Can you improve your skin health by eating chocolate?

Last month I was invited to a press evening where I would be required to eat chocolate and drink wine…these PR companies certainly know how to hook us in. I mean it would be rude not to attend especially as it was national chocolate week – well it was something like that – and anyway who needs an excuse to eat chocolate and drink wine after a hard day’s work!

We were introduced to the product – Esthechoc in a very civilized way. We were treated to a wine and chocolate tasting session and so “needed” to drink 3 different wines and see how they tasted when paired with the chocolate. We all declared that the chocolate was yummy and learned a little about wine tasting at the same time.

After that we heard about the science behind Estechoc claimed to be “the world’s first youth boosting chocolate. We were reminded that the medicinal effects of cocoa have been known for hundreds of years because of its polyphenols which are a powerful antioxidant which neutralise free radicals and reduce inflammation. Then it was explained that after many years of research and experimentation Cambridge Chocolate Technologies created chocolate that is enjoyable, healthy, does not raise insulin levels and improves skin health in just 3 weeks.

The chocolate they produced, Esthechoc, contains two powerful antioxidants:

• Astaxanthin – a strong anti-inflammatory substance 6000 times stronger than vitamin C and
• Cocoa Polyphenolic Epicatechins – that increase oxygen transport in plasma and micro-circulation

Ok, ok, this is way to scientific isn’t it? And you’re asking what does that mean for my skin – well basically it means that your skin is protected, inflammation is reduced and oxygen levels in your skin are increased which means healthier younger looking skin.

Now there’s a whole lot more science available here if you’re interested but the key thing is that they’ve managed to  use technology that means more of the active ingredients reach the skin.

Of course we asked why can’t we jut eat loads of chocolate? Sorry it just had to be asked! We learned that you’d need to eat 70g of 90% dark chocolate (about 500 calories) to get close to the amount of epicatechins to be beneficial as compared to one  7.5g bar of Estechoc each day (38 calories). Additionally, to get the same amount of astaxanthin it contains you’d need to eat 300g of wild Alaskan salmon a day.

So I started my trial of eating one bar of Estechoc every morning for 3 weeks to see if I would see any benefit to skin health. I was told that after 3 weeks the maximum benefits of the ingredients are felt and then continued use will maintain this level of skin health. I very quickly got used to eating a bar with my morning coffee and it felt like a treat rather than a food supplement. So I guess you’re wondering what results I noticed. I have to admit I didn’t take any photos of lines and wrinkles and anyway I’m not sure that you can exactly replicate the pose, light etc to evidence an improvement. My skin’s looking good but I can’t be sure that was because of the chocolate or due to topical creams I use and my normal diet. What I did notice though is an amazing improvement in the strength of my nails. I can’t ever remember them being so strong! This wasn’t one of the promised outcomes but I can see that it could well be linked to increased microcirculation and oxygenation.

Estechoc is vegan, 100% natural and costs £35.50 for 21 days supply here or from D Thomas Clinic at the Chelsea Private Clinic. Oh and it also comes as an advent calendar if you want to improve your skin by Christmas!

Hazel

This post contains PR samples.