The summer is right around the corner and most people started the ice cream season early this year. We know we did! And finally we have a science backed guilt free pass to eat all the ice goodness we can get our hands on.
This is actually brilliant news for you all of you 9 – year olds out there fighting your parents for now letting you indulge in your favorite chocolate chip banana split combos. Any 9 – year olds reading this? Obviously, we are just kidding. Obviously!
But that does not make this article any less interesting, because a group of Japanese scientists are now making a huge claim, and it is one that goes against everything we hold as true about ice cream consumption.
Of course, we love it, but deep inside we know it is not very good for us. Skimmed milk, sugar and artificial flavorings? You know what we’re on about…
Well, now it turns out that ice cream can be very beneficial for us. Not in large quantities, of course, but the new study says that a scoop of ice cream right after getting up in the morning can actually boost our cognitive processing and overall alertness.
No parent or a teacher wants a child with a sugar rush early in the morning but the new study might be something to have in mind if it really benefits children the way it is presented.
The study was done by a team of researchers from the Kyorin University and it involved two groups of students. The first group was given ice cream right after the got out of bed in the morning, and the other group was not. The research suggested that the group of students who had ice cream showed increased cognitive alertness and faster reaction times than the students who did not have ice cream.
Further study included the use of brain scans which showed an increased alpha wave activity in the students who had ice cream. Strong alpha wave activity is associated with alertness and reduced mental irritation, study says.
In an effort to determine whether it was the actual ice cream that made the difference, or was it just the intake of cold food/water, the scientist organized a second round of testing, this time replacing the ice cream with cold water.
The results of the second showed an improved mental alertness in the children who had cold water, compared to the group that did not. However, the second round of testing involving cold water noted a lower mental alertness level than the first round of testing which involved ice cream.
It seems there is just no replacing good old ice cream.
source ; sciencepunch.com/