Light Ice Cream Vs. Regular Ice Cream

People have enjoyed frozen confections since ancient Roman times, but until the early 1800s, only wealthy nobles and merchants could afford iced dishes. As ice production and refrigeration technology improved, frozen desserts proliferated. Ice cream, a silky mixture of sweetened cream and flavorings kept smooth with constant churning, remains a favorite treat. High in calories from sugar and fat, original ice cream now has a number of low-calorie, low-fat and sugar-free counterparts that suit specialized diets.

Legal Definition

• The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates the terminology that manufacturers may use to describe frozen dairy products. All ice creams contain at least 10 percent milk fat, but premium brands typically contain more to give them a richer feeling in the mouth. Reduced-fat ice cream must contain 25 percent less fat than the company's standard ice cream, while low-fat ice cream contains fewer than 3 grams of fat per serving. The term "light ice cream" refers to ice creams containing either 50 percent less fat or 33 percent fewer calories than standard ice cream.

Calories Per Serving

• Regular ice cream brands vary in calorie content depending on their quality and ingredients. A premium French vanilla ice cream containing real egg yolks and full-fat cream can have over 300 calories per 1/2-cup serving. Standard ice creams average between 150 and 200 calories per serving, while light ice creams contain as few as 80 calories per 1/2-cup scoop. Even light ice creams vary in calories depending on the ingredient list, so people on restricted diets should still examine the nutrition information on the package to ensure that the food suits their needs.

Fat Content

• The FDA specifies how an ice cream may qualify for the term "light," but it does not specify how an ice cream must meet those standards. Light ice creams that cut calories via fat reduction replace some or all of the cream in the recipes with milk. The FDA standard stipulates only that a light ice cream must be lower in fat or in calories, not necessarily both. Consumers seeking a lower-calorie product should read the label of their light ice cream to ensure that the manufacturer did not replace reduced fat with additional sugar that makes the final product almost as caloric as standard ice cream.

Sugar Content

• While not all reduced-sugar or sugar-free ice creams are also low-calorie, sugar's 15 calories per teaspoon add up quickly; sugar-free products typically have fewer calories than sugary treats. Manufacturers use sucralose, sugar alcohols or aspartame to impart a sweet flavor to the ice cream. Standard ice cream contains between 2 and 6 tsp. of sugar per 1/2-cup serving. The wide range in sugar content depends on the ice cream's flavor, the manufacturer's recipe and the amount of air the product contains.

Overrun

• An industry term for whipping air into ice cream to increase the product's volume during the manufacturing process, "overrun" can make a less dense serving of light ice cream appear more substantial. Light ice creams with higher overruns are literally lighter; compared to a dense premium brand, the same volume of a light ice cream with significant air whipped into it weighs less.

Mouth Feel

• Light ice creams must cut either fat or sugar to meet FDA standards. In doing so, the product may lose the distinctive mouth feel that rich fats and sticky sugars impart to food. Manufacturers may substitute gels and gums that mimic the feeling of the fats and sugars in standard ice cream. Carrageenan, agar and gelatin make the finished dessert feel thicker and creamier without adding the calories that a high fat content would.