Too good to be true?

Now, however, it could have another benefit after scientists claim to have created the first ‘beauty chocolate’.

The sweet treat will apparently smooth wrinkles, increase blood flow and help skin look radiant. 

Its creators claim eating one 7.5g bar a day of Esthechoc will have visible effects within just three weeks.

The beauty claims come from its high levels of two antioxidants. Esthechoc is also only 38 calories per bar with a cocoa content of 72 per cent.

However, it may fail to satisfy chocoholics as a bar is equivalent to just one square from a 45g bar of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk, which weighs in at 240 calories.

Esthechoc was developed from research originating at Cambridge University and will be unveiled at next month’s Global Food Innovation Summit in London. 

It also has as much flavanol, an antioxidant linked to cutting bad cholesterol, as 100g of dark chocolate. 

A 7.5g chunk of dark chocolate would have only a 13th of Esthechoc’s volume of flavonoids.

Cambridge Chocolate Technologies, a spin-off firm which will market the chocolate, claims that volunteers in their 50s and 60s showed signs of health improvement in clinical trials. 

After three weeks, they had improved blood supply to the skin and subcutaneous fat. This boosted oxygen to the skin and improved respiration.

A spokesman said it was the outcome of a decade of research and trials involving more than 3,000 volunteers.

He described it as an ‘exquisite functional dark chocolate enriched with powerful plant extracts’.

But Professor Naveed Sattar, of Glasgow University, said more robust trials were needed to validate the ‘ridiculously strong’ claims. 

He added: ‘Eating too much chocolate means more calories, which means obesity.’

Esthechoc will be sold in boxes of 21 bars to be eaten as a daily ‘dose’ for three weeks.

(dailymail.co.uk)