Developed by a Cambridge University affiliated laboratory, Esthechoc is being touted as the world’s first ‘beauty chocolate’. It’s a dark chocolate with 70 percent cocoa containing high levels of two powerful anti-oxidants which help reverse the skin’s natural ageing process.
A 7.5g piece of Esthechoc has as many cocoa flavanols as a 100g piece of regular chocolate, and the same amount of astaxanthin as 300g of wild salmon. These substances are believed to help improve blood circulation and increase blood supply to the skin, making it look healthier and younger. Cambridge-based bio-medical company Lycotec tested the chocolate on volunteers aged between 50 and 60, and recorded visible benefits in just three weeks.
“After 3-4 weeks of daily intake by 50-60 year old volunteers, the Beauty Chocolate was able to not only suppress markers of sub-clinical inflammatory damage in their blood, but also reverse their age-related depression of microcirculation and blood supply to such peripheral tissues as subcutaneous fat and skin,” Lycotec claims in a post on its website. “This consequently resulted in a significant boost of oxygen delivery to these tissues and restoration of their respiration – the essential physiological need in controlling and supporting skin health.”
Dr Ivan Petyaev, the inventor of Esthechoc and the director of Lycotec, said the technology behind this revolutionary chocolate originated from Cambridge University and required several years to convert from mere research into a functional formula. A former Cambridge student, Petyaev is a somewhat controversial figure who once claimed that the sexually transmitted infection Chlamydia could treated by eating French cheese.
Other academics have declared themselves unconvinced by Esthechoc, arguing that more research is needed to confirm its makers’ strong claims.
The best thing about Esthechoc is that it only contains 38 calories per portion, which is significantly less than regular chocolate, so it can be enjoyed pretty much guilt-free even by diabetics. Nothing much has been revealed about the taste, so we’re not sure if it will be as satisfying as eating a regular chocolate bar, though.
“It will be going on sale next month in the UK and some countries in Europe,” said Dr. Ivan Petyaev, the brains behind Esthechoc. “It will be available online, but in the UK we have a plan with a prestigious retailer, one of the top retailers in the country, which will stock it.”
However, Esthechoc probably won’t replace the popular chocolate bars at your local grocery store anytime soon. The product’s brochure mentions that it’s aimed at “elegant, educated and affluent’ city-dwelling women in their 30s, and businessmen to support their appearance in a stressful environment and on their business travels.” That’s a complicated way of saying it will be expensive as hell.
Would you be willing to give it a try?
Sources: Lycotec, The Independent
