Nestle the world’s largest chocolate maker says it may have a chocolate bar that helps fight wrinkles…

Health & Energy

First thought…what has chocolate got to do with youth?

And chocolate and health doesn’t seem to fit together?

Chocolate is probably at the bottom of the list when you think about making food healthier, right?

But this chocolate could slow aging, making it the latest food group to tap the appetite for healthier living.

Eating 20 g (0.755 oz) of specially developed chocolate packed with antioxidants, or flavanols, each day may help prevent wrinkles.

Imagine eating chocolate that makes your skin more radiant by boosting elasticity and improving hydration.

Well, dark chocolate has already been linked with certain health benefits, such as helping to lower blood pressure…

And reducing risk of strokes thanks to its high content of antioxidants.

Women are becoming increasingly aware of the nutritional value of what they eat, food giants like Nestle and Danone are pushing healthy eating market.

Nestle has developed a way of preserving the flavanols found in cocoa beans during the chocolate-making process.

This allows them to produce a chocolate bar that is richer in flavanols.

Caffeine and a lack of sleep contribute to the creation of free radicals that can damage healthy cells in the body and accelerate the aging process.

However, there’s plenty of evidence that shows flavanols slow down damage caused by free radicals…

Now, food manufacturing companies are leveraging health and wellness into various products.

There is definitely a market for chocolate in health and wellness because you’re already seeing how this has worked in dairy products…

Products like Danone’s Actimel and Unilever’s Benecol for example.

By the way, the chocolate market includes organic and diet chocolate, which is seeing double-digit growth, easily outpacing 1-2 percent growth currently seen in the rest of the chocolate market.

Some experts are doubtful about the positive effects flavanols have on skin.

Although, some say there is quite a lot of evidence that cocoa flavanols have a positive effect on the blood flow.

Flavanols reduce blood pressure which could have positive effects on cardiovascular with possible effects on skin and cognitive performance.

There is evidence, but it is much less consistent.

May be the effect on youth has got to do with the blood flow which is also what improves memory and skin health in some of the studies?

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