title: The hobbit - an unexpected deficiency.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Vitamin D has been proposed to have beneficial effects in a wide range of contexts. We investigate the hypothesis that vitamin D deficiency, caused by both aversion to sunlight and unwholesome diet, could also be a significant contributor to the triumph of good over evil in fantasy literature.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data on the dietary habits, moral attributes and martial prowess of various inhabitants of Middle Earth were systematically extracted from J R R Tolkien's novel The hobbit.
  
  
  METHODS
  Goodness and victoriousness of characters were scored with binary scales, and dietary intake and habitual sun exposure were used to calculate a vitamin D score (range, 0-4).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The vitamin D score was significantly higher among the good and victorious characters (mean, 3.4; SD, 0.5) than the evil and defeated ones (mean, 0.2; SD, 0.4; P < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Further work is needed to see if these pilot results can be extrapolated to other fantastic situations and whether randomised intervention trials need to be imagined.
authors: National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Unit, Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust and Imperial College London, London, UK. n.hopkinson@ic.ac.uk.
authors: Joseph A
authors: JA
authors: Hopkinson
authors: National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Unit, Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust and Imperial College London, London, UK.
authors: Nicholas S
authors: NS
authors: Hopkinson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003163:Competitive Behavior; D005201:Fantasy; D006801:Humans; D008093:Literature, Modern; D009014:Morals; D014808:Vitamin D Deficiency / Q000523:psychology*; D014925:Wit and Humor as Topic