The “ice trick” for weight loss is a viral social media trend, most often promoting a supplement called Alpilean that claims low inner body temperature is the real cause of belly fat. Despite racking up over 125 million views on TikTok under the #icehack tag, the core premise is misleading, and the supplement has no published clinical trials supporting its weight loss claims. A separate, simpler version of the idea, drinking ice water to burn extra calories, has a small kernel of truth but produces results so modest they’re barely measurable on a scale.
What the Ice Trick Actually Claims
Most “ice hack” videos on social media aren’t really about ice at all. They’re marketing funnels for Alpilean, a dietary supplement containing six plant-based ingredients supposedly derived from the “Himalayan Alps.” The sales pitch goes like this: a 2020 Stanford study found that average human body temperature in the U.S. has dropped about 0.05 degrees Fahrenheit per decade since the 1800s. Alpilean’s creators connected that declining temperature trend to rising obesity rates, claiming the supplement can raise your inner body temperature and “ignite your calorie-burning engine.”
The logic falls apart quickly. The Stanford study simply documented a historical temperature trend, likely explained by reduced chronic infections and improved living conditions. It was never a study about obesity. While some researchers have explored whether a lower core temperature might make the body slightly more efficient at conserving energy (a concept called a “thermogenic handicap”), no definitive abnormality in metabolic rate between lean and obese people has been convincingly demonstrated. The idea that a supplement pill can meaningfully raise core temperature and melt fat has no clinical trial backing it.
The Ice Water Version
A simpler interpretation of the “ice trick” skips the supplement entirely: just drink very cold or ice water throughout the day. The theory is that your body has to spend energy warming that water from near-freezing to your core temperature of about 37°C (98.6°F), and that extra calorie burn adds up over time.
This part is technically real. One frequently cited finding showed that drinking 500 ml of water increased metabolic rate by about 30%. Researchers estimated that drinking an extra 1.5 liters of water per day beyond your normal intake could increase daily energy expenditure by roughly 200 kilojoules, which works out to about 48 calories. Over an entire year, that totals roughly 17,400 calories, equivalent to about 2.4 kilograms (roughly 5 pounds) of body fat. Cold water likely sits at the higher end of this effect since the body does additional work to warm it.
Realistic estimates put the daily calorie burn from drinking 1.5 to 2 liters of ice water at 50 to 100 extra calories. For comparison, a 30-minute brisk walk burns 150 to 200 calories for most adults. So ice water provides, at best, about half the calorie burn of a short walk, and you’d need to keep it up consistently for months to see any change on the scale.
Cold Exposure and Brown Fat
A more scientifically grounded version of cold-based weight loss involves activating brown adipose tissue, a special type of fat that burns calories to generate heat. Unlike regular white fat, which stores energy, brown fat acts more like a furnace. Cold exposure is the most reliable way to switch it on.
In animal studies, cold exposure roughly doubled metabolic rate during the actual cold challenge. Mice exposed to cold for four hours per day saw total daily energy expenditure increase by about 7%, and eight-hour exposures pushed that to around 12%. Repeated cold exposure also ramped up genes involved in building new mitochondria (the cell’s energy-producing machinery) by four to seven times compared to controls, suggesting the body was remodeling itself to generate more heat over time.
The problem is translating this to practical human weight loss. A 2024 review of intermittent cold exposure research concluded that while cold exposure does increase energy expenditure and activate brown fat, there is no clear evidence it decreases body fat or body weight. The effects on weight were mixed across studies, with some showing slight decreases, others showing increases, and many showing nothing at all. Where cold exposure did show more consistent promise was in improving blood sugar regulation and insulin sensitivity, making it potentially more useful as a metabolic health tool than a fat loss strategy.
Your Body Adapts to Cold Quickly
One reason cold exposure struggles as a weight loss tool is that your body is remarkably good at getting used to it. Research on cold habituation shows a clear timeline: the sensation of cold feels less intense after just one or two exposures. Shivering, which is one of the biggest calorie-burning responses to cold, starts to diminish by the third exposure. By around the sixth or seventh repeated cold session, the body begins shifting from shivering (which burns a lot of energy) toward non-shivering heat production, which is more energy-efficient.
After about three to eleven cold exposures, most habituation responses are in place. Your cardiovascular reactions calm down, your discomfort decreases, and your body gets better at handling the cold without burning as many extra calories to do it. Some of these adaptations persist for months, with certain responses remaining blunted for up to 14 months after the initial habituation period. In short, the calorie-burning benefit of cold is highest when it’s new and uncomfortable, and fades as your body learns to cope.
Risks of Excessive Ice Consumption
If the “trick” involves eating large amounts of ice rather than drinking cold water, there are some real downsides. Compulsive ice chewing (called pagophagia) is strongly linked to iron deficiency anemia, particularly in menstruating, pregnant, or lactating women. In clinical case reports, patients who chewed ice compulsively developed significant dental damage, including difficulty chewing solid food, that they attributed directly to their ice-eating habit.
Chewing ice regularly can crack tooth enamel, damage fillings, and irritate the soft tissue inside your teeth. If you find yourself craving ice constantly, it’s worth getting your iron levels checked rather than treating it as a harmless weight loss hack.
What Actually Matters for Weight Loss
Drinking more water, cold or otherwise, is a reasonable habit. Staying well-hydrated can reduce appetite, support metabolism, and replace higher-calorie beverages. But the calorie-burning effect of cold water specifically is tiny compared to even modest changes in diet or activity. Those 50 to 100 daily calories from ice water are wiped out by a single handful of chips or a tablespoon of salad dressing.
The Alpilean supplement version of the ice trick has no clinical evidence behind it and uses a distorted reading of temperature research to sell capsules. Cold exposure through ice baths or cold showers has real metabolic effects, but those effects don’t reliably translate into fat loss, and your body adapts to blunt them within days. If cold water helps you drink more water overall, that’s a modest win. Expecting it to be a meaningful weight loss strategy will leave you disappointed.