UK based biotech firm Lycotec claims to have developed the world's first longevity SIRT chocolate.
It plans to introduce the longevity SIRT chocolate to the technology and scientific community later this month at the 10th World Congress on Polyphenol Applications, in Porto, Portugal.
The company said the consumption of chocolate will offer a blood level of unmodified trans-Resveratrol, t-RSV, equal to its level after drinking red wine.
t-RSV, a molecule of plant polyphenol class, is typically present in red grapes, some berries, cocoa and nuts. The health benefits of the molecule ranges from cardioprotective to antidiabetic.
One of interesting properties of t-RSV is its ability to activate a group of SIRT genes, which are responsible for controlling cellular stress protection and longevity.
The molecule can rapidly modify and get inactivated in the digestive tract when it is taken as part of food, or a beverage, or as an isolated extract in the form of most supplements.
Lycotec plans to introduce the longevity SIRT chocolate to the technology and scientific community later this month at the 10th World Congress on Polyphenol Applications, in Porto, Portugal.
The quick degradation of molecules or substances newly introduced into chocolates is one of the main challenges faced in their fortification.
The company has a new technology that can protect the newly introduced ingredients from degrading factors of not only the chocolate matrix but the human digestive system too.
The technology helps in manufacturing a chocolate where t-RSV is protected and which helps to increase its absorption in an unmodified active form.
Lycotec also conducted a study for clinical validation of this approach.
It said: "The study confirmed that the technology worked, and the level of unmodified t-RSV in the blood of volunteers after ingesting all prototypes of the experimental chocolate was significantly higher than in the control groups. In the milk chocolate series the best prototype gave a 7-fold increase, and for the best dark chocolate 14-fold."
