Honey, raw pure honey has received a special attention lately with regards to its efficacy in helping combat a vast range of ailments, and provides remarkable healing, health and wellness benefits.

 

Honey has been around for a long time. Throughout history honey has been used in medicine, and as an important food. 

 

In the bible, God used honey to motivate the children of Israel when He told them to, “Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey.” (Exodus 33:3). Today, honey has resurfaced as a widely used natural healer, even among modern medicine practitioners.

 

What Is Honey

Honey is made after bees collect nectar from plants and bring it back to the hive. They then regurgitate it (to bring back swallowed food) and chew on it until it becomes honey, after which they deposit the honey they made into a designated storage unit referred to as honeycombs. The bees proceed to fan the honeycombs with their wings until it's dry, this is the part that gives honey the sticky and thick texture - this is true for raw honey but not the same for processed honey, which are of non-sticky liquid texture. 

Honey is the only insect-derived natural product, and offers potent nutritional, cosmetic, and therapeutic  values.

Most processed honey is stretched out, in its mixed with added sweetness and sugars. Conversely, dark honey products like Manuka honey are less processed (comes directly from the nectar and pollen of the Manuka bush in New Zealand). Manuka honey and other raw honey are known to be more potent and offer more health and medicinal benefits including antibiotics (good gut bacteria), enzymes, and minerals. 

The quality of honey mainly depends on the source of the nectar, the plant flower, environmental factors, and weather conditions.  Bees tends tend to travel past uninhabitable or uncondusive regions to collect nectar from the best plant flowers.

Raw honey contains higher nutritional benefits such as very small amounts of protein, vitamins, minerals, trace elements, enzymes and some polyphenols. Medicinal properties such as antioxidants, antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal are abundant in pure raw honey than in the processed version.

 

Background/History of Honey

It's not a secret that most modern medicine practitioners have shifted their goal from healing the sick and saving lives to using their patients as a money making scheme, therefore, ailing individuals now seek effective and safe treatment options in natural medicine.

Honey is a natural unique compound widely used as a medicine and food source for thousands of years. Natural products, including honey, that have been used as medicine in ages past were replaced by modern pharmaceutical products, but recently they have returned to the "natural health" stage due to the growing public interest and demand.

Practitioners throughout the world have used honey as a profound remedy in traditional medicine practices for more than 5,500 years. 

Most ancient cultures, especially, Chinese, Greeks, Egyptians, Mayans, Romans, and Babylonians consumed honey both for its nutritional benefits and for its medicinal properties.

 

In ancient Egypt, beekeeping has been practiced for more than 4000 years, and the ancient Egyptian used honey as a medicine in the treatment of wounds, burns, ulcers, gastrointestinal disorders, inflammations, rigid joints, and even fatigue. 

Honey was the most popular ingredient in Egyptian drug and medicine formulation. It was mentioned 500 times in 900 medicine remedies.

(https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ajb/article/view/71634)

Egyptians offered honey to their dieties as sacrifice offering!

In Asia, where honey is thought to have originated from and widely used before cane sugar came along, honey is recognized for its medicinal value since 2000 BC. Ancient Chinese medicine practitioners believe that honey is very effective for human health because it enters the main channels of the body (ie.spleen, large intestine, and lung,s). It moistens the lungs to relieve dry cough, softens the intestine in the case of constipation, and soothes and releases nasal congestion.

http://www.windchimeschinese.com/windchimes-blog/2018/8/15/honey-in-chinas-culture

In Greece, the great ancient Greek Hippocrates, known as the father of modern medicine, was convinced about the uses of honey in medicine in different formulations for treating a range of complaints: 

• For pain, he used honey and vinegar. 
• For onset of high fever and symptoms such as headache, chills or muscle and joint pains (acute febrile diseases), he advised honey and water, and other substances.
• To treat ulcers, he used two different formulations as enema:

 -white vinegar and honey gently boiled together with sodium carbonate and alum.

- honey and copper oxide boiled together.

• He also advised to use honey to clean wounds to speed up healing and prevent infection, and to treat gastrointestinal diseases.(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0899900700002719?via%3Dihub)

In Ancient Rome, honey was also prescribed alone or in combinations, often used to treat throat problems, pneumonia, and even snake bites. 

Physicians in ancient Rome used honey to help their patients fall asleep.

(http://www.goldenblossomhoney.com/education_history.php#:~:text=Physicians%20in%20ancient%20Rome%20used,than%20500%20were%20honey%20based)

The Romans also used honey as a gift to the gods!

 

There are different types of honey

Raw honey is the unpasteurized, unfiltered honey, which provides complete nutritional value. Natural raw honey may contain additives or unnatural flavor.  However, pure raw honey doesn't contain any additives. On the other hand,  pasteurized honey has been processed to perfect it and extend its self life, like the cute bear bottles ones.

"Many companies compromise the quality of their honey to make more profit, according to Mira Ilic, MS, RDN, LD; a registered dietitian.

A study conducted to investigate the effect of filtration and heating on a specific type of honey published in the Journal of Food Science and Technology in March 2019 showed that processes such as high-speed spinning, heating and the addition of sugar syrups ulters and reduces enzyme activity, antioxidant content and nutritional makeup of honey. The quality of honey is significantly affected by processing.

Raw honey goes under almost no processing at all except for normal filtration.

Sufficient scientific evidence exists today recommending the use of honey in the management of diseases and other health conditions. Using honey on regular basis can help support good health on a deeper level.

Based on these facts, the use of honey in clinical wards is now highly recommended.

 

Here are some benefits of honey (raw)

Honey is one of the most appreciated and valued natural products introduced to humankind since ancient times and still holds the same values today. 

Honey is a food made by bees and it's used to sustain life, energy, and vitality.

Honey has a potential therapeutic role in the treatment of disease due its unique phytochemical, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and antioxidant properties. 

Flavonoids and polyphenols, which are strong antioxidants, are two main bioactive molecules present in honey that gives it it's unique healing abilities. Its content in flavonoids and phenolic acids plays a primary role on human health, this is attributed to the high antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that they exert. Honey possesses antimicrobial capacity and anticancer activity against various types of tumours. 

(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6225430/)

Traditionally, honey is used in the treatment of eye diseases, throat infections, bronchial asthma, tuberculosis, fatigue, dizziness, hepatitis, constipation, infertility (clean the ovaries), worm infestation, piles, eczema, and more. And it's used as a nutritious supplement as well. The active ingredients contained in honey have been reported to exert antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antiproliferative, anticancer, and antimetastatic effects. 

Currently, a number of scientific evidence supports the use of honey in the clinical treatment of wounds, diabetes mellitus, cancer, asthma, urinary tract infection, skin lesion, neurological function, and gastrointestinal diseases.

Honey is recommended as a balanced nutritional diet and equally popular for male and female of all ages.

(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5424551/)

 

Nutritional value of honey

Honey is one of nature’s purest foods, it's not just a natural sweetener. It’s a “functional food,” which means it’s a whole natural food with great health benefits. 

 

Honey contains small amounts of vitamins and minerals. However, it's rich in medicinal properties.

 

Raw honey contains a whopping 22 amino acids, 27 minerals and 5,000 enzymes. 

Natural honey contains small amounts of the following vitamins and minerals:

• niacin
• riboflavin
• pantothenic acid
• zinc
• calcium
• phosphorus
• potassium
• magnesium
• manganese

(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5295738)

 

From the nutritional perspective chromium, manganese, and selenium are vital and human health, especially to children 1 to 15 years old. The elements sulphur, boron, cobalt, fluoride, iodide, molybdenum, and silicon can be essential in human nutrition as well.

Also, honey contains 0.3-25 mg/kg choline and 0.06-5mg/kg acetylcholine. Choline is necessary for cardiovascular and brain function as well as for cellular membrane composition and repair, while acetylcholine acts as a neurotransmitter.

(https://www.researchgate.net/publication/23803275_Honey_for_Nutrition_and_Health_A_Review)

 

Natural Energy Booster

Carbohydrate metabolism is the main source of energy. Honey is full of carbohydrate sugars, and hence a rich source of sustainable energy. 

 

According to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Nutrient Database, one tablespoon of honey (or 21 grams) contains 64 calories, 17.3 grams of carbohydrate (17.3 grams of sugar), 0 grams of fat and 0 grams of protein.

(https://www.verywellfit.com/honey-nutrition-facts-and-calories-4164274)

 

In the process of digestion after honey intake, the principal carbohydrates and glucose are quickly transported into the blood and can be utilized for energy requirements by the human body.

Unlike table sugar, pure raw honey contains varying amounts of pollen, oligosaccharides, proteins, enzymes, essential and non-essential amino acids, minerals, trace elements, vitamins and antioxidant polyphenols, which promote high energy.  

A daily dose of 20 g of honey provides 3% of the daily energy requirements. 

(https://www.researchgate.net/publication/23803275_Honey_for_Nutrition_and_Health_A_Review)

Honey has a variety of positive nutritional and health effects if consumed at higher doses of between 50 to 80 g per intake.

(https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19155427/)

Antioxidant Activity of honey

Oxygen is vital to good health and life, but scientists are finding that this essential element may contribute to human aging and illness.

 

When oxygen is metabolized, cells form by-products known as "free radicals" are released into the body systems. These free radicals travel through the cell and disrupt the structure of other biomolecules resulting in cellular oxidation or damage.

 

This damage is believed to contribute to pre-mature aging, and present different health problems. Left unaddressed, these health problems progress to chronic degenerative diseases.

Amazingly, antioxidants work to protect key cell components from oxidation and eventual damage by neutralizing the free radicals. Antioxidants occur naturally in the body or are consumed through diet, they are effective in blocking such damage to cells.

Over time, accumulated damaged cells can lead to pre-mature aging and degenerative related diseases, according to a research report by the National Honey Board "Food Technology Program".

The variety of potent antioxidants in honey present in honey bind to and neutralize these dangerous biomolecules in the body systems making it easy to be eliminated, thereby preventing their harmful effects on cellular level.

According to recent research findings, antioxidants substances available in various natural sources and foods may actually represent a modern-day "fountain of youth" by slowing down oxidative stress and reducing degenerative diseases.(https://www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/2009/830616/)

Flavonoids and polyphenols, which act as antioxidants, are two main bioactive molecules present in honey. Recent scientific evidence has shown the presence of nearly thirty types of potent polyphenols in honey. (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/1472-6882-12-177)

The power of honey antioxidant properties is related to the brightness of honey; meaning that the darker honey has a higher value of antioxidant. It has also  been shown that the phenolic compounds are the major responsible factor for antioxidant activity of honey, since the phenolic level is related to radical absorbance activity values of honey.

(https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf025897t)

Honey's rich antioxidants will help your body flush out all of those unwanted toxins (free-radicals) that make you feel loaded and free up some energy so you can get on with your day. In addition, honey has been shown to speed up repair and growth of body tissues by helping to form new blood vessels, collagen and epithelial cells.

How much honey should you take?

While honey is good for your health, eating too much of it can have an unfavorable outcome. Although eating more of a food will give you more of the nutrients found in that food, too much of it can be bad for you. Honey is a natural food, but it's still a sugar. The American Heart Association (AHA) advises to eat honey in moderation and recommends no more than 9 teaspoons, or 3 tablespoons, of sugar per day for men and no more than 6 teaspoons, or 2 tablespoons, of sugar per day for women, respectively.

How to use honey

Honey is a universal and versatile food, there's no definitive way to consume it, however there are tried-and-true ways to enhance its efficacy for specific issues. Check them out here: https://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/25-ways-use-honey-home-remedies.htm

Things to keep in mind

*Seek to purchase your honey from reputable vendors who care about quality.

*Ask questions about where the honey you want to purchase is made, or if the bees were exposed to pesticide or herbicide. Most bees travel past flowers infested with chemicals and other unnatural substances to them.

*Ask what source of plant nectar the bee consumed, environmental and weather condition.

*Honey doesn't need to be refrigerated, it never spoils. It can be stored at room temperature in a dry place.

*Many health and wellness complaints can be fixed rather quickly, so we can live our lives to the highest potential, vitality, and productivity.

 

Note,, I'll be adding more Benefits of Honey to this article as we go on. There's so much value to eating good quality honey on a regular basis.