Is Constantly Craving and Chewing Ice a Sign of Anemia?

Strange but true: A persistent craving for chewing ice is pretty common among people with an iron deficiency. The question still remains as to why this happens. After all, ice has almost zero nutritional value — so why would a nutritional deficiency lead to ice cravings? Here’s what we know about the connection between ice cravings and anemia, and how to determine when that craving for a frosty crunch might be indicative of a bigger problem.

A persistent craving for nonfood/nonnutritive substances is commonly referred to as “pica.” While pica can manifest in a variety of different cravings (like paper, chalk, clay, and dirt, for example), the act of craving and chewing ice actually has its own name: “pagophagia.”

These unusual cravings can come from a variety of places. For example, some researchers link the craving for ice and other nonfood items to psychological stress. To illustrate this, take this 2018 case study, which evaluated the case of a 44-year old female with an intense desire to eat ice cubes. The subject had a long history of suffering with depressive disorder, and she reportedly used ice cubes as a soothing mechanism to feel better. The researchers involved in this case study found that the subject saw her pagophagia reduce significantly after she was treated with a combination of antidepressant medication and cognitive behavior psychotherapy, suggesting that addressing the depressive disorder helped ease her ice craving.

In addition, the craving for nonfood items might also be an indicator that you’re missing out on key nutrients that your body needs. For example, ice pica is sometimes linked to a deficiency of calcium, a mineral that your body needs for the development and maintenance of strong, healthy bones. But the intense urge to crunch on ice is perhaps most well-known as a symptom of iron deficiency and, subsequently, iron deficiency anemia. 

Anemia is a condition in which your body can’t make enough healthy red blood cells. This is incredibly important because red blood cells are integral in your body’s method of transporting oxygen and other nutrients to cells — and every single cell in your body is dependent on oxygen for cellular energy.

Iron is one of the most crucial nutrients you need for the equation since it helps with the production of hemoglobin, the protein in your red blood cells that actually carries the oxygen molecules. So not getting enough iron (which, coincidentally, happens to be one of the most common nutrient deficiencies worldwide) can sometimes lead to iron deficiency anemia, which often manifests as extreme tiredness and shortness of breath due to the difficulty your body has in transporting oxygen around. 

Scientists aren’t totally sure why you might start reaching for the ice tray if you’re anemic or lacking in other nutrients, but there definitely does seem to be a connection. After all, ice does not contain any valuable nutrition levels, so it doesn’t exactly make sense for your body to crave ice as a solution for a nutrient deficiency.

So now, research is pointing towards a more promising reason: it seems that chewing ice might help increase your mental alertness! Remember, one of the most common symptoms that people with anemia experience is tiredness and fatigue due to the lack of red blood cells needed to transport oxygen throughout the body.

One study that sought to explore this connection looked at the effects of chewing ice on both anemic and healthy subjects before administering a test that measured their response time and attention. The researchers here found that while their healthy subjects didn’t show much improvement on their tests after chewing ice, the anemic patients showed significantly better results after chewing ice.

One theory that researchers theorized could potentially explain this phenomenon is that the cold ice activates your “dive reflex,” a natural mammalian response to cold water exposure that helps you preserve oxygen stores and increases blood flow to the brain. Another potential explanation is that chewing on ice can activate your sympathetic nervous system, a part of your brain that’s responsible for your stress response and which can also increase blood flow to the brain.

In addition to the mental alertness theory, another possible solution is that chewing ice can help alleviate pain and inflammation in your mouth, which is a common symptom among patients with prolonged anemia.

On a related note, there also seems to be a link between anemia and another common condition associated with ice chewing: pregnancy. It’s estimated that up to 52% of pregnant women worldwide deal with an iron deficiency, which could potentially help explain why so many pregnant people find themselves reaching for the ice cubes for a chilly snack.

While chomping down on the occasional frozen ice cube might not warrant a medical emergency in and of itself, it should definitely be addressed if you’re dealing with a craving that you just can’t seem to shake.

For one, prolonged ice chewing can damage your teeth enamel.But more importantly, a craving that intense can be a sign that you’re dealing with an underlying health issue, be it anemia, a calcium deficiency, and/or a psychological disorder like anxiety or depression. If you just can’t stop thinking about chomping on ice, it may be time to take a closer look at your health to manage any present underlying issues before they get worse. 

While chewing ice can be a good starting sign for an anemia diagnosis, especially among menstruating, lactating, and pregnant people who are more prone to iron deficiency, chewing ice alone isn’t enough for a diagnosis. Besides the tiredness and lethargy that we already talked about, iron-deficiency anemia can come with other symptoms like:

But at the end of the day, the best way to figure out whether you’re dealing with an iron deficiency is to take a blood test to see your vitamin and mineral levels. While this can traditionally be done by visiting your doctor, you can also do this from home with at-home vitamin tests like those offered by Base, which give you medically-backed recommendations for improving your levels in addition to your test results alone.

If your tests do indicate that you’re lacking iron, you might be able to address an iron deficiency by taking iron pills. But again, it’s important to take the right lab tests to figure out just how much iron you actually need in order to bridge that gap (or see if you need it at all to begin with), since overdoing it can lead to unpleasant symptoms and can even be dangerous.

While snacking on ice might seem innocuous enough, finding yourself constantly refilling the ice tray throughout the day or ordering icy drink one after another purely for the crunchy ice cubes inside could be a small sign of a much more serious issue. Checking in with your iron levels is the first step to determining whether or not you’re dealing with iron-deficiency anemia and getting to the bottom of those insistent cravings once and for all.