Eating ice cream really does make you happy. Scientists have found that
a spoonful of the cold stuff lights up the same pleasure centre in the
brain as winning money or listening to your favourite music.
Neuroscientists at the Institute of Psychiatry in London scanned the
brains of people eating vanilla ice cream. They found an immediate
effect on parts of the brain known to activate when people enjoy
themselves; these include the orbitofrontal cortex, the "processing"
area at the front of the brain.