Ice-cream has been found to warm up the pleasure centres of the brain, according to research.

A study by the Centre of Neuroimaging Sciences at the Institute of Psychiatry in London showed that ice-cream had an immediate effect on parts of the brain that previous research has shown were activated when someone is really enjoying themselves.

Participants in the study, commissioned by Unilever, had their brains scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging for researchers to see which parts of the brain were activated.