Try ‘Pre-Cooling’ with Garigari-kun Before Going Out to Beat the Heat

As temperatures soar under high pressure, a heat stroke prevention method called ‘pre-cooling’—cooling the body in advance—is drawing attention. Akagi Nyugyo, known for its Garigari-kun ice treat, conducted an experiment demonstrating that about 60% of participants who ate Garigari-kun before exercise reported feeling that their body temperature rose less. The company promotes the phrase “Crunch before you go out!” as a new summer habit.

Pre-cooling involves lowering body temperature before entering a hot environment, which slows subsequent temperature rise, reduces sweating, and alleviates heat stress. It is used in sports for heat countermeasures. Since May, the company has been promoting “Pre-cooling with Garigari-kun!” as an easy home heat stroke prevention method, encouraging people to eat the frozen treat before going out.

The experiment was conducted in April this year with 61 men and women aged 20–59. They walked for 10 minutes in a room at 30°C, comparing conditions where they ate one Garigari-kun and where they did not. According to a participant survey, 59.0% answered that their body temperature rose less.

Professor Kazunobu Okazaki of Osaka Metropolitan University’s Urban Health and Sports Research Center, who also handled heat countermeasures for track and field events at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, explained, “The effectiveness of pre-cooling has been known in the sports world for a long time. By cooling the body externally and internally before exercise, you can maintain a lower body temperature.” He added, “With ice treats, the ice absorbs heat as it melts inside the body, so it can cool more efficiently than liquids. Also, ice treats with fine ice particles allow the ice to reach the digestive organs more easily, leading to a drop in core body temperature from the inside.”

Meanwhile, the company’s survey revealed that only 31.1% of people always take heat countermeasures before going out, only 4.9% cool their body before exercise, and only 9.8% know the term “pre-cooling.” Preventive heat measures have not yet fully taken root.

It has been 45 years since Garigari-kun was first released in 1981. While it has often been eaten after it gets hot, the company recommends, “It’s also a good idea to eat it a little early, as a pre-cooling treat.” (Kenji Nakano)