Many of the Health properties of Honey are scientifically supported.
This wonderfully rich golden liquid is the miraculous product of honey bees and a naturally delicious alternative to white sugar. Although it is available throughout the year, it is an exceptional treat in the summer and fall when it has just been harvested and is at its freshest.
Honey is the product of honey bees and a flowing golden alternative to refined sugar. It is naturally available all year long, but it is a fabulously special treat in the summer and fall when it has just been harvested and is at its freshest.
The deliciously intricate honey making process begins when the bees lite upon on flowers collecting the flowers’ pollen nectar in their mouths. This nectar then mixes with special enzymes in the bees’ saliva. A biological process then turns it into honey. Worker bees carry this honey back to the hive where they deposit it into the cells of the hive’s walls. This rich package of energy and nutrition is stored for later consumption. The fluttering of their wings provides the necessary ventilation to reduce the moisture’s content making it ready.
- Honey health benefits
- Description of honey
- Honey history
- How to select honey at stores
- Ways to enjoy and cook with honey
- Safety of your honey source
- Nutritional profile
- References
Honey Health Benefits
More than just a healthy delicious sweetening agent, researchers have found that honey also provides additional health benefits in that it can also act as an antimicrobial agent and an antioxidant in addition to its properties as a natural nutritious sweetener.
Raw Honey – An Anti-Bacterial, Anti-Viral, Anti-Fungal Substance
The quality of the honey effects the quality of health benefits derived from its consumption. In honey’s case, the quality/benefit ratio is even more pronounced. This is because the pollen that collects on the bees as they move among plants is as diverse as the host plant organisms themselves. Additionally the processing of honey often removes many of the phytonutrients found in raw honey directly from hive. This honey, referred to as raw honey contains small amounts of a resin called propolis. Propolis, sometimes called “bee glue,” is actually a complex mixture of resins and other substances that honeybees use to seal the hive. Propolis helps make the honey safe from bacteria and other micro-organisms.
This propolis is made by combining plant resins with their own secretions. However, to keep foreign substances from the propolis, bee keepers use special screens around the inside of the hive to trap the propolis, since bees will spread this substance around the honeycomb and seal cracks with the anti-bacterial, anti-viral, and anti-fungal resins. The resins found in propolis only represent a small part of the phytonutrients found in propolis and honey. Other phytonutrients found both in honey and propolis have been verified scientifically to possess cancer-preventing and anti-tumor properties. These substances include caffeic acid methyl caffeate, phenylethyl caffeate, and phenylethyl dimethylcaffeate. These substances have been discovered to prevent colon cancer in animals by shutting down activity of two enzymes, phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C and lipoxygenase. When raw honey is extensively processed and heated, the benefits of these phytonutrients are largely reduced if not eliminated.
Honey also contains antioxidants and flavonoids that many believe to behave as antibacterial agents in addition to the previously mentioned enzymes found in honey. One antioxidant currently being studied for its antibacterial properties in particular, pinocembrin, is unique to honey. Another laboratory study of unpasteurized honey samples had antibacterial action against Staphylococcus aureus, a common infection causing bacteria found readily. Other reports show honey is effective at inhibiting Escherichia coli and Candida albicans. Darker honeys, specifically honey from buckwheat flowers, sage and tupelo, contain significantly higher amounts of antioxidants than other honeys, and raw, unprocessed honey contains the widest variety of health-supportive substances.
Can honey heal wounds and improve athletic performance?
Recent research has examined the use of honey as an ergogenic aid (a food or ingredient that helps an athlete’s performance) and wound healing agent, both of which were once considered merely age-old anecdotes.
Honey is an effective source of energy for athletes.
Athletes have been using honey as a way to boost performance and have made it part of their training diets since the time of the ancient Greeks. More recently, researchers have examined honey’s properties as an ergogenic aid in athletes. One study examined a group of 39 weight-trained athletes, both male and female. After subjects completed an intensive weight-lifting workout, they immediately consumed a protein supplement blended with sugar, maltodextrin or honey as the carbohydrate source. The group choosing honey indicated optimal blood sugar levels throughout the two hours following the workout. Additionally, muscle recuperation and glycogen restoration (carbohydrates stored in muscle) measurements were much more favorable in those individuals who chose the honey-protein combination.
Maintaining blood sugar concentrations training by ingesting carbohydrates before, during and after endurance training is important for maintaining muscle glycogen. (glycogen is the form in which sugar is stored in the body as ready-to-use fuel) As a result, muscle recuperation is more efficient and the athlete can perform once again at peak level the next day. The best-studied ergogenic aid is carbohydrates because they are necessary for maintaining muscle glycogen stores. Honey appears to be another source of carbohydrates that can help athletes perform at their best, rather than a superior choice over any other carbohydrate.
The most exciting quality of honey may be the wound healing properties.
For centuries honey has been used topically as an antiseptic therapeutic agent for the treatment of ulcers, burns and wounds. In a study conducted in India, one week of treatment, 91 percent of honey treated burns were infection free compared with only 7 percent receiving the conventional treatment. Another study looked at the benefits of topically applied honey to patients following Caesarean birth and hysterectomy. One group received the standard solution of iodine and alcohol, the other group treated with raw honey was infection free in fewer days, healed more cleanly and had a reduced hospital stays.
Several explanations have been offered for the wound healing benefits observed when honey is applied topically. Current theory says honey is composed mainly of glucose and fructose, these sugars strongly attract water. Honey then absorbs water in the wound, drying it out, inhibiting the growth of bacteria and fungi that thrive in a moist environment. Moreover, raw honey contains an enzyme called glucose oxidase that, when combined with water, produces hydrogen peroxide, a mild antiseptic. Manuka honey may be the best option for wound care.
Honey fights Free Radicals.
According to a presentation at the 227th meeting of the American Chemical Society in Anaheim, CA, March 28, 2004, daily consumption of honey raises blood levels of protective antioxidant compounds in humans,. Biochemist Heidrun Gross and colleagues from the University of California, Davis, gave 25 study participants each about four tablespoons buckwheat honey daily for 29 days in addition to their regular diets, and drew blood samples at given intervals following honey consumption. A direct link was found between the subjects’ honey consumption and the level of polyphenolic antioxidants in their blood.
Honey Helpful for Healthy Individuals and Those with High Cholesterol, Type 2 Diabetes
In experiments involving healthy subjects and those with either high cholesterol or type 2 diabetes, honey has proved itself to be the healthiest sweetener.
For 15 days, 8 healthy subjects, 6 patients with high cholesterol, 5 patients with high cholesterol and high C-reactive protein (a risk factor for cardiovascular disease), and 7 patients with type 2 diabetes were given solutions containing comparable amounts of sugar, artificial honey or natural honey.
In the healthy subjects, sugar and artificial honey had either negative or very small beneficial effects. Natural honey, however reduced total cholesterol 7%, triglycerides 2%, C-reactive protein 7%, homocysteine 6% and blood sugar 6%, and increased HDL (good) cholesterol 2%. (Like C-reactive protein, homocysteine is a significant risk factor for cardiovascular disease.) Artificial honey increased LDL (bad) cholesterol, while natural honey decreased total cholesterol 8%, LDL cholesterol 11%, and C-reactive protein 75% in patients with high cholesterol. And in patients with type 2 diabetes, natural honey caused a significantly lower rise in blood sugar than either dextrose or sucrose (refined sugars). Looks like a daily spoonful of honey is what helps your need for medicine go down.
Although our food ranking system did not qualify honey as a dense source of traditional nutrients, it did emerge as a source of vitamin B2, vitamin B6, iron and manganese.
Description of where honey comes from
How does this miracle called honey happen
The deliciously intricate honey making process begins when the bees lite upon on flowers collecting the flowers’ pollen nectar in their mouths. This nectar then mixes with special enzymes in the bees’ saliva. A biological process then turns it into honey. Worker bees carry this honey back to the hive where they deposit it into the cells of the hive’s walls. This rich package of energy and nutrition is stored for later consumption. The fluttering of their wings provides the necessary ventilation to reduce the moisture’s content making it ready.
Honey comes in a range of colors including white, amber, red, brown and almost black. Its flavor and texture vary with the type of flower nectar from which it was made. While the most commonly available honeys are made from clover, alfalfa, heather and acacia flowers, honey can be made from a variety of different flowers, including thyme and lavender.
Some Background History on Honey
Honey has been used since ancient times both as a food and as a medicine. The practice of beekeeping to produce honey is called apiculture and dates back to at least 700 BC. Honey was viewed to be a sacred substance due to its rare and wonderfully sweet properties. Used mainly in religious ceremonies to pay tribute to the gods, it was also used as to embalm the dead. Indeed, honey found a variety of medicinal and cosmetic purposes.
Honey’s use in cooking was historically limited to the wealthy since it was so expensive. The discovery of refined sugar made from sugar cane or sugar beets changed the culinary function of honey. After they became more widely available, they were in great demand as less expensive form of sweetening. As sugar grew in, honey became less ubiquitous. Although honey is still used for sweetening, the new focus is on its medicinal properties.
How to Select Honey and Store it
Shopping for Local Raw Honey at retailers. How do you know that you are buying real, raw honey. Read the label.
Honey is sold in individual containers or in bulk. Under current marketing and packaging techniques it is usually pasteurized, although oftentimes at farmer’s markets you can find raw honey. Raw honey that has not been pasteurized, clarified, or filtered – is usually your best choice. Look for honey labeled “100% pure.” Regular honey is clear. Creamy honey is often opaque. Adding finely crystallized honey back into liquid honey produces this effect. There are even specialty honeys, made from the nectar of different flowers, such as thyme and lavender. The rule of thumb tends to be that the darker the color, the deeper the flavor such as Wildflower honey. Clover Honey is light in color. Many Beekeepers sell Raw honey at Fruit stand stores, local grocers, Whole food and other Healthy Grocery establishments like Mom’s and many others. It is still hard to find real honey at a large chain store (as of 2015).
It is also relevant to keep honey stored in an airtight container to protect it from moisture in the air. Because of the high sugar content and acidic pH help to inhibit microorganism growth, honey stored in a cool dry place will keep almost indefinitely. If kept at colder temperatures, however it will thicken. Honey kept at higher temperatures has a tendency to darken with an altered flavor.
Tips for Cooking with Honey:
If by chance your honey has crystallized, placing the container in warm water return it to its liquid state. It is not recommened to heat honey in the microwave. It will alter its taste by increasing its hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) content and it kills much of the healthy properties of the Honey. This is also true when you bring honey above boiling point, it removes all the healthy properties of honey. Best eaten uncooked. Heating lightly is fine. Using liquid honey prevents honey from sticking to measuring cups and spoons.
Honey is also a preferable sugar substitute in most recipes. Since honey is sweeter than sugar, use less, one-half to three-quarters of a cup for each cup of sugar. You should also reduce the amount of liquid in the recipe by one-quarter of a cup for each cup of sugar in the original recipe.
Additionally, reduce the cooking temperature by 25ºF since honey causes foods to brown more easily.
A Few Quick Serving Ideas:
- Use honey in place of table sugar in your tea.
- Drizzle apple slices with honey and sprinkle with cinnamon.
- Sweeten yogurt with a little honey and avoid excess sugar.
- A sandwich that is a favorite of kids of all ages is peanut (or almond) butter, with bananas and honey.
- Combine soymilk, honey and unsweetened dark chocolate over low heat to make deliciously nutritious chocolate “milk”.
Safety of your honey source
Never feed honey to children under 1 year of age.
Honey is a natural product that has been used for thousands of years. But we are altering the landscape of our agricultural practices. Remember that the quality of honey is a function of the plants and environment from which pollen, saps, nectars and resins were gathered. Other substances found in the environment – including traces of heavy metals, pesticides, and antibiotics – have been shown to appear in honey. The amount varies greatly. Bees are currently dying off in record numbers due to chemicals being used to “improve crop yields by killing all pests”. Bees not only create honey but they polinate the plants so that they will produce food. The pesticide kills beneficial insects right along side “pests”. Please help in the fight to protect our food and our families health. Let your congressman know and buy honey only from Organic beekeepers.
When you boil or microwave the honey you are changing the chemistry of the honey and it looses many of it’s healthy properties.
Nutritional Profile
Honey is a source of B complex. It also provides iron and manganese among many others.
In-Depth Nutritional Profile. In addition to the nutrients highlighted in our ratings chart, an in-depth nutritional profile for Honey is also available. This profile includes information on a full array of nutrients, including carbohydrates, sugar, soluble and insoluble fiber, sodium, vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, amino acids and more.
Introduction to Food Rating System Chart
The following chart shows the nutrients for which this food is either an excellent, very good or good source. Next to the nutrient name you will find the following information: the amount of the nutrient that is included in the noted serving of this food; the %Daily Value (DV) that that amount represents; the nutrient density rating; and the food’s World’s Healthiest Foods Rating. Underneath the chart is a table that summarizes how the ratings were devised.
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In Depth Nutritional Profile for Honey
References
Al-Waili NS. Natural honey lowers plasma glucose, C-reactive protein, homocysteine, and blood lipids in healthy, diabetic, and hyperlipidemic subjects: comparison with dextrose and sucrose. J Med Food. 2004 Spring;7(1):100-7., PMID: 15117561
Ensminger AH, Ensminger, ME, Kondale JE, Robson JRK. Foods & Nutriton Encyclopedia. Pegus Press, Clovis, California 1983
Ensminger AH, Esminger M. K. J. e. al. Food for Health: A Nutrition Encyclopedia. Clovis, California: Pegus Press; 1986, PMID: 15210
Fortin, Francois, Editorial Director. The Visual Foods Encyclopedia. Macmillan, New York 1996
Gribel’ NV, Pashinskii VG. [The antitumor properties of honey]. Vopr Onkol 1990;36(6):704-9, PMID: 13980
Gross H, Polagruto J, Zhu Q, Kim S, Schramm D, Keen C. Effect of honey consumption on plasma antioxidant status in human subjects. Paper presented at the 227th American Chemical Society Meeting, Anahein CA, March 28, 2004.
Keast-Butler J. Honey for necrotic malignant breast ulcers. Lancet 1980 Oct 11;2(8198):809, PMID: 13990
Rao CV, Desai D, Kaul B, et al. Effect of caffeic acid esters on carcinogen-induced mutagenicity and human colon adenocarcinoma cell growth. Chem Biol Interact 1992 Nov 16;84(3):277-90, PMID: 13970
Rao CV, Desai D, Rivenson A, et al. Chemoprevention of colon carcinogenesis by phenylethyl-3-methylcaffeate. Cancer Res 1995 Jun 1;55(11):2310-5, PMID: 13950
Rao CV, Desai D, Simi B, et al. Inhibitory effect of caffeic acid esters on azoxymethane-induced biochemical changes and aberrant crypt foci formation in rat colon. Cancer Res 1993 Sep 15;53(18):4182-8, PMID: 13960
Wood, Rebecca. The Whole Foods Encyclopedia. New York, NY: Prentice-Hall Press; 1988, PMID: 15220
