The real beauty bar: scientists invent 'anti-ageing' chocolate

Chocolate said to bring skin biomarkers of a 50 to 60-year-old back to levels of a 20 to 30-year-old

Good news for people whose weakness is chocolate. Scientists have developed a chocolate bar that apparently slows down signs of ageing, reports The Independent.

A Cambridge University affiliated lab is using an antioxidant by the name of ‘Esthechoc’ that keeps flamingos pink. The lab claims that the chocolate improves the skin’s physiology and brings skin biomarkers of a 50 to 60-year-old back to the levels of a 20 to 30-year-old.

According to scientists, volunteers who ate the chocolate daily for four weeks as part of a clinical trial had less inflammation in their blood and an increased blood supply to skin tissues.

These affects were thanks to a boost in the level of antioxidants and increased blood circulation, which prevents wrinkles.

Inventors of the chocolate believe it is also suitable for people with diabetes as each bar contains 38kcal, The Telegraph reported.

But Esthechoc won’t be replacing Dairy Milk bars at your local store anytime soon, with its brochure describing its target audiences as: “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."

The product, which is also called ‘Cambridge Beauty Chocolate’, will hit shelves at upmarket retailers from next month.

Makers of the beauty bar have not yet revealed its likely hefty pricetag.

However, some academics are less convinced by the chocolate's powers. Naveed Sattar, Professor of Metabolic Medicine at Glasgow University, told The Telegraph that more clinical trials are needed to prove the company’s “strong” claims.