Brain and Ice Cream, 3

It’s important to be clear about what any study is ‘studying’ and what the results actually mean. While ice cream may be better than nothing for the brain, you may want to look at the big picture before choosing ice cream for breakfast. One source of nutritional data on ice cream described a typical scoop this way: one 3.5-ounce serving of vanilla ice cream contains 125 calories, 7 grams of fat, and 14 grams of sugar. Fourteen grams of sugar is likely to trigger a blood-sugar high in the brain followed by a corresponding blood-sugar low that pushes the brain to want to reverse the blood-sugar low. And it will often do this by grabbing a donut, sweet roll, sugary drink or candy bar. A roller-coaster of blood sugar levels are unhelpful for overall and long-term brain function. This study reaffirms, in my brain’s opinion, that the brain does better when it gets breakfast after waking from a night’s sleep—and will likely do better yet with foods that contain healthier proteins and carbs.