Got milk? Nobel prize winners do

A few months ago, there was a flurry of excitement among chocoholics when the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) reported a strong association between a nation’s chocolate consumption and the number of Nobel laureates it produced. The authors speculated that chocolate’s flavonoid content boosts brain power.

The NEJM article got chocolate enthusiasts Sarah Linthwaite and Geraint N Fuller from the Department of Neurology at the Gloucester Royal Hospital thinking. “Chocolate is not usually consumed on its own, often being combined with milk either as a drink or as milk chocolate,” they wrote in a letter to the journal Practical Neurology.

“Could the per capita milk consumption correlate with Nobel achievements?” they wondered.

Comparing milk consumption and Nobel prizes per capita, Linthwaite and Fuller found “a significant exponential correlation” between the two that led them to ask, “Do Nobel prize winners celebrate by drinking milk?”

There may, however, be a plausible biological explanation for the phenomenon. Milk is rich in Vitamin D, Linthwaite and Fuller wrote, which may be linked with improved cognitive function. The letter authors also noted that milk consumption reflects a strong education system.

Weighing up all the available information, Linthwaite and Fuller wrote, “So to improve your chances of winning Nobel prizes you should not only eat more chocolate but perhaps drink milk too: or strive for synergy with hot chocolate?”

Any thoughts on what this means for lactose-intolerant individuals with dreams of winning the Nobel prize?