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Randomized trial · measured lab tests or safety

Trial in 26 men found no clear immune cell benefit from 9°C water

Rose and colleagues · European journal of applied physiology · 2023

Original title: Partial body cryotherapy exposure drives acute redistribution of circulating lymphocytes: preliminary findings.

Under review. A person has not yet checked this summary against the paper. It is written from the PubMed abstract. Until a person checks it, search engines are asked not to list this page.

What the study found

No difference

CD8 T cells rose after the treatments. The cold chamber raised them more than 3 min in 9 °C water or the 24 °C control. The abstract reports no separate cold water benefit.

The study at a glance

Type of study
Randomized trial
Who or what was studied
26 people · 26 men
What was tested
3 minutes in 9°C water, or in a very cold chamber (-110 to -140°C), vs 3 minutes at 24°C
What it measured
Lab tests or markers
Who has a stake
No stake declared
No competing interests declared.
Journal
European journal of applied physiology, 2023
Source
PubMed record 36348102. This page is based on the abstract only.

How much this study counts

  • ✓Randomized: people were put into groups by chance, so the groups start out alike.
  • –Small: 26 people. Small trials can miss real effects or find chance ones.
  • –Measured lab tests or markers, which stand in for muscle recovery, mood and immune health. A better marker does not always mean better health.
  • ✓No competing interests declared.
  • •Summarized from the PubMed abstract only. The full paper may hold details the abstract leaves out.

✓ Strength– Limit• Note

These points come from fixed rules about the type of study, its size and length, what it measured, and who has a stake. Every study on Digestery gets the same rules.

Where this study sits

Each dot is one on-topic paper on this question. Steps near the top answer the question more directly.

↑ Stronger evidence

  1. Trials in people: muscle recovery and mood

    8

    1 benefit, 1 mixed, 5 no difference, 1 harm

  2. Trials in people: other measures

    8

    2 benefit, 1 mixed, 4 no difference, 1 harm

  3. Trials in people: lab tests or safety

    3

    1 benefit, 2 no difference

    ↑ This study is the ringed dot

  4. Population studies

    3

    2 benefit, 1 mixed

  5. Blood levels and genes

    0

    None among the papers we read.

↓ Weaker evidence

  • Points to benefit
  • Mixed
  • No difference
  • No direction
  • Points to harm

How it fits with the other research

The short answer to “Does cold plunging help recovery and mood?”

Eases soreness a little; mood unproven.

Confidence: low. Based on 30 on-topic papers.

Read the full answer

Of the other 2 papers on the same step: 1 benefit, 1 no difference. This one found no difference.

  • Open item for a person: Rose 2023 set relevant: cold water was only a comparison arm, and its own immune effect is not reported separately.

Other papers on the same step

See all 30 studies on this question

How this page was made

Label

First read of the abstract
Claude Sonnet
Independent second read
Claude Haiku
Differences settled
The reviewer corrected 4 fields after reading the abstract. Claude Opus 5.5.
Headline
Claude Sonnet, from the checked study record. A script checked its numbers and wording.
Numbers
Checked against the abstract by a script
“How much this study counts”
Fixed rules, the same for every study
Source check by a person
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