Does Cocoa Butter Really Work On Stretch Marks?

The NY Times recently published an article claiming that cocoa butter is largely ineffective on improving the appearance of stretch marks. The article is based on a study published in 2008 following 175 women in their first pregnancies.

In the study, some of the women were given cocoa butter, and others were given a placebo. After several months the results were examined and the researchers reported that there was no difference in the severity and development of the stretch marks with either lotion.

Read Also: How to Remove Stretch Marks

So if cocoa butter doesn’t work, what does?The NY Times then goes on to claim that Vitamin E is a far more effective cream to use on stretch marks. A similar study was carried out on 100 pregnant women in 2000. The study discovered that those using the cream alpha tocopherol, a form of Vitamin E, led to fewer stretch marks developing than on the placebo.

Stretch marks occur when the skin is stretched to beyond it’s limit of elasticity. Taking vitamin A, C, and E supplements has long been hailed as a great way of adding more elasticity to your skin, along with keeping yourself hydrated.

Read Also: Stretch Marks Cream

Vitamin E cream is a great option as it’s usually fairly cheap and can be picked up easily in the high street. It’s also a lot cheaper than the various surgical and beauty treatments that grace the back pages of glossy magazines. However, if you already have stretch marks and want to completely remove them, surgery may be your only option as there is little evidence that Vitamin E will fully remove them.

Have you used cocoa butter or vitamin E cream through pregnancy? What results did you get?

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Cocoa Butter Can Remove Stretch Marks

How to Get Rid of Stretch Marks

THE FACTS 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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Cocoa butter lotion won't prevent stretch marks

Applying cocoa butter lotion during pregnancy does not help prevent stretch marks that many women develop, according to a new study.

Stretch marks, or striae gravidarum as doctors refer to them, typically occur on the abdomen and breasts, but can also appear on the hips, thighs, and buttocks. The cause of the problem is unknown, but many women believe that rubbing cocoa butter on the skin can help prevent the marks.

Although scientific evidence supporting the use of cocoa butter is lacking, many physicians and midwives continue to recommend it.

In the present study, Dr. A. H Nassar and colleagues sought to settle this issue by examining the stretch marks that arose in 210 pregnant women who were randomly assigned to apply cocoa butter or inactive "placebo" to their abdomen, breasts, and thighs once daily starting during the first trimester of pregnancy.

Read Also: Cocoa Butter for Stretch Marks

Eighty-three percent of women completed the study, Nassar, from the American University of Beirut Medical Center in Lebanon and colleagues note.

Overall, 45 percent of cocoa butter-treated women developed stretch marks compared with 49 percent of women given placebo lotion. Although the percentage is slightly lower in the cocoa butter group, from a statistical standpoint, the difference was not considered significant, meaning that it may have simply arisen by chance.

There was also no difference between the groups in the severity of their stretch marks.

"Our findings do not support the use of cocoa butter lotion for the prevention of striae gravidarum," Nassar and colleagues conclude. Further studies, they say, are needed to confirm their findings in other populations and to evaluate the effectiveness of other commonly used products in preventing stretch marks.

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