rule out the theory that imbibing overly cold edibles actually lowers brain temperature or causes brain damage. The pain that comes from slurping that Slurpee doesn’t have anything to do with the brain, she says.

(more…)

I scream, you scream, we all scream… for the medicine given to recovering cancer patients.

The Scientist reports that LactoPharma, (a “collaborative research venture between the University of Aukland, the New Zealand government, and the country’s largest dairy company, Fonterra Ltd.”) has created a therapeutic, strawberry-flavored ice cream called ReCharge.

ReCharge ice cream has gone through a string of taste-tests to ensure that the product satisfies the palette. However, one ingredient is a mandatory keeper: Lactoferrin, a protein found in milk that possesses the power to impede tumor growth and improve intestinal immune response. Because side effects of chemotherapy include the destruction of neutrophils (while blood cells) and intestinal cells, which often leads to infection and digestive problems, University of Auckland biologist Geoff Krissansen decided to test bovine lactoferrin on chemotherapy patients to see whether it could counter these side effects.

(more…)

What’s the most important scientific research in the world, you ask? Obviously it’s the quest to transform ice cream into a healthy food. Of course, the brain freezing goodness will still be chock full of fat and calories, but hey, toss in some healthy stuff and you can binge guilt-free, right? Right?

Via LiveScience:

In addition to ice-cream’s fat- and calorie-filled ingredients, the researchers hope to add dietary fiber, antioxidants and probiotics (gut bacteria that support a healthy digestive system) to your delectable dessert. Antioxidants could protect cells from damage caused by molecules called free radicals and are suspected of helping to prevent a slew of diseases.

Researchers hope to have a taste-testable prototype within six months, but it may not be entirely delicious; some antioxidant ingredients have a bitter flavor, the researchers note, and adding fiber might give the ice cream a gritty texture. Still, the research team is optimistic they can strike a balance between health and taste, and they hope to have shelf-ready tubs within two years.

Check out the video below of these scientists working in the best laboratory ever.

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Could part of the solution for global warming fit inside an ice cream cone? Maybe—at least, that’s what the developers of so-called “ambient” ice cream are hoping.

Unilever, the world’s largest ice cream producer (and owner of perhaps the world’s best ice cream, Ben & Jerry’s), is trying to figure out how to produce a new kind of frozen treat that can be shipped and sold at room temperature, before being frozen at home once purchased. The goal is to reduce the carbon that is needed to keep today’s ice cream from turning into a sloppy mess. The Times Online reports:

A spokesman for Unilever said that warm, or so-called ambient, ice cream was a “very interesting idea” but one that posed tough challenges that its scientists were trying to solve. “The key question which has yet to be fully answered is: how do you ensure that, when the ambient ice cream is frozen at home it will have the right microstructure to produce a fantastic consumer experience?”

The new ice cream may be the tastiest part of an overall program to help Unilever cut down on the impact its products, such as dishwashers and refrigerators, have on the environment. Of course, an even bigger way to reduce carbon: Eat less ice cream.

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Image: flickr / lilivanili