Chocs that make you look younger!

It’s every woman’s dream. But can it possibly be true?

THe chocolates come as individually wrapped glossy squares, a little smaller and thicker than an After eight mint. They’re definitely moreish — and the recommended dosage is just one a day.

Dosage? Yes that’s right. This is the world’s first ‘beauty chocolate’, which its British manufacturers claim actually protects against the signs of ageing.

Aimed at the skincare market, a daily 7.5g ration of the specially formulated dark chocolate — esthechoc — will, the makers say, reduce skin inflammation and increase oxygen circulation, helping to stave off wrinkles and fine lines.

For generations raised on the belief that chocolate causes blackheads, spots and oily skin, it sounds too good to be true — and sticking to the one-a- day rule could be a problem for the weak-willed.

This skincare confectionery arrives in clinical white packaging, semi-glossy, but far removed from the extravagance you might expect from chocolates costing £35 for a box of 21.

each one is wrapped in a plastic, tear-open sachet. Over the threeweek course, its makers say, hundreds of people who underwent a scientific trial experienced increased levels of protective antioxidants in the skin.

It’s an extraordinary claim that, if correct, will bring joy to millions of people anxious about the onset of crows’ feet, laughter lines and blemishes of middle and old age, who will happily read the blurb about ‘detoxication’ as they swallow their daily chocolate. But can something so unlikely be true? Could a daily chocolate really take years off your appearance?

The beauty chocolate is the brainchild of former Cambridge University scientist Dr Ivan Petyaev who claims it has been ten years in development. It’s not his first unlikely-sounding claim for the health benefits of food.

Three years ago, he suggested that a chemical in ripe Roquefort cheese could prevent cardiovascular disease, and may partly explain why the French have relatively healthy hearts and arteries despite eating lots of saturated fat. The theory, published in a scientific journal, was widely reported at the time.

DR PETYAEV’S work on esthechoc follows dozens of studies showing that cocoa and dark chocolate are both high in polyphenol antioxidants, natural plant chemicals that protect the body’s cells — including skin — against damage.

The catch has always been that most of the beneficial antioxidants in chocolate don’t survive the journey through our stomachs, where they are attacked by acid and gut microbes.

In order to get a health kick from dark chocolate, the typical person would need to devour at least 50g a day. Fat and sugar in that much chocolate would outweigh most health benefits.

Dr Petyaev’s solution was to encase the beneficial polyphenols in cocoa with tiny protective shells that keep them intact as they pass out of the stomach into the rest of the body.

These protective shells, known as astacelles, are themselves made from another powerful antioxidant called astaxanthin — the pigment that makes flamingoes and salmon pink — which he says boosts the health benefits of his chocolate even more.

The company claims that in tests involving hundreds of people in their 50s and 60s, those who ate a piece of esthehoc every day for 21 days experienced less inflammation in their skin and an increased oxygen supply to skin tissue.

Tests done by the company have also shown increased levels of astaxanthin in the skin and its underlying tissues among people eating the chocolate every day.

‘We improved microcirculation in the skin and subcutaneous fat, and we improved oxygenation in the tissues,’ he says.

It’s an impressive claim. There are just two catches.

One is that the chocolate is eyewateringly expensive. esthechoc, which is available from Harrods or the company’s website, costs 22p per gram; by comparison, it would cost you 2.19p per gram to buy a 100g bar of Green And Black’s Organic 70 per cent Dark Chocolate at Tesco. A year’s treatment with esthechoc would trim your bank account, if not your waist, by around £600.

The second catch is that Dr Petyaev hasn’t proven that esthechoc actually makes skin look better or younger. To do so would require a clinical trial involving hundreds of people, half of whom would be given ordinary chocolate, or maybe a harmless sugar pill, and half esthechoc.

Their skin would have to be assessed by a professional at the start and end of the trial. And the results would need to be published in a respected scientific journal so that other skin experts could review the study and check the methodology.

This has not been done and the publicity literature for esthechoc is careful not to make excessive claims for its powers.

The company boasts that the chocolate has ‘clinical proven biological efficacy’, that it has a ‘unique skin effect’ and that it ‘protects the skin from ageing and contributes to healthy, luminous and smooth skin’. But it doesn’t say it actually makes skin look better or reduces wrinkles.

There’s a good rule when looking at beauty products or sensational superfoods. An extraordinary claim needs extraordinary evidence. And so far there is simply not enough evidence to show that this chocolate really does keep people looking younger. It tastes fantastic — but at 22p a sliver, you’d expect something pretty special.