This is a real question from a real reader. I'll be happy to anszer your questions, too. Ask me by email biology@bellaonline.com or post your question on Biology forum

Q:

I've read somewhere that you burn 30 calories while sucking an ice cube. Is it true?

A:

This is an incomplete question. In physics, one needs to know:

1. Size of the ice cube
2. For how long and how actively you are going to sack it

Now, evidently you mean not calories but Calories or Kilo-calories (1 Calorie = 1,000 calories) is that right?

If this is what you mean, here's some calculations, not for an ice cube but for ice water having the same temperature as the ice cube or zero degrees by Celsius.

You know that you body is approximately 37 degrees. If you drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day (as the dietitians recommend) and the water is ice water, to warm up all that water to your body's temperature, you'll burn just 70 Calories or, to be exact, 70,030 calories.