A team of ice cream researchers from the University of Missouri-Columbia say their advancements could soon make the frozen food a healthy alternative. Using the remnants from grapes in wine-making they claim they are able to add things like fibre into the food without spoiling the taste or texture.

Even better they say it works best in rich flavoured ice creams like chocolate where the healthy additives don't impact on taste. Suddenly parents won't have much to say when their child asks for a side-serving of ice cream with their Sunday lunch. Professor Ingolf Gruen said: "The idea of putting a functional ingredient into a food instead of just using the nutrients found in the food naturally takes a multi-functional approach.

"Food provides calories and comfort people want to indulge. We're working on making ice cream satisfying and healthy. "Our major challenges are texture, flavour and psychological acceptance, the nutrients we add often have bitter tastes and affect the texture of ice cream that we have to mask. Flavours like chocolate are easier to work with because the flavour is so strong that it can overcome other flavours from the nutrients."