Originally published August 6 2005
Don’t listen to Mom about chocolate
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The old wives' tale about chocolate causing acne has been told to children for decades, but new products comprised of chocolate made for the skin seek to prove otherwise.
A woman in her 50s vacationing in South America was touring a chocolate factory when its owner asked, "Who wants to be covered in chocolate?"
As a founder of Scharffen Berger, the maker of famously dense, dark Nibby Bars, Scharffenberger has more than a passing interest in the stuff.
No one paid much attention, especially when he went on to suggest that chocolate could work as a softener in skin creams.
It has been found to be a potent antioxidant and a boon to cardiovascular health.
They are increasingly putting chocolate into their formulas, to work as a skin softener, yes, but also to use its antioxidant powers to smooth wrinkles.
Theoretically, cocoa might prevent damage by free radicals to collagen, elastin and other proteins in the skin.
Scientific evidence to back up this premise is lacking, and some doctors are skeptical that it ever will come along.
But that has not squelched the building enthusiasm for chocolate cosmetics.
At least 90 new cocoa-infused treatments popped up on beauty shelves in 2004, quadruple the figure from the previous year, according to the Global New Products Database at Mintel, a consumer products market research firm.
At the Eighth Annual Chocolate Show in New York in November, the usual beauty booth will be expanded into a full-fledged spa.
"Consumers are becoming aware of the healing properties of chocolate," said Carrie Bonner, industry manager of consumer products at Kline & Co., a business consulting and research firm specializing in health and beauty.
Cosmetics makers have been using cocoa butter as a moisturizer since the mid-19th century, said Louis Grivetti, a professor of nutrition at the University of California, Davis.
"When you apply this mask, the skin glows, and the glow is an important part of what we perceive as beauty."
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