CAP TODAY Pathology/Laboratory Medicine/Laboratory Management
Clinical pathology abstracts editor: Deborah Sesok-Pizzini, MD, MBA, associate professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and medical director, Blood Bank and Transfusion Medicine, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Chocolate consumption, cognitive function, and Nobel laureates
Dietary flavonoids are associated with health benefits, including improved cognitive function and reduced risks associated with aging, such as the risk of dementia. Flavonoids, or the subclass flavanols, are present in green tea, red wine, cocoa, and some fruits. Evidence has also shown that flavanols are linked to lower blood pressure due to vasodilation in the peripheral vasculature and brain. The author conducted a study in which he used chocolate consumption as a surrogate for flavonoid consumption and determined whether there is an association between a population’s cognitive function and chocolate intake. As a surrogate marker for cognitive function for a given country, the author used the total number of Nobel laureates per capita, with the assumption that this reflected the proportion of people in the country with superior intelligence. The study concluded that there was a close significant linear correlation between chocolate consumption per capita and the number of Nobel laureates per 10 million people in 23 countries. The only outlier was Sweden, with more Nobel laureates than predicted based on chocolate consumption. Switzerland ranked first with regard to chocolate consumption and number of Nobel laureates. The author noted that based on the slope of the regression line, chocolate consumption would need to increase by 0.4 kg of chocolate per capita per year to increase the number of Nobel laureates. Therefore, in the United States, the population would need to consume an additional 125 million kg of chocolate per year to increase the number of Nobel laureates by one. There are many limitations to the interpretation of this study, including the cause versus effect of chocolate consumption.
Messerli FH. Chocolate consumption, cognitive function, and Nobel laureates. N Engl J Med. 2012;367:1562–1564.
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