Cosmeceuticals are the next big thing to keep you young - apparently. 'Cosmeceutical' is the term coined by marketing experts to refer to food products containing expensive anti-aging ingredients. In Japan, America and Europe consumers are already buying these expensive products in the hope they'll keep us young.

In Italy you can buy a yoghurt containing coenzymeQ10 and vitamin E; whereas in Spain they like their yoghurts with aloe vera for shiny hair. In other countries, sweets and chocolates have vitamins added to allay the concerns of parents about the unealthy nature of the product.

The anti-wrinkle jam comes from France (where else?). Laboratoires Noreva in France launched an anti-wrinkle jam in three flavours containing a range of anti aging ingredients including essential fatty acids, antioxidants, lycopene, noreline and vitamins E and C.

The jam is claimed to reduce wrinkles and signs of skin fatigue by 74% but its not clear whether the makers have any supporting clinical trials to back up their claims. The jam sells at just under £5 a pot so you may be undecided whether to eat it or put it on your face.

And the collagen marshmallows? They are produced by a Japanese sweetmaker and each marshmallow contains around 3000 mg of collagen. The claim is that eating the marshmallows will give you the same benefit as a collagen injection but without the pain.

Of course there is no evidence that eating collagen has any anti-aging benefit whatsoever. According to an official spokesperson from the British Skin Foundation "certain products applied to the skin that stimulate collagen production may have the desired effect, but eating it is unlikely to make a difference."

It may, however, make a difference to your sugar intake over time - depending on how much you eat. Eating sweets has never been recommended by any dermatologist since sugar is an inflammatory substance as far as the skin is concerned - likely to weaken skin tissue and make it more prone to aging. Your dentist is unlikely to be happy either.

Apparently the market for these products is off to a slow start in the UK due to what market analysts call "native scepticism" and problems with local legislation over the health and beauty claims made by the manufacturers. Nonetheless a British industry conference on beauty foods is being organized for November 2006 so watch out for the cosmeuceuticals appearing on UK supermarket shelves sometime soon.

Our view? Nature already does its own job of packing the food we eat with powerful antioxidants and anti-aging ingredients. Natural live yoghurt is an anti-aging superfood in its own right. The antioxidantand anti-aging benefits of a huge range of foods are already proven beyond doubt by many reliable clinical studies. All you have to do is pack your diet with the right kind of food and you won't need collagen marshmallows or anti-wrinkle jam and you'll be healthier, thinner - and richer - for it!

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