Ice Cream and Heart Health? The Scoop You Didn’t See Coming

I’ll admit it — I’m a sweets person through and through. Cookies, cake, ice cream… they all have a place in my kitchen. So when I stumbled across research saying ice cream might actually be linked to better heart health, my jaw (and spoon) dropped. Until I actually dug into the research...

peanut butter ice cream

Ice Cream and Heart Health? The Unexpected Scoop

I saw a study suggesting that eating ½ cup of ice cream daily might be tied to lower heart problems, but until I did the research, the study was for people with type 2 diabetes, so here are the facts:

The Wild Study (Diabetes Edition)

Researchers looked at folks with type 2 diabetes and noticed that just ½ cup of ice cream a day was associated with fewer cardiovascular events. But warning: it was observational, not causative. People who eat a little ice cream might just be healthier in other ways—more active, richer, or better medicated. Not “eat ice cream, skip the cardiologist,” okay?

What About People Without Diabetes? Here’s the Data:

Broader Dairy Benefits (General Populations)

• A massive meta-analysis covering nearly 940,000 people from 29 cohort studies found no overall link between dairy and heart disease or mortality. But fermented dairy—yogurt, cheese—showed a 2% lower risk of cardiovascular disease per 10 g/day and a 2% lower risk of death, albeit modest.  

• A global analysis (China + UK + meta-review) showed total dairy intake corresponded to a 3.7% lower risk of CVD and a 6% lower risk of stroke. Cheese and low-fat dairy drove the benefits.  

• Another meta-study reported that people consuming the most dairy had 9% lower risk of hypertension, 4% lower risk of coronary heart disease, and 10% lower risk of stroke compared to low consumers.  

Cheese? The MVP

One review highlighted that for every 20 g/day of cheese, the CVD risk dropped to 0.96 (i.e. 4% lower), and stroke risk lowered too. Another found that comparing highest vs lowest cheese intake categories: 8% lower overall CVD, 8% lower coronary disease, and 7% lower stroke.  

Some Nuances

A cohort of over 136,000 adults over ~9 years found that >2 servings/day of dairy cut composite mortality/CVD events by 16% (HR 0.84), stroke risk by 34% (HR 0.66). Milk and yogurt separately also lowered risk.  

But high intake of non-fermented milk in one Swedish cohort (>1,000 g/day) increased coronary event risk by 35%. On the flip side, fermented milk and cheese were inversely associated with risk.  

What Should You Do as a Sweets Person?

Best options (on the data):

• Fermented dairy (cheese, yogurt) — consistently the most protective.

• Low-fat dairy — moderately protective, especially against stroke.

• Total dairy up to ~200 g/day (~1-2 cups) appears neutral to modestly protective.  

• Avoid high intake of non-fermented milk—especially large amounts—as some data show potential risk spikes.

What to Take Away:

Diabetes study: small daily ice cream serving linked with better heart outcomes—but causation? Nah.

General population: modest heart benefits from total dairy, especially fermented types like cheese and yogurt — think 4–10% lower risk for CVD, stroke, or hypertension.

High amounts of regular milk may raise risk; stick to moderate amounts (≤200 g/day).

Cheese = data favorite. Low-fat dairy shows benefits.

Ice cream? Step carefully. Still ultra-processed and sugary—don’t fool yourself. Even if a small scoop might be harmless (and maybe even associated with benefit in some diabetic groups), the bigger pint binge isn’t backed by reasons, just mostly risk.

Looking for a protein-dense, low-sugar, healthy ice cream recipe? Find it under my Recipes or click here!