Social media users have been left baffled by a disturbing video showing a popular ice cream not melting, even after being left in the heat for more than a day.
The clip, which has racked up 20 million views, shows a Drumstick ice cream cone sitting on a stand next to a young woman, who is said to have been there for 24 hours.
The woman waves the flame of a lighter around the candy, but even this fails to alter the consistency of the ice cream or the chocolate coating.
Hundreds of viewers took to TikTok to share DIY experiments in which they leave drumsticks unwrapped in warm temperatures and control how quickly the product melts.
Commenters described the hard white cream as “scary”, while another called the chemicals inside the ice cream “poison”.
Now, a leading dietitian has revealed the long list of artificial additives responsible for this strange effect.
Drumstick, made by Nestle, posted a video earlier this year showing a time-lapse of a woman studying while her ice cream doesn’t melt, even when she waves a lighter near it.
The video prompted TikTokers to perform “merge tests.” One user, Oliver (left), showed off his ice cream after 22 hours without participating. Another (right) compared the consistency after 24 hours to Cool Whip.
Abbey Sharp, a myth-busting dietitian with more than 800,000 followers on TikTok, has explained that a mix of emulsifiers, additives and other chemicals used by food manufacturers to help bind ingredients is to blame.
These are common in ultra-processed foods like microwaveable meals, white bread, and dressings.
“These additives can be found in lower quality ice cream products because they help manufacturers use less really expensive ingredients like cream and more air, keeping everything fluffy and together,” Ms Sharp said.
“Emulsifiers and gums are particularly important for something like a preformed ice cream cone or an ice cream sandwich, where it must maintain a specific shape.”
However, Ms Sharp said putting the ice cream through a melt test to see if it holds together “would be a waste of a perfectly good drumstick”.
Dietitian Abbey Sharp said drumsticks may not melt quickly because they contain additives called emulsifiers, which some studies have linked to weight changes and diabetes. Ms. Sharp recommended practicing moderation and not allowing “meltability” to change the healthiness of the ice cream.
Emulsifiers are additives typically used to help mix substances like oil and water and hold foods together.
“Unless you have a specific sensitivity to some of these additives, like chewing gum, as we see with some types of IBS, the meltability of your ice cream shouldn’t give you a health halo.”
Some evidence has suggested that eating foods with emulsifiers may have adverse health consequences.
A Spanish study in mice, for example, analyzed the emulsifiers carboxymethylcellulose and polysorbate-80, which are found in thousands of microwave meals, butters and ice creams.
A group of pregnant female mice were given water containing one percent emulsifiers, the maximum allowed by the FDA.
Typically, between 0.25 and 0.8 percent is added to foods.
The team found that the mouse pups experienced unintentional weight loss and anxious behaviors at 10 weeks of age.
Additionally, male mice were more likely to lose weight, while female mice experienced anxiety more frequently.
This is because the emulsifiers altered neuronal connections in the hypothalamus, a brain structure that acts as the body’s control center.
The hypothalamus produces leptin, a hormone that causes the body to expend more energy, leading to weight loss.
And a large French study of 100,000 adults published in The lancet Earlier this month they suggested that continued exposure to emulsifiers increased the risk of type 2 diabetes.
“More research is needed to prompt re-evaluation of regulations governing the use of emulsifying additives in the food industry for better consumer protection,” the team wrote.
Sharp noted that because of findings like these about processed foods, moderation is key.
‘Ice cream with or without additives is not a healthy food. “It should be enjoyed in moderation because it brings you joy,” he said.
“Choose the ice cream that brings you the most joy, and for the love of God, don’t leave it on the counter all night.”
