Chocolate Consumption, Cognitive Function, and Nobel Laureates

Abstract

Description: (Chocolate consumption enhances cognitive function, which is a sine qua non for winning the Nobel Prize, and it closely correlates with the number of Nobel laureates in each country. It remains to be determined whether the consumption of chocolate is the underlying mechanism for the observed association with improved cognitive function. This article by Dr. Messerli, from St. Luke's–Roosevelt Hospital and Columbia University, New York, was published on October 10, 2012, at NEJM.org. The present data are based on country averages, and the specific chocolate intake of individual Nobel laureates of the past and present remains unknown. The cumulative dose of chocolate that is needed to sufficiently increase the odds of being asked to travel to Stockholm is uncertain. This research is evolving, since both the number of Nobel laureates and chocolate consumption are time-dependent variables and change from year to year. Authors found a close, significant linear correlation (r=0.791, p<0.0001) between chocolate consumption per capita and the number of Nobel laureates per 10 million persons in a total of 23 countries. When recalculated with the exclusion of Sweden, the correlation coefficient increased to 0.862. Switzerland was the top performer in terms of both the number of Nobel laureates and chocolate consumption. The slope of the regression line allowed the authors to estimate that it would take about 0.4 kg of chocolate per capita per year to increase the number of Nobel laureates in a given country by 1. For the United States, that would amount to 125 million kg per year. The minimally effective chocolate dose seems to hover around 2 kg per year, and the dose–response curve reveals no apparent ceiling on the number of Nobel laureates at the highest chocolate-dose level of 11 kg per year. N Engl J Med 2012; 367:1562-1564 October 18, 2012)

JMS 2012;15(2):194-96