 Vitamin E, not Cocoa Butter, Removes Stretch Marks
Source: New York Times By Anahad O’Connor Date: 09/16/09
Cocoa butter has many uses, but one of the most common is combating the linear marks that result from rapid growth, especially in pregnancy, and weight gain.
The problem afflicts most pregnant women, not to mention many body builders, teenagers going through puberty and people
who are overweight.
Cocoa butter is a popular solution, but studies have found that it produces rather unimpressive results.
The
largest study on the subject was published in 2008 by a team of
dermatologists and obstetricians. It followed 175 women in their first
pregnancies, some randomly assigned to apply a cocoa butter lotion each
day and others assigned to use a placebo.
Neither the subjects
nor the researchers knew who was using which treatment. After many
months, the researchers found no difference in the development or
severity of marks, known medically as striae, over the abdomen, breasts
or thighs.
For those looking for an alternative, scientists have found that
vitamin E creams are more effective.
In
a similarly double-blinded study of 100 pregnant women in The Cochrane
Database of Systematic Reviews in 2000, for example, researchers found
that those who were assigned to use a cream containing alpha
tocopherol, a form of vitamin E, developed fewer marks than those given
a placebo.
Surgical and radiofrequency treatments are available, too, but they
carry a higher price.
THE BOTTOM LINE According to research, regular application of cocoa butter does not reduce stretch marks.
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