Michael Johnson, Manchester, UK As an inventor myself, I find my most creative ideas come out when I have some time to myself, either relaxing or pacing up an down pondering about something. As chocolate is not a necessity product but rather more of a luxury product you might eat for enjoyment. It may be that people who have more time to relax and ponder, rather than worry about work or necessity of life... are most creative.
Liz Pearce, Cardiff, UK I had my IQ measured by Mensa a few years ago and it came out at 159 which is apparently in the top 1% of the population. I am also well known for my chocolate addiction and once ate 23 Cadbury Creme Eggs at one sitting. (I felt a bit sick afterwards though.)
Baantu Kaano, Hayes, UK I believe chocolate does have certain aspects or properties which do promote better cognitive functioning. We Somalis consume a type of chocolate called ha'are, which we believe increased intelligence as old tribe leaders used to eat it during times of war.
Apostolos Papoutsis, Athens, Greece Eating chocolate when hungry is definitely a sign of superior intelligence. To start with, it saves hours in preparation and washing up, not to mention the time it takes to consume the food. The quality and taste of the former is always guaranteed, while the latter entails a great degree of luck. As well, as far as we know, Earth is the only planet blessed with both chocolate and intelligence beings. How is this for correlation?
Ken Yoshikawa, Portland, Oregon, USA What if people who eat more chocolate have more leisure time, and leisure time is the variable that must be focused upon?
Ayub Ayub, Amman, Jordan Chocolate is full of minerals, is a stimulant, and is expensive. People who eat it, especially from an early age, will develop better brains, be more alert/sharp minded, and because they come from richer countries will have better education, a richer environment and more stable/easy life (they can ponder more), and will have more resources hence making them better achievers.
George Chilton, Salisbury, UK Chocolate is consumed in greater quantities in colder climates as it's a comfort food, and doesn't melt quite as much. Looking at the countries in the chart, we can see that they are highly affluent, and Northern. The combination of cold weather and money means people sit and work, rather than sit on the beach. Who wants to use their brain when it's 35 degrees [C] outside? I currently live in Spain. There aren't many Nobel prizes being won here, it's mostly because we're all at the beach, not because we're not eating enough chocolate.
Andrea Valdes Veracruz, Mexico You must consider that the Mayas, who probably domesticated cacao, used to drink a lot of chocolate and they were capable of amazing discoveries in astronomy. Was chocolate the reason for their intelligence?
James Winters, Edinburgh, UK Me and my co-author, Sean Roberts, actually submitted a response to this paper that showed a correlation between the number of serial and rampage killers. In short, you can make the argument that there are positive and negative benefits to higher consumption of chocolate. Or, more seriously, the central point is that you shouldn't take these cross-cultural correlations too seriously.
Johanna, California, USA Chocolate (for the most part, pure dark) makes me feel good. When I have an exam to study for, or ideas to come up with for a creative project, or the need to feel relaxed in an upcoming challenge, chocolate ALWAYS helps. Chocolate differs from other foods eaten at these times, because I don't feel slowed down by digestion and I don't feel tired or sleepy; rather I feel invigorated and, most importantly, inspired. This doesn't prove that chocolate is responsible for my successes, or others' successes. But it might mean that certain people - those who have a predilection and a taste for it - may ''need'' what chocolate offers biochemically (for improved emotional, physical and/or mental state) and consequently function better with it. I know I do.
Marta Sandberg, Bridgetown, Australia I don't care if this is true or not - I will use it as an excuse anyway.
William, Halifax, Canada If you look closely at the flags on the graph you will see that it makes the outline of Cornwall, UK. This Cornish connection ought to be pursued - and can I have a Nobel Prize now?!
Brian Makin, Bassersdorf, Switzerland The explanation is obvious. The Swiss make the best chocolate!
Taken from HERE.
What's your take on this?
...or you could just talk about narcissistically about chocolate.
Chocolates do have a substance called flavonoids that improve brain cognitive function but I think it does not really make your brain into a Nobel prize winner’s brain. Countries that consume chocolate the most like United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Sweden has a state of art education system from the elementary level up to the university level. Their university has a better laboratory, research equipment, and a lot of high quality scientific journal. I think it is the main factor of the huge amount of their Nobel laureates. Also, these countries have a better living condition than any other countries. Healthy and safe environment do contribute to the intelligence level of the people of these countries. They eat better food and receive more nutrition which is important for brain development in the early age. These factors are the the reason why countries that consume high number of chocolate have more Nobel laureates.
ReplyDeleteTalking about the correlation between high consumption of chocolate in a country with its tendency to produce Nobel Price winners there is an article from https://www.businessinsider.com/chocolate-consumption-vs-nobel-prizes-2014-4/?IR=T that provides a data taken from New England Journal Of Medicine paper published in 2012 called: Chocolate Consumption, Cognitive Function, and Nobel Laureates, that shows relationship between a country's chocolate consumption and Nobel Prize victories. The research shows that Switzerland, whose considered to be the country that has highest consumption on chocolate compare to other countries, produce the most Noble Prize Winners. I myself, have always loved chocolate, dark chocolates to be specific. I always eat dark chocolates when I am studying for exams because I feel energised and I feel like by eating dark chocolate my memory and mood is improved, hence I always restock dark chocolates in my room especially on exam week. And after I look it up on google besides flavonoids that can improve brain cognitive function, chocolate also contains caffeine and theobromine that can boost our energy level.
ReplyDeleteAt first it seems bizarre and dubious to relate the consumption of chocolate to winning Nobel Prizes. However, after further research on the topic, although chocolate and winning a Nobel Prize has no direct relation, it is actually true that chocolate does improve cognitive abilities within hours of consumption. Cognitive abilities itself are the abilities of an individual to perform the various mental activities such as paying attention, memory and thinking. These crucial skills enables us to process sensory information and eventually learn to evaluate, analyse, remember, make comparisons and understand cause and effect of a problem. Possessing higher levels of cognitive abilities would mean that a person is more intelligent than the majority and have greater chances of exploring and discovering things that others wouldn’t thought of and maybe getting a Nobel Prize for it. This is due to flavanols – organic molecules found in chocolate as well as green tea and wine. Although it is not yet fully understood how cocoa flavanols brought about improvements in cognitive function, researchers from Italy's University of L'Aquila incorporated that cocoa flavanols have beneficial effects for cardiovascular health and can increase cerebral blood volume in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus which is the structure particularly affected by aging and therefore the potential source of age-related memory decline in humans. As for myself, consuming chocolates gives me an effect of boost in energy, contentment and creativity (but this might only be a placebo effect after reading articles about chocolates and it’s effect on brain processes).
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