Chocolate ice cream vs. Vanilla Ice Cream: Which Dessert Is ‘Best’ For You? Here is the cold hard truth

With the onset of summer, ice cream parlors across the country have been serving up cold and delicious treats with many flavors to customers of all ages.

But can ice cream be part of a healthy diet? And does a particular flavor of ice cream have a big impact on the nutritional value of the food?

Fox News Digital spoke with two experts to get to the bottom of these questions just in time for National Ice Cream Day on Sunday, July 21.

Ice cream “can absolutely be part of a healthy diet,” said Dr. Chris Mohr, a Louisville, Kentucky-based fitness and nutrition consultant at Fortune Recommends Health, told Fox News Digital via email.

“Food is [about] much more than calories, sugar and fat,” he said.

“The key is moderation and balance,” he said. “Enjoying a spoonful every now and then can help manage sweet cravings, which can make it easier to stick to healthy eating goals.”

Keri Glassman, a New York-based nutritionist and founder of the Nutritious Life platform, told Fox News Digital that ice cream should be a “conscious indulgence.”

“Ice cream, because of the fat, is a very satisfying treat,” she said.

“Meaning, you should be able to eat a cone and be done. Just be careful and don’t dip into a pint with a spoon.”

Ice cream, Glassman also told Fox News Digital, contains something called C15:0, an essential fatty acid.

“C15:0 has been linked to slowing our biological aging at the cellular level. It targets multiple longevity pathways, strengthens our cells against age-related breakdown, and supports our long-term heart, metabolic and liver health,” she said.

Does the flavor of ice cream matter?

So with all that in mind, how important is the flavoring of the ice cream base?

Not much, Mohr and Glassman said.

“Nutritionally, chocolate and vanilla ice cream are relatively similar,” Mohr said. “The most important factors to look for are the quality and ingredients used and the ingredients within the ice cream, such as candy, candies and the like – which usually add more calories, added sugar and saturated fat.”

Glassman agreed, saying that rather than something like “chocolate vs. vanilla, the real thing to look at is “the type and quality of the ice cream.”

“You’ll want to check ingredient labels carefully. Look for products made primarily from real ingredients, such as cream, milk, cocoa and vanilla beans,” she said.

“Many ice cream products have all kinds of unhealthy added ingredients, such as colors and gums.”

One way to make eating ice cream as healthy as possible is to look for the “highest quality ingredients,” Glassman said.

Additionally, a person can “add nutrient-dense additions like a little dark chocolate, chopped nuts or fresh fruit — and, most of all, enjoy it,” she said.

Mohr suggested a different technique to make eating ice cream a healthier experience.

“To make your ice cream a little healthier, add fresh fruit or nuts on top — or, better yet, on the bottom — and use the ice cream as a topping versus a base,” he said.

“This is a great way to increase the nutritional value but also keep the flavor of the ice cream.”

Alternatively, a person looking to cut calories might try a soft-serve ice cream instead of a traditional hard-serve variety.

“Soft serve often contains more air and may include additional texture additives, making it less calorie dense by volume,” he said. “Hard-serve ice cream is usually more calorie dense.”

However, Mohr added, “Both types can fit into a balanced diet when consumed in moderation, but it’s smart to look at the nutritional information on the package if you’re concerned. What you do most of the time is always more important than what you do some of the time – so the two can fit.”

While both flavors of ice cream are similar nutritionally, experts told Fox News Digital that they have a personal preference for one or the other.

“I’ve always been a vanilla guy, but recently I’ve switched to being a bigger fan of the chocolate base,” Mohr said.

“That said, major polls have shown that vanilla is a more popular choice.”

Glassman, meanwhile, described himself as “a chocolate person in general” — but not for ice cream.

“When it comes to ice cream, a real, high-quality vanilla bean is my favorite,” she said.