Soybean eating Yorkshire men are brainiest Brits

The next Einstein is likely to be found in Yorkshire and Humberside, be a man in their twenties, and munch on soybeans and blueberries, according to new research released this week which reveals the results of a nationwide intelligence test.

The study, conducted by the Consumer Analysis Group and commissioned by Nintendo as part of its nationwide tour in search for Britain’s Brainiest Family, asked 500 adults questions about their lifestyle and asked them to solve a series of problems as a test of intelligence. The responses were then analysed to measure the nation’s ‘brain weight’ – as in Nintendo’s Big Brain Academy game, the heavier the brain, the better the result – and mapped against gender, region and lifestyle habits to create a profile of the brainiest Brits, revealing:

- Men have heavier brain weights than women
- Twenty somethings are the brainiest of the bunch
- People living in Yorkshire and Humberside came out top in the intelligence stakes
- Intellectual lightweights were identified in West Midlands, Scotland and NI
- Soybeans and blueberries are the UK’s favourite and most effective brain food

The gender and age divide

Men were more likely to answer the intelligence questions correctly and had an average brain weight of 800g as opposed to 600g for women. Three times as many people in their 20s got all the intelligence test questions correct than in any other age group, earning them the heaviest brain weight of all at 1200g. The second heaviest brains were to be found in the 60+ and 40s age groups with a brain weight of 800g – those in their 30s and those in their 50s had the ‘lightest’ brains at just 400g.

Top marks for Yorkshire and Humberside

Yorkshire and Humberside came out as the brainiest region with one in ten (10%) people in the region answering all of the intelligence test questions correctly, giving them a colossal brain weight of 2000g – five times that of those in the West Midlands, East Anglia and the South East where no one got full marks in the intelligence test. Drilling down further, the research showed country air isn’t always best for brains with

Britain’s Brainiest Regions

Brain Weight

1. Yorkshire & Humberside - 2,000g
2. London - 1,200g
3. East Midlands - 800g
3. North West - 800g
4. North East - 600g
4. South West - 600g

Those living in a flat in an urban area were more likely to answer the intelligence questions correctly, being awarded a brain weight of 1000g as opposed to the brain weight of 600g for those living in a house in a rural village.

Food for thought

People in the regions with the lightest brain weights also claim not to do anything to increase their intelligence, such as eating the right food or taking exercise, underlining the fact that these activities can have a positive impact on mental acuity. Those that claim to eat Soybeans and Blueberries on a regular basis were identified by the research as having the heaviest brain weights – nearly four times heavier than those where white bread and fizzy drinks were consumed often.

Exercise to become an intellectual heavy-weight

The research also reveals people who regularly exercise their brain with trivia and puzzle games had the heaviest brain weights of all – regular puzzlers’ brains were five times heavier than those who claimed not to do anything to increase their intelligence.

Dawn Paine, Marketing Director of Nintendo UK comments, “These findings support current thinking that mental agility is affected by lifestyle. There appears to be lots you can do to become an intellectual heavy-weight, from eating brain foods to training your brain with puzzles and games like Big Brain Academy on Wii – and it’s clearly all taking place in Yorkshire and Humberside so perhaps we’ll find Britain’s brainiest family there!”

Search for Britain’s Brainiest Family

Nintendo’s search for Britain’s Brainiest Family started on Saturday in the first regional heat in Glasgow and will see families across the UK testing their knowledge by playing Big Brain Academy on Wii. The winners of the regional heats will go through to a live final event in London in November where one family will win free university fees for children up to the value of £40,000.

Visit Britainsbrainiestfamily.com for more information.

Dawn Paine continued: “We all know what an expensive necessity education can be so this is an amazing prize for a one lucky family in the UK. Big Brain Academy on Wii is a great way to test the intelligence of families across the nation as it is great fun for the whole family.”