Slushies could prevent heatstroke better than water, say University of Brighton researchers
A study's exploring how effective the ice drink could be in maintaining our body temperature
As hot weather continues in Sussex, researchers in Brighton are investigating whether slushies could play a part in stopping people getting heat stroke.
It's thought having the ice drink before heading out into the sun could be more effective than having water in helping to maintain our body temperature.
Gregor Eichorn, who is leading the study, said:
"What we're hoping to see is that having a semi-frozen drink, like an ice slushy or ice slurry, is can actually cool you from the inside out rather than the other way around which most people maybe think of when when it comes to cooling down.
"Ingesting cold drinks, specifically ice slurries, have an effect times three compared to just drinking cold water.
The research - taking place between April and June - is also hoping to fill a gap in research exploring the link between gut health and heat stroke.
When overheating, the body's natural gut barrier weakens, which, alongside age-related gut changes, can put older adults at more risk of heat stroke.
Gregor continued:
"Unfortunately, not many have used this type of scenario with older individuals, and that's what we're trying to look into.
"We are trying to find methods that that can be used by by everyone at kind of a low cost method.
"We do know that not everyone can afford using electricity for say air conditioning - so what other ways are there to to keep cool in the summer?
"We're trying to find very applied and and low cost strategies such as drinking cold fluids"