Eating chocolate can make you look 30 years younger? Sweet...

SITTING on my sofa, I scoffed a piece of rich, dark chocolate and didn’t feel guilty at all. Nope, not one bit. In fact I felt rather virtuous, for this was no ordinary chocolate. It was a slither of Esthechoc, which calls itself the world’s first beauty chocolate.

I was, apparently, doing my skin a big favour by indulging my chocolate habit. It took scientists at Cambridge Chocolate Technology ten years of research to develop Esthechoc, which claims to have incredible skin-enhancing properties. It’s crammedd with huge e amounts of the antioxidants cocoa flavanols and astaxanthin, which are said to combat signs of ageing.

In independent tests, 3,000 women aged between 50 and 60 took Esthechoc for three weeks. Afterwards, the biomarkers and metabolic parameters of their skin were typical to 20 to 30 year olds. Which, reading through the science speak, meant it knocked years off ‘em.

So did I look more youthful after my three week weeks of chocol ate intake? I didn didn’t get asked for I ID in the offlicence but, despite my scepticism, I have to admit it perked up my tired complexion and gave me a healthy glow.

At €39.95 for a three-week supply it’s no bargain beauty buy, but it’s more reasonable than a facial — and I know many women who’d love it as a gift.

Of course, I had to make sure my husband didn’t snaffle the lot when I wasn’t looking, and it was hard to eat only the one piece a day, but as beauty treatments go, it was highly enjoyable. And, unlike taking vitamins or applying hand cream, I never, ever forgot my daily dose. AVAILABLE exclusively in Ireland at therapieclinic.com