The old saying “You are what you eat” could be rewritten as “You’ll look like your last meal” if a big global trend finally takes off in Britain. Across Japan, America and continental Europe, customers are already buying expensive yoghurts, drinks, marshmallows, jams and even sweets on the promise that they contain special “scientific” ingredients, such as collagen, enzymes and even Botox that could make consumers look younger and more beautiful, simply by ingesting them.
It’s called the beauty-food revolution but, in Britain, the trend for “cosmeceutical” ingredients (cosmetic plus pharmaceutical) is in its infancy. Rufflets Country House Hotel, in St Andrews, Scotland, last month launched a new “wrinkle-free lunch”, which it claims contains “ingredients known for their anti-ageing properties to help diners to have longer, more youthful lives”. The range of lunches and dinners includes roast Gressingham duck with an acai berry sauce: duck is a good source of selenium, an antioxidant claimed to improve skin tone. The acai berry is one of the latest “superfoods” to hit the UK. Grown in Brazil , the purple wonder berry contains a remarkable concentration of anthocyanins, antioxidants that lower the risk of heart disease.
But who, I wonder, would order wrinkle-free food in front of someone they wanted to impress? Millions of people, says the analyst Market Trends. It says that beauty-enhancing foods are already highly popular in America and Japan and, by 2008, global sales should exceed £6.5 billion.
Tamar Kasriel, a trendspotter at the Henley Centre, the market analysts, says that beauty foods are a natural extension of our pricey love affair with anti-ageing cosmetics: “The personal-care arena draws on and feeds the food arena. Green tea is now big in food, but it was in perfume and cosmetics the year before. Collagen-filled marshmallows are coming in from Japan. People buy these things thinking ‘I might as well if it’s not going to do me any harm’. All the big companies that we work with are looking at this area very carefully. They’d be mad not to.”
Stephen Owen, the general manager at Rufflets, was inspired to launch the menu after meeting a nutritionist while developing a local primary school’s menu. “I thought that we should start doing something to balance the marvellous chocolate puddings that we serve,” he says. “I started my research on the internet and in trade magazines, and explored the skin-enhancing benefits of different fish and venison. Then someone told me about the acai berry from the forests of South America, which is claimed to be a superfood. I leave the cooking to my head chef and he suggested that duck would go well with the berries. The berry comes imported as a frozen pulp. We’ve just got the first delivery and are playing around with it.”
If you fancy trying the acai berry at home, only a few shops sell it, though suppliers offer it online (www.superfooduk.com). Two London stores in the Revital Health Shop chain offer it. I went to the Wigmore Street branch, in Central London, to buy a £5.95 four-sachet pack containing 400g of frozen pulp. It must be stored carefully or all the good stuff degrades rapidly. The bluey-black berry contains anthocyanins, fatty acids, vitamins A and C, fibre, iron and calcium. It needs the addition of a sweet fruit and some juice or yoghurt to turn it into a decent smoothie, though.
Continental Europe is quicker off the mark with beauty foods. In France last year the drugs company Laboratoires Noreva launched an anti-wrinkle jam. Noreva Norélift contains essential fatty acids, antioxidants, lycopene, noreline and vitamins E and C. It comes in three flavours: green tomato and green tea; melon and grape; and blueberry and blackcurrant. The newspaper Libération reports that it also includes seaweed and Botox derivatives, though it’s hard to see how these would have any effect in your gut. The maker claims that one month’s use will reduce wrinkles and signs of fatigue by precisely 74 per cent. The jam is mostly sold in chemists at £4.80 for 120g. Maybe next year they’ll sell a middle-age spread.
Big brands are clambering on to the bandwagon. Coca-Cola introduced V&T — an abbreviation of the Spanish for “Life and Tea” — in Spain in June, claiming that the product’s high antioxidant concentration gives it anti-ageing and other health benefits. “Beauty is today’s health language and V&T is an ideal product for those that like to take care of themselves, feel good and look better,” Coke says. It’s backed with a big campaign that includes sponsoring one of Spain’s top fashion shows. Why hasn’t it been launched here? The soft-drinks giant won’t say.
Meanwhile, Eiwa, a Japanese sweetmaker, has created a marshmallow with 3,000mg of collagen. It claims that eating the sweet has the same benefits as injections but with no pain. It’s hard to see how that would work scientifically and the British Skin Foundation say they’ve seen no evidence that eating collagen will benefit your skin in any way. “Certain products applied to the skin that stimulate collagen production may have the desired effect, but eating it is unlikely to make a difference.”
Meanwhile, Fuwarinka, which promises to make you smell nice as well as look good, was launched last January. The candy contains vanillin (a chemical found in vanilla), which is supposed to be secreted by sweat glands.
Rosada Hasan, of Leatherhead Food International, a global provider of food market intelligence, is organising a British industry conference on beauty foods in November. She thinks that the trend will succeed thanks to good old human laziness: “There’s a big market potential for people trying to find quick solutions for making themselves better looking. It is a fix that involves no extra effort, and the promise is that you won’t have to go to the gym to look good.”
Those with a sweet tooth won’t miss out, she adds. “In the confectionary market they are adding vitamins in order to market sweets as healthy, to address parents’ concerns about obesity. Confectioners are worried about the stigma attached to their products.”
But with all this inventiveness about, why is Britain failing to join the rest of the developed world’s cosmeceutical rush? Our native scepticism may play an important role, says David Jago, of Mintel, the market analysts: “There are problems with believability among British consumers. There may also be problems with legislation over the health and beauty claims.” Indeed, a new Mintel report acknowledges that “ there appears to be minimal scientific evidence to prove that ingesting these ingredients will contribute to better-looking skin”.
Nevertheless, Jago believes that Britain’s slow start could ultimately prove more profitable for beauty-food sellers: “History shows that things that build up tend to stay around longer.” The Mintel report adds another strong reason why our shelves may soon be packed with cosmeceuticals: “Vanity is, ultimately, an extremely powerful purchase motivator.”
For further information, www.rufflets.co.uk, 01334 472594; Revital Health Shop, 020-7631 3731, www.revital.co.uk
It's cosmeceutical, man . . .
Skincare yoghurt
In Italy, the dairy company Parmalat has introduced beauty foods called Jeunesse (youth) that include skimmed milk, pineapple desserts and low-fat yoghurts. All contain coenzyme Q10 and vitamin E.
Shiny hair
In Spain, Kaiku has harnessed aloe vera as an ingredient in a yoghurt drink that promises shiny skin as well as shiny hair.
Anti-acne water
In America, Borba Skin Balance Water features a “cultivated bio-vitamin complex” claimed to remove toxins and improve skin clarity. Bottles (£1.30) are sold at www.borba.net
Beauty chocolate bar America’s Health by Chocolate promotes the beauty benefits derived from antioxidants in pure cocoa. Visit www.healthbychocolate.com to buy a bar or ten.
