I thought this article about chocolate products for the skin was a
trip:
http://www.exploringchocolate.com/20...he_skin_1.html

I even saw a program from Canada recently that featured a spa where all
the treatments are made from chocolate.

Weird but true.

K.Swanson

bobbie sellers wrote:
> Found on sci.med among the trash.
>
>
> ** Begin copied material from Usenet **
>
> Subject: UV photoprotection / chocolate
> Date: 3 Jul 2006 09:27:15 -0700
> Organization: http://groups.google.com
> Lines: 103
> Message-ID: .com>
>
>
> Flavanol-rich chocolate could improve skin from within
>
> By Stephen Daniells
>
>
> 16/05/2006 - Cocoa beverages and food rich in flavanols could thicken
> skin and reduce reddening by 25 per cent, say German scientists -
> research sure to be welcomed by Europe's burgeoning oral beauty
> products sector.
>
> Growing awareness of the link between diet and health, and by extension
> physical appearance, means that many consumers are receptive to the
> concept of 'beauty from within'.
> Indeed, a recent Datamonitor report predicted the overall European
> cosmeceuticals market to grow to $4.4bn (=803.4bn) in 2009, up 5 per
> cent from today. This includes all cosmetic products containing at
> least one bio-active ingredient for the skin.
>
> The new research from Germany that links skin health to cocoa flavanols
> could well be readily accepted by the female-dominated consumer base.
> The same Datamonitor report said that 63.7 per cent of women over the
> age of 50 are prepared to spend more on cosmeceuticals.
>
> "This study demonstrates that the regular consumption of a beverage
> rich in flavanols can confer substantial photoprotection as well as
> help maintain skin health by improving skin structure and function,"
> wrote the researchers in the new issue of the Journal of Nutrition (Vol
> 136, pp 1565-1569).
>
> Led by Wilhelm Stahl from the Heinrich-Heine University in Dusseldorf,
> the researchers supplemented the regular diet of 24 female volunteers
> with healthy, normal skin with either a high flavanol (326 milligrams
> per day) or low flavanol (27 milligrams per day) cocoa powder drink
> (dissolved in water). Both flavanol powders were provided by Mars.
>
> Women were advised to continue their normal dietary habits, while other
> dietary supplements were not to be taken during the 12-week
> intervention trial. Sunbathing and use of tanning beds was also
> forbidden.
>
> On three separate occasions (weeks 0, 6, and 12), the skin of
> volunteers was exposed to 1.25 times the UV irradiation dose required
> to redden the skin (erythema) on the back and shoulder region.
>
> The researchers found that the group receiving the high flavanol cocoa
> beverage had a reduction in skin response to the UV radiation of 15 per
> cent after week 6, and 25 per cent after week 12, compared to baseline.
> The low flavanol receiving group did not affect UV sensitivity.
>
> "We showed here for the first time, to our knowledge, that dietary
> intervention with a cocoa beverage rich in flavanols decreased the
> sensitivity of human skin toward UV light, which was determined by the
> degree of erythema," wrote the researchers.
>
> In addition to the reduction in sensitivity, the researchers also
> observed an increase in subcutaneous blood flow for the high flavanol
> group, as well as improving skin texture by increasing skin density (16
> per cent), skin thickness (12 per cent), and skin hydration (28 per
> cent), compared to baseline. No significant changes were observed in
> the low flavanol group.
>
> Polyphenols, such as the catechins found in cocoa, are reported to
> absorb UV light, which may contribute to the reduction in UV
> sensitivity. The compounds are also capable of scavenging reactive
> oxygen species (ROS) that are formed during photo-oxidation.
>
> The main flavanols found in the high flavanol beverage were epicatechin
> (61 milligrams per day) and catechins (20 mg/d), while the low flavanol
> drink contained about one tenth these concentrations.
>
> "These amounts [in the high flavanol beverage] are similar to those
> found in 100 grams of dark chocolate," explained the researchers.
>
> The mechanisms by which the cocoa flavanols improve skin texture are
> not known, but Prof Stahl and his colleagues suggest that the
> flavanol-mediated rise in skin blood flow is likely to improve the
> appearance of the skin.
>
> This research is in-line with previous animal studies that reported tea
> flavanols could inhibit UV-induced skin reddening, but Co-author Prof
> Helmut Sies, also from the Heinrich-Heine University, stressed to
> NutraIngredients.com that this is the first such study to show a
> benefit in a human trial, and said that research in this area was
> continuing.
>
>
>
>
> Who loves ya.
> Tom
>
> [Some vegetarian references snipped]
>
> ** End copied material from Usenet **
>
>
> later
> bliss -- C O C O A Powered... (at california dot com)
>
> --
> bobbie sellers - a retired nurse in San Francisco
>
> "It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.
> It is by the beans of cocoa that the thoughts acquire speed,
> the thighs acquire girth, the girth become a warning.
> It is by theobromine alone I set my mind in motion."
> --from Someone else's Dune spoof ripped to my taste.