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

The article claims that people who eat ice cream in the morning are smarter, according to a professor from Japan. The original source for this article was another article from the Telegraph. The article goes on to talk about how the real meaning behind the claim is that people who eat in the morning are, in general, more likely to do well in an academic setting. However, it then talks about how sugar is not the most effective thing to eat in the morning and may actually be more harmful. Overall, the article’s title is mostly clickbait using another person’s claim. But, it does do a good job of deconstructiuing the claim, providing evidence to support their theories, and using real sources to back it up. For instance, they used stats from reputable sources such as business insider and INC.com.

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This article conveys if ice cream and sugar for breakfast is okay. It explores the importance of breakfast and the detrimental effects of sugar, depicting how sugar can be harmful toward your brain. The claims are backed with reliable statistics such as ice cream leads to happiness and happiness can improve brain functioning, backed by the Institute of Psychology in London. Because of the reputable facts within the article, I think it is trustworthy even if the author combats their claim. 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. In general, this article is trustworthy because of the sources and their backgrounds, as well as the importance of well researched studies.

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This was a great claim and super attention grabbing, definitely stood out on the explore page. The original source was a professor from Tokyo, Japan who published their findings on a Japanese news site. It was then translated and analyzed by the Telegraph. The claims describe how the happiness and coldness ice cream provides does indeed improve performance, however, sugar is just not good for you in general. The article seems to be trustworthy and is backed up by sufficient evidence, as well as offering opposing claims.

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This article is an excellent example of the importance of not interpreting a study at face value or in a vacuum. The study conducted was limited in scope and did not address more long-term factors of having ice cream for breakfast. It also measured mental alertness, which is not the same as measuring intelligence. As the rest of the article correctly points out, there are a host of other factors that are necessary to analyze this study.

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Have you tested this claim personally?

Answer 1

Using the same article linked in this claim, there is actually direct textual evidence that the statement "Eating Ice cream for Breakfast Makes You Smarter" is blatantly incorrect. As much as I wish it was true, there is a quote about three paragraphs down that states "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." Earlier in the paragraph, the author also explains that sugar "in the long run...will increase your risk of depression, reduce your brain function, and make you more susceptible to Alzheimer's."

Also, there's no elaboration on what these "tasks" are that these subjects are performing. Additionally, the ability to "perform tasks" or have a faster reaction time by no means has any direct correlation to intelligence.

Comments

You did well in your factcheck with evaluating the source and including a quote from it to help support your claim. Although it would also be good to include other sources to help support your claim

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I really like your fact check on the claim about eating ice cream for breakfast making you smarter, and I appreciate how you used a quote to support your ideas. The points you made were fantastic, but I would really like to see the article or the source from which you used your quote. Providing that source would strengthen your argument even more.

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I like that you cite direct quotes from the article to effectively debunk the original claim. I also appreciate that you provided additional context about the detrimental long-term effects of high sugar intake on brain function and overall health.

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You did a very good job in showing your position in response to this fact check. And you did a good job of knocking down the claim straight away. You supported this with evidence taken from the provided source, which very much did not support the claim. One think you could have added to strengthen your answer even more is take some evidence from another reliable source leave no uncertainty.

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I like how you expanded and explained why the claim was untrue with carefully analyzing and reading the original source although it would be nice to have another few sources to help back up the claim.

Answer 2

The claim that "ice cream for breakfast is good for you" comes from a study by neuroscientists in London. They say that eating ice cream in the morning can make you feel happier and help you think better. The article from Chapman’s Ice Cream explains that sugar, like what’s in ice cream, can boost brain activity and improve your mood. However, we should be careful with this idea. While the study sounds interesting and is based on real research, the benefits might not work for everyone. Moderation is important because too much sugar isn't healthy for most people. If you want to learn more about this study, you can check out the article from Chapman’s Ice Cream here. https://www.chapmans.ca/scoop/study-ice-cream-for-breakfast-is-good-for-you/#:~:text=Neuroscientists%20from%20London%20proved%20that,many%20psychological%20and%20physical%20processes.

Comments

I think that your comment about moderation is great because it is well-understood by doctors that the human body is not healthy if it takes too much sugar. While sugar can make a person happier, it is known to have an ability to produce what is called a “sugar crash” hours after consumption. While some people have their go-to routine in the morning such as caffeine and a high-protein meal, there could be some others that thrive off of sugar if they have a quick metabolic rate in their bodies. The fact that your source comes from an ice cream company’s website proves that these companies will hunt for any upside that can boost the sales of their product, so I feel like the claim from Chapman’s should be taken with a grain of salt. While some people may feel guilty after eating ice cream to start their day, others may be free of guilt and instead use the sugar from ice cream to boost their mood throughout that day.

Answer 3

While this is a rather old article there is still an ongoing talk about whether this does or doesn't help. In most of the articles I researched many said that because ice cream has been shown to make us happy and that anything cold will wake us up more the claim is that having ice cream is a good thing to wake up with. In the article it is stated that it is healthy but in moderation because too much sugar can put us at risk for many other health problems.

Comments

While indicating that you read other sources to confirm your perspective merely suggests legitimacy in your claim, you should include direct references to the sources you read. In other words, you should include the names of some of the studies or articles you used to investigate the original claim. Some links to said articles could be helpful, too, in assuring readers that your conclusion comes from a well-informed and credible stance.

Answer 4

This claim is definitely believable even though at first it sounds like a joke, but what was most interesting about this article was the studies shown about the affects of early morning ice cream vs cold water, “The cold water subjects did also demonstrate improved mental performance, but not as much as those who'd eaten ice cream.” 

Answer 5

The study was conducted by neuroscientists in London, and after a quick read of this article, one can immediately tell that this article is misleading with its conclusion of the data the scientist found. That being said, the scientists are correct with the idea that ingesting something cold, such as water, as well as something with sugar will increase humans ability to do tasks in the morning. However, because the article does not mention what tasks people are improving on and fails to find a direct correlation to ice cream specifically, I would have to say that the claim that eating ice cream for breakfast makes you smarter is incorrect and misleading. 

Answer 6

People are saying that eating ice cream for breakfast makes you smarter, and according to CBS News, "All the years of your parents saying "NO" to ice cream for breakfast may have stunted your brilliance." Because ice cream is sweet and cold, it can wake you up in the mornings and give you the energy for your brain to be more active and have more energy while you learn. From reading several other articles from the Independent, Huff Post, etc. I would say that this claim is true.

Sources: The Independent Huff Post

Comments

It is good that you read other sources to check the validity of this claim. And I do agree with you that this claim is technically true. However, you left out a very important detail. In the Inc. article that the claim cited, it goes on to say that eating icecream for breakfast is in fact not a good idea. While yes, it will temporarily boost your mental performance, eating so much sugar every morning will negatively affect your health in the long run.

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I think you made the right decision checking other sources, I agree with you that likely why people don't consider Ice cream for breakfast is due to what their parents told them. I also can see why Ice cream makes you smarter due to it waking you up.

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I really liked how you searched through other sources to come to a conclusive answer. As well, I think it's very important to take into consideration what we are told to believe (such as being told ice cream for breakfast is bad from our parents) and what scientifically is the truth.

Answer 7

The claim that "ice cream for breakfast is good for you" and gives you a cognitive boost is a notion; it provides some short energy, but in the long run, eating ice cream for breakfast isn't good for your health. "Research has shown that sugar is harmful in many ways," which means that too many large amounts of sugar could lead to diseases such as high blood pressure, inflammation, diabetes, and weight gain as well. The article also states that the less sugar you intake, the better your brain cooperates that you have for the future as well. As well as there are no proven facts and reasoning that ice cream for breakfast makes you smarter and helps you perform at a higher efficiency than not eating, which means it doesn't correlate to increasing someone's intelligence.

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

Answer 8

The study conducted by neuroscientists in London presents conclusions that are misleading based on the data. While the researchers are correct that consuming cold items, like water, along with something sweet can enhance performance in the morning, the article lacks specifics on which tasks are being improved. Additionally, it does not establish a direct link to ice cream. Therefore, the claim that eating ice cream for breakfast makes you smarter is both inaccurate and misleading. 

Does Eating Ice Cream for Breakfast Make You Smarter ...

Inc.com

https://www.inc.com › minda-zetlin › does-eating-ice-cr...

Answer 9

According to the article "Study: Ice Cream For Breakfast Boosts Brain Performance", I was able to confirm that the claim "Eating Ice Cream For Breakfast Makes You Smarter" is misleading and untrue. According to CBS News, they use a source, The Telegraph, to claim that eating a certain amount of ice cream can help one wake up in the morning which can help with making an individual smarter. However, this is misleading because waking up early does not correlate with intelligence. In the same article they state, "...test subjects who indulged in ice cream immediately upon waking up and right before participating in a series of computer exercises had an increased reaction rate and were better able to process information" which does not prove that it make one more intelligent it just helps one enhance their performance.

Answer 10

Unfortunately the claim that eating ice cream in the morning makes you smarter is a false one. The article written in 2017 which makes it seven years old and better research and scientific innovations have surfaced making this old news. Yes this article subject has been researched by other news outlets; CBS, Business Insider, and The Independent have all written and published articles on the question adding slightly more validity to the subject. Despite other sources publishing on the topic, the claim still remain false. Science world wise the subject is under researched and therefore there is little proof of the claim. A counter claim would be that breakfast in general improves brain function and that it is not exclusive to ice cream. In an article posted by Business Insider, the author debunks the claim and shames western media for publishing false claims. Linked below is the article; https://www.businessinsider.com/dont-eat-ice-cream-breakfast-2016-11

Comments

I thought your fact checking was well done on this claim. When I was reading your response  I found it quite funny the wording you used in a good way it made it interesting to find out the rest of your response. I also thought you did a good job including sources to prove that the claim was not accurate, and I agree that they should be shaming the western media for posting things like this because there is probably some kids out there who believed this and actually did eat ice cream for breakfast thinking they would get smarter. Overall great job on this fact checking!