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Sweet news for chocoholics: it makes you smarter!

Lucy Kippist

by Lucy Kippist

12 Oct 01:55pm

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Filed under: Brain, Chocolate, Food, Health, Memory, Nobel Prize

43 comments

Few stories will match this one in terms of the joy it will bring to people with a sweet tooth.

The 2057 Nobel Physics Laureate in training for the prize. Photo: news.com.au

At long last, scientists have confirmed what the rest of us chocolate junkies have known for a long time – eating the chocolatey deliciousness actually makes you smarter.

Scientists say they’ve found a “linear” correlation between chocolate consumption per capita and the number of Nobel laureates per 10 million persons in a total of 23 countries. We say “Hooray for that”.

According to Columbia University professor Franz Messerli, “flavonoids”, which is s the name for antioxidants found in cocoa, green tea, red wine and some fruits, appear “to be effective in slowing down or even reversing the reductions in cognitive performance that occur with age.”

In other words, the more chocolate you eat the less likely you are to lose your memory.

So now that we know there is a direct correlation between eating countries who win Nobel prizes, what more evidence do you need?

Comments on this post close at 8pm AEST

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43 comments

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    • Joe says:

      01:31pm | 12/10/12

      Makes zero sense. Correlation between two things does not imply cause. If correlation always implied cause then Labradors might be blamed for making people blind. Scientists are really getting dumb these days while the media assist them in their demise.

      Reply

    • Tubesteak says:

      02:57pm | 12/10/12

      It did say something about flavonoids being found in chocolate and these being beneficial. Hence, there might be some causation.

      Re the pic and caption:
      2057 is bit too far away. In physics. most people publish their best piece of work before thay’re 30. Let’s hear it for the girl getting a Nobel Prize in 2030! Good luck!

    • maria says:

      01:41pm | 12/10/12

      Sweet news for chocoholics: it makes you smarter!

      Swiss chocolates: it makes you smarter!

      Another area where Switzerland shines, thanks largely to well-educated voters, is in its fierce defense of national sovereignty and neutrality.

      That’s why the swiss are champion in democracy and understand the true meaning of it.

      Switzerland is a wealthy and stable modern free market economy with low unemployment, a highly skilled workforce, and a per capita GDP among the highest internationally.

      The Swiss have been using referendums for centuries. Their system is unique; they can vote on virtually anything. They can amend the constitution, accept or reject government foreign or domestic policy and introduce their own laws. Anyone with 100,000 signatures on a petition can sponsor an initiative to demand changes to the constitution and anyone who can gather 50,000 signatures on a petition can call for a referendum on a law passed by the federal government. The final result in both cases, of course, is subject to a vote by all citizens.

      Not rats talking…..no rats behave…..everything sweet as chocolale.

      Reply

    • Bertrand says:

      01:57pm | 12/10/12

      Maria - please move to Switzerland if it’s such a great place to be. As I’ve said before, I’m quite fond of the system of representative democracy we have in this country.

      Every system has its issues, and direct democracy is no different. Have a look at California’s current debt crisis and its links to the citizen directed refenda that enabled it to happen. http://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/who-killed-california

      As for your constant bleatings about ‘mob rule’.... I can’t think of a clearer case of mob rule than a direct democratic system. If it were the case in Australia forward thinking policies such as the Hawke/Keating reforms and the Howard GST would never have got up. Alternatively, plenty of anti-minority racist laws would have.

    • marley says:

      02:15pm | 12/10/12

      Switzerland ranks ahead of Australia in mathematics but behind in literacy and science. I guess that means they can count the votes, but don’t know any better than Australians what it is they’re voting for.  Beyond, of course, maintaining the gnomes of Zurich in the comfort to which they’ve become accustomed over the centuries.

    • nihonin says:

      02:15pm | 12/10/12

      Yes maria, I can see the correlation between democracy Swiss style and eating chocolate, why it’s the same as taking a crap and saying you’ve lost weight.

    • jaki says:

      02:31pm | 12/10/12

      I’m still trying to work out if Maria needs to eat more chocolate or if she’s been eating too much…

    • Stan says:

      03:05pm | 12/10/12

      The Swiss chocolate democracy must be without any doubts the best tasty bite for the people and the worse one for any rats.
      Don’t need anymore the rat sack.
      Let’s have one immediatly.

    • Scotchfinger says:

      03:43pm | 12/10/12

      jaki you are the funniest and scariest woman on the punch. *admire*

    • Ted says:

      04:49pm | 12/10/12

      Rattlesnakes are best known for the hiss of their famous tails.

      I didn’t know that the swiss chocolate had a special ingredient who could make a rat rattle like a snake.

    • sunny says:

      05:30pm | 12/10/12

      yeah there’s the chocolate, but I’m moving to Switzerland mainly because you can yodel as you walk down the street and no one even raises an eyebrow.

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQhqikWnQCU

    • STEPHAN says:

      06:36pm | 12/10/12

      Indeed a very smart comment Maria and I like it.
      At long last, the swiss have confirmed what we have become a dump country without borders under the rules of the incompetents and the majority says “Hooray for that”.

    • Mouse says:

      06:39pm | 12/10/12

      LOL! sunny, I want his hat! OMG, love it!  RFLMAO :oD
      I

    • K2 says:

      01:45pm | 12/10/12

      “Scientists say they’ve found a “linear” correlation between chocolate consumption per capita and the number of Nobel laureates per 10 million persons in a total of 23 countries.”

      This is the perfect example of a non-sequitur….

      The conclusion does not necessarily follow the evidence.  Good grounds for more study, but not difinitive proof by any means.

      Mind you, I do eat alot of chocolate (only the good stuff 70% dark lindt) so you’re probably right because I am way smarter than any of youse all so nyahhhh.

      Reply

    • Tubesteak says:

      03:05pm | 12/10/12

      *A_LOT

      Two words. Not one.

    • K2 says:

      03:11pm | 12/10/12

      I aslo said “youse all” and “nyahhh” but I’m guessing you don’t eat chocolate so didn’t get the joke?

    • Tubesteak says:

      04:35pm | 12/10/12

      You weren’t joking. You were serious.

    • Mouse says:

      01:58pm | 12/10/12

      It is no news to us chocoholics, Lucy.
      We need no scientific confirmation, no correlation of evidence, because we already know!.
      The darker the chochie, the smarter we get and, as K2 says, we are waaaay smarter than any of the abstainers/deniers.  It also makes us funnier, sunnier, hunnier and just damn nice people to be around! hehehehehe ;o)

      Reply

    • jaki says:

      02:36pm | 12/10/12

      I don’t like chocolate. You callin’ me dumb and no fun, Mouse ?
      wink

    • K2 says:

      03:02pm | 12/10/12

      @Jaki - see if you ate more chocolate, you wouldn’t have had to ask if that was what she was calling you…..just sayin’

    • Mouse says:

      03:11pm | 12/10/12

      hahahahahaha jaki, don’t be like that now, Buddy! Would never call you dumb and no fun,  that wouldn’t be a smart thing to do,  I think. lol
      I’m just waithing for Scotchie to poke his head in and explain all the wonderful things he does with chocolate. Should be entertaining! lol :o)

    • Scotchfinger says:

      03:38pm | 12/10/12

      I like white chocolate with rum. What does that make me - dumb, drunk and racist?

    • Scotchfinger says:

      04:11pm | 12/10/12

      haha Mouse, just saw your comment you naughty mouse. Yes chocolate and strawberries… no politics allowed… French champagne… hmmmm….

    • jaki says:

      04:22pm | 12/10/12

      @K2
      I don’t mind the odd chocolate Paddle-Pop, so I can’t be all that stupid.
      @Mouse
      I thought you would have been more of a cheese girl.
      @ Scotchfinger
      White chocolate and rum ??? Why, sounds downright filthy to me !

    • dumb comment says:

      02:05pm | 12/10/12

      Damn….. I was in Switzerland just last week and I met some really dumb people:-)

      Reply

    • Martin says:

      03:40pm | 12/10/12

      Strange comment I was watching last week today tonight and most of the people couldn’t make a simple add 72+9=?,  a simple substraction 86-16=? and couldn’t multiply 7x3=? and couldn’t spell popular words ans I wasn’t in Switzerland.

    • Admiral Ackbar says:

      02:27pm | 12/10/12

      Makes all that child labour getting the cocoa totally worth it. Ahh, the happy sides of slavery.

      Reply

    • Nikki says:

      03:14pm | 12/10/12

      Child labour? I thought they were Oompa Loompas

      *shakes fist at Willy Wonka*

    • Admiral Ackbar says:

      03:37pm | 12/10/12

      Some of the Oompa Loompas could be children yeah, but more likely they are all pygmies that Willy Wonka abducted from their homeland to put to work in his Chocolate Factory of Despair. Clearly he went with another name for it because marketing that would be a nightmare, and it would immediately draw attention to the fact that some of the main ingredients were the souls of the innocent and childrens tears.

    • Nikki says:

      02:58pm | 12/10/12

      Scientific research brought to you by Cadbury and Lindt.

      I’m going to feed my baby a bowl of choc chips for dinner tonight and let her have a crack at the Sudoku in tomorrow’s paper, I’ll post my ‘research findings’ here and expect a cheque from Nestle by the end of the month.

      Reply

    • Nikki says:

      02:59pm | 12/10/12

      Did you also know that chocolate combats cancer? I’ve been eating it all my life and haven’t had cancer once.

      Reply

    • bananabender says:

      03:10pm | 12/10/12

      Frank Messerli just happens to be Swiss. A potential conflict of interest here methinks.

      Reply

    • Pete says:

      03:10pm | 12/10/12

      While there’s no hard causality here, there is a possible reason: the phenylethylamines in chocolate act as a natural ‘speed’, and can improve brain function. It also makes sense that periodic high-performance will result in overall, more permanent improvements in performance. I think coffee does something similar, via a different mechanism.
      Another interesting correlation: murder rates with IQ. The association is particularly strong in high murder rate countries eg. South America. So much for us all being part of a ‘global village’ that tired old 90s dream.

      Reply

    • Dman says:

      03:14pm | 12/10/12

      Statistics 101: Correlation does not equal causation.

      There are obviously a multitude of other reasons for the findings. For example, people who can afford to buy a luxury food like chocolate are also likelier to live in more developed countries with better educational opportunities, hence the increased number of Nobel laureates from those countries. Didn’t have to be a Nobel prize winner to work that one out!

      Reply

    • marley says:

      04:32pm | 12/10/12

      Then shouldn’t the Swiss have the most Nobel prizes?

    • Yours, the Cat says:

      03:26pm | 12/10/12

      Yes miss but…chocolate has fat and sugar and it will make me fatter than I already am… and….oh I suppose green tea and tomatoes and blueberries will have the same sort of effect….if there is an effect at all. My doctor says it is bad for me and will increase my cholesterol and he disapproves even of the dark variety.
      Mind you of course we cats are not supposed to eat chocolate at all, or even like the stuff. You humans lead us into bad ways.
      Sigh…would love to think it really was all right to indulge in a little good chocolate now and then…prowling off to think about it.

      Reply

    • Jenny says:

      03:59pm | 12/10/12

      chocolate has fat and sugar and it will make me fatter
      but as stupid the majority are.

    • jaki says:

      04:54pm | 12/10/12

      @Jenny
      I think you need to increase your chocolate intake, darl.

    • trey says:

      03:43pm | 12/10/12

      Slightly off topic here but there was an excellent episode of Southpark recently about the current state of the obesity epidemic in America. Highly recommend as long as you dont completely despise the program which in more recent seasons has been lacking.

      Reply

    • Josephine says:

      04:02pm | 12/10/12

      If further testing is required, I’m happy to volunteer and eat more chocolate. But only if it’s dark 70% chocolate. I’m not too keen on the sweet milky stuff.

      Reply

    • Tony of poorakistan says:

      05:50pm | 12/10/12

      I looked in vain for a link to a peer-reviewed scientific treatise ...

      Reply

    • stephen says:

      05:58pm | 12/10/12

      Ignore the Noble Prize ; I do not remember any famous recipient since Einstein ... and I have a suspicion that winners are too important to an economy of ‘donor’ countries, to NOT to win a prize.

      In other words, cumulative and systematic knowledge is worthless.

      Reply

    • Sausage says:

      06:11pm | 12/10/12

      If you read it on the net it must be true

      Reply
 
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