Eating Ice Cream for Breakfast Makes You Smarter

Question

According to the Telegraph story, subjects were told to eat ice cream upon first awakening, and then had their mental acuity tested by performing tasks on a computer. Those who'd eaten ice cream performed better and had faster reaction times, researchers found.

Comments

This was a very well-thought-out answer. I think you did well going over why this is a reputable source. I also liked how you mentioned how "The author of the article also brings up one of their main points as being aware of trustworthy studies, as the article is based around combating a misinformative study on ice cream" I think this is very important to note for people wanting fact check this article.

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this is straightforward, addressed weakness in the original source, and clarified the original claim, particularly when you pointed out that mental alertness is not the same as mental intelligence. It would make sense that eating ice cream first thing in the morning would stimulate your brain because of the sugar intake, the release of dopamine, and the cold temperature however that does not prove that it would make you smarter by any means.

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This is an excellent fact check, you dive deeper into the source provided for the claim while opening new doors into the subject that were not stated before. I would've like to see another source to bring in further information about this study, possibly addressing the long term factors like you said this experiment lacked.

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You did a great job on this fact check! You went above and beyond when considering that you introduced related points outside of the main claim, which really diversified your evidence when consdering whether or not this was a factual claim.

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That is a really brilliant analysis. You have gone one step further into the source article and really highlighted some of its possible limitations, especially in the lack of data over a long period. Fascinating to point out how it pertains to ice cream consumption with regard to how the brain works because of the statistical evidence presented.

It is, however, important to put the findings into a wider context. Was this, for instance, a one-off study by the Institute of Psychology in London, or did they start doing research into the nutritional effects of mental health? Furthermore, sample size and diversity are likely to impact perceived reliability of the results.

It would be even more helpful to find out whether other studies have replicated these findings or if there is some common agreement among the scientific community regarding this topic. While the initial study was promising, it was only after a better investigation into the matter that any person would find any actual knowledge on the specific topic of how ice cream affects brain activity.

Answer 1

The claim itself is intriguing and almost believable in the introduction to the article by Inc.com. However, almost immediately after the initial paragraph, the article warns against its own claim, stating that "eating sweets for breakfast is the last thing you should do." It uses evidence from a different article by the same site that explains why sugar is bad for you (link). This article is based off a different one by Telegraph that took direction from a study conducted by a Japanese professor Tokyo's Kyorin University. The article explains that the original study merely shows that it's not really ice cream that increased brain activity in the morning, but simply eating something after waking up, as suggested by nutritional psychologist Katie Barfoot. 

As shown in the article, the claim that ice cream makes you smarter is undeniably false, and it is strongly suggested to avoid such sugars as it's harmful to health in the long run. 

Answer 2

The claim Eating Ice Cream For Breakfast Makes You Smarter is exaggerated/misleading. According to The Telegraph it revealed "eating a certain amount of ice cream immediately after waking up in the morning can actually make you smarter. It went on to talking about how they did a study on people after waking up and doing computer exercises that they had an "increased reaction rate and were better able to process information", that doesn't necessarily make you smarter, just more aware. Champion's Ice Cream also wrote an article saying that "particularly ice cream, had an 'awakening' effect on the brain. As a result, study subjects showed higher alertness and quicker response", which the article doesn't actually say that it makes humans smarter. Lastly, The New Zealand Herald wrote about a professor at Tokyo's Kyorin University named Yoshihiko Koga that did a study on people in the morning and had them do brain exercises. He concluded the "group were better at processing new information and showed faster reaction times", again, not stating that it actually had evidence and data that it made someone smarter. 

https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/study-ice-cream-for-breakfast-boosts-brain-performance/

https://www.chapmans.ca/scoop/study-ice-cream-for-breakfast-is-good-for-

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/ice-cream-for-breakfast-makes-you-smarter-claims-scientist/3HDNSNQJWTGQL26HATKQ6RKKWQ/

Answer 3

The claim being made is in a way true, but ultimately it is false. In the study done by Yoshihiko Koga she had subjects eat ice cream when they first woke up and tested their mental activity with performance tasks on the computer. Those who had eaten the ice cream performed better and had a faster reaction time compared to those who didn't, but it was also a similar concept due to the shock from the cold. Another reason why it could have activated the brain more was because ice cream is proven to make our brain happier and this increases brain function. 

The reason why this claim is ultimately false is because sugar is actually bad for you. When we consume too much sugar it actually causes depression and reduces your brain function. In regards to eating ice cream as a regular breakfast don't do it. The less sugar you eat the better brain function that you will have in the long term.

Answer 4

In the article, it states that just having any food at all increases your attention. A quote from Katie Barfoot in the Telegraph supports that. “In general, people who eat something early in the day may be more alert than those who eat nothing. High glucose (sugar) foods will indeed aid mental capacity significantly compared to not eating”. According to the Better Health Channel, if you don’t have breakfast, you might find you feel a bit sluggish and struggle to focus on things. This is because your brain hasn’t received the energy (glucose) it needs to get going, something most would find agreeable and unworthy of a second guess. You can find more about the benefits to starting your day with a meal on that site. The idea of ice cream making you literally smarter isn’t the same as consuming any nutrition resulting in better attention. Yes, the experiment did convey that the subjects had better performances on their acuity tests, and yes there was proof of ice cream boosting moods and ultimately subjects’ attention, but this was not representative of the article's heading. The evidence provided that long term and consistent consumption of sugar can actually lessen your cognitive ability, which actively conflicts with the original statement of the article. Eating ice cream won't make you smarter. Providing your body with nourishment early in the day, however, will likely boost your ability to stay focused.

Answer 5

This claim does appear to be true. After reading both the linked article, and reading a similar article by CBS News, it seems to be true that eating icecream in the morning improves reaction times and boosts mental performance. In the study they repeated the experiment with cold water instead of icecream. They found that while cold water did boost mental performance, it was not as much as the icecream had. However, this claim left out a very important part of the article. The Inc. article actually goes on to say that eating icecream for breakfast is a "really bad idea." In the long run sugar will "increase your risk of depression, reduce your brain function, and make you more susceptible to Alzheimer's." So while icecream does temporarily boost your mental performance in the morning, this does not mean that you should in fact do this. It will decrease your mental performance in the long run. Just eat healthy in the morning. It will increase your mental performance over time.

https://www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/does-eating-ice-cream-for-breakfast-make-you-smarter-maybe-but-dont-make-a-habit.html#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20Telegraph%20story,faster%20reaction%20times%2C%20researchers%20found.

https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/study-ice-cream-for-breakfast-boosts-brain-performance/

Answer 6

The evidence from this article comes from research done by professors at Kyorin University in Tokyo, whose study found that individuals who had eaten ice cream for breakfast performed better in "a series of mental exercises" than those who had not. These tests were kept vague in both this article and the Telegraph article that it is referencing but they were said to have tested people's reaction times and information processing capabilities. These findings are interesting, given that they found a positive correlation with higher performance in these tests and having ice cream for breakfast, but doing well in these tests doesn't make someone smarter than someone who did poorly in such tests since they only give information on processing and reaction time. Also, the article itself mentions that "If you want to be smart (or have a long, healthy life), eating sweets every morning for breakfast is the last thing you should do" which pretty much kills the claim.

Answer 7

I'd like to go ahead and say that I can believe it's true. This article does a really great job listing studies and backing it up with other articles like the one stated below in the same article: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/11/23/ice-cream-breakfast-makes-smarter-japanese-scientist-claims/

I researched the same titles online, and discovered another article from 2019 that backs up this one. A Nutritional Psychology Doctoral Researcher named Katie Barfoot quotes, "Our brain needs glucose to function, and a high glucose meal will aid mental capacity considerably compared to a fasted brain." Katie Barfoot does state though that this wouldn't mean eating breakfast is good for your health.Quote, "A study which explores the interaction between consumption of low and high GI foods, whilst including a fasten group, would establish a better understanding of this increased mental capacity." Apart from this, I did additional research and found out another website which happened to be an Ice Cream Shop called, Chapman's Ice Cream, who also linked back its evidence to the study at Kyorin University in Tokyo. Although it is pretty much restates the most of the article's research and evidence, it's another way to somewhat confirm the evidence and acknowledge it in another article. 

https://www.chapmans.ca/scoop/study-ice-cream-for-breakfast-is-good-for-you/

https://www.dairyherd.com/news-news/new-products-news/business/should-you-really-eat-ice-cream-breakfast

Answer 8

Minda Zetlin is the Author of 'Career Self-Care: Find Your Happiness, Success, and Fulfillment at Work'. The article uses information from a study by Yoshihiko Koga, a professor at Kyorin University, Katie Barfoot, a nutritional psychology researcher at Reading University, and The Telegraph. The linked page on Excite News could not be found. The author admits that the story reported was not in English, so it might not be 100% accurate. Not to mention, the article contradicts itself when it brings up the point that eating sugar in the morning is not good for your overall health. Many articles support Minda Zetlin's claim that eating ice cream in the morning makes you smarter but they do not mention the negative side effects of eating ice cream in the morning, which adds accuracy to this whole article. However, the claim that ice cream makes you smarter is true(at least not in the long run), as the sugar and cold temperature causes an increase in alpha waves in your brain, making you more alert.

Answer 9

The Study that if ice cream for breakfast is a claim that one may find weird to try but in the article that was linked it  states that sugar isn't a good option for breakfast as according to Business Insider's Rafi Letzter and his team they have advised to definitely not eat sugar for breakfast as weirdly enough it has bad effects and that sugar in the long run it can increase the risk of depression,reduce your brain function, depending on the person Ice Cream can make people go in a good mood but it should not be consumed for the first meal of the day

Answer 10

I feel like in the article read to me it's more like ice cream makes you happier and mentally checked not really smarter. Maybe in Japan and England that works but I don't know if that strategy would work everywhere else. I didn't find any statistics or research about this except from the two that were mentioned in the article. I wish this is true but there isn't enough evidence to suggest this strategy works.