It looks delicious, the black truffle with the flourish on top. But its taste is quite surprising: “Felice”, the world’s first anti-aging praline, is so tart and sour that it makes your mouth water – but then it makes you smile for a moment. “This is due to the filling with aronia fruits, which ignites fireworks of happiness-giving endorphins in the brain through its acidity through the tongue,” says Lars Andersen, managing director of the Andersen confectionery in Hamburg, which produces the truffles. “Aronia berries are natural anti-aging-Products that stimulate collagen formation with extra vitamin C. The most important anti-aging ingredient, however, is chocolate with 92 percent cocoa content, which has been proven to scavenge free radicals thanks to its polyphenols,” says Andersen. A concept that works: although the aroma of this sugar-free praline takes some getting used to, it sells like hotcakes. Can you actually do something for your beauty with special anti-aging foods?
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Functional Beauty Food
The case used to be clear: Cream goes on the face, jam on the bread. Chocolate makes pimples and beer fat. But suddenly there are more and more products that turn this way of thinking on its head: functional beauty food. Similar to margarine, which lowers the cholesterol level with phytosterols, there are suddenly yoghurts, smoothies and mineral waters that are supposed to ensure beautiful skin with additives such as spirulina algae or coenzyme Q10.
The selection in Germany is still relatively unspectacular. A look beyond the horizon shows that beauty food is even more unusual abroad. In French pharmacies there are z. B. the skin tightening jam “Norelift” with tomatoes and green tea. US actress Reese Witherspoon snacks on “Borba’s” anti-wrinkle cookies, while American teens suck off their pimples with “Fructel” candies. In Japan, people swear by collagen marshmallows and deodorant chewing gum.
Empty promises?
Scrambling is forbidden
Functional food definitely meets the taste of the times. The Future Institute in Kelkheim estimates that the range of foods with additional benefits will grow by 20 percent in the next few years. What is striking, however, is that beauty food in particular is often food such as chocolate or beer, with which we associate pleasure rather than beauty. Doesn’t that seem kind of unbelievable?
The fact is: Neither cosmetics nor functional food with health benefits can promise the moon. The effect must be proven and the wording must not be misleading. “At the end of 2006, the European Parliament specified which health claims may appear on foods in the Health Claims Regulation,” explains Andreas Tief, deputy press spokesman at the Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety in Berlin. While statements like “helps lower cholesterol” are easy to prove, “makes beautiful skin” is not so easy, because it is subjective. In addition, the line between health and beauty claims is often blurred. There is currently a gray area here, but this should be regulated soon.
Caution: sugar!
Although there are already clear regulations for food that promises health, only a quarter of Germans believe that these statements are correct. That was the result of a survey by the Forsa Institute for Public Opinion Research. Such doubts are also justified at Beauty Food. The “pharmacy chocolate” from Stollwerck differs z. B. hardly from the one from the supermarket, even if it is in the form of dragees in a pill box and contains twice as many polyphenols as conventional ones thanks to a special manufacturing process. Their main catch is the sugar, which is the main ingredient, at least in the whole milk version. However, too much sugar can promote skin aging, so that part of the positive effect of the polyphenols is canceled out again. Some normal dark chocolate might be more suitable, to slow down the formation of wrinkles. It is similar with the alcohol content of the “anti-aging beer” from the Neuzelle monastery brewery – which is why the courts have already considered whether it is rightly named. That’s not decided yet.
That really helps!
Which makes sense
What is undisputed, however, is that what we eat affects the condition of our skin and hair. “You can see this particularly clearly when a nutrient is missing,” says Dr. Birgit Kunze, dermatologist from Hamburg. “Zinc deficiency can e.g. B. promote pimples, but they quickly disappear when you compensate for the deficit.” Eating healthy and rich in vitamins is therefore the best beauty guarantee. Anyone who manages to do this does not need any extra beauty food, especially since the usually high price often leaves a bitter aftertaste.
Beauty drink thousand beautiful
Tastes delicious, provides all the important nutrients for beautiful skin and is cheaper than most ready-made beauty drinks: Mash 1 banana , mix with 400 ml milk , 2 tablespoons natural yoghurt , the juice of 1/2 lemon and 100 ml carrot juice . Add 1 tablespoon of wheat germ flakes and 1 drop of grape seed oil . Sweeten with honey if desired and garnish with lemon balm. Enough for two glasses, which you should drink daily.
Nevertheless, there are definitely useful products that you can use to help out in stressful phases. advantage is z. B. that the mix is right. All important beauty active ingredients are included and are put together in such a way that our body can use them optimally. Nevertheless, you should really only take the specified amounts, otherwise an overdose can sometimes occur. dr Birgit Kunze: “But now and then an anti-aging praline? Why not! You can’t replace your skin care with it, but you can support it.”
Product Recommendations
PRODUCTS
- “FELICE ANTI-AGING TRUFFLE ARONIA” FROM ANDERSEN CONFECTIONERY with dark chocolate, soya and aronia berry puree, no added sugar, 10 pieces approx. 7 euros.
- “PERFEKT SKIN BEAUTY DRINK” FROM SANTAVERDE with aloe vera and fruit concentrates from organic farming, 500 ml approx. 28 euros.
- “SHOT BEAUTÉ 1” and “SHOT BEAUTÉ 2” BY DANIELE DE WINTER, juices for mornings and evenings, with fruit extracts and coenzyme Q10, 250 ml approx. 9 euros each.
- “ANTI-AGING BEER” FROM THE NEUZELLE KLOSTERBRAUERE with brine, spirulina algae, flavonoids and vitamins, 4.8% alcohol, 6 x 500 ml approx. 14 euros.
- “ALOE VERA SENSITIVE POMEGRANATE YOGURT” by EMMI, 150 g approx. 1 euro.
- “BEAUTYWATER Q10” FROM BEAUTYWATER, mineral water with coenzyme Q10 and vitamin E, 6 x 500 ml approx. 20 euros.
- “PHARMACY CHOCOLATE CALLETS” FROM STOLLWERCK, 120 g approx. 3 euros.
- “RASPBERRY BEAUTY SNACK” FROM MAGIC FRUITS, dried raspberries, 10 x 12 g approx. 20 euros.
You can also read our partner stern.de:
” Functional Food: Healthy or just expensive? ”
