Honey- 9 Amazing Health Benefits

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Honey has been used by countless cultures all around the world over the past 2,500 years. While the numerous health benefits of honey have made it an important element of traditional medicines such as Ayurvedic treatments, scientists are also researching the benefits in relation to modern medicine, particularly in the healing of wounds.

But what makes honey so popular? Most likely, it is the ease with which it can be consumed. One can eat it directly, put it on bread like a jam, mix it with juice or any drink instead of sugar, or even mix it with warm water, lemon juice, cinnamon and other herbs to make a medicine. It is savored by all due to its taste as well as health benefits, making it extremely useful and versatile.

What is in honey?

Honey contains a number of minerals and vitamins, including vitamin A, vitamin C, iron, and calcium. There are also important antioxidants, such as flavonoids and alkaloids. There are also trace amounts of more than 15 amino acids found in honey!

Health Benefits of Honey

Sweetener

It can be used as a substitute for sugar in many food and drinks. It contains about 69% glucose and fructose, enabling it to be used as a sweetener that is better for your overall health than normal white sugar.

Weight Loss

Though it has more calories than sugar when honey is consumed with warm water, it helps in digesting the fat stored in your body. Similarly, honey with lemon juice or cinnamon help in reducing weight.

Energy Source

According to the USDA, honey contains about 64 calories per tablespoon. Therefore, it is used by many people as a source of energy. On the other hand, one tablespoon of sugar will give you about 15 calories. Furthermore, the carbohydrates in it can be easily converted into glucose by even the most sensitive stomachs, since it is very easy for the body to digest honey.

Improving Athletic Performance

Recent research has shown that honey helps in boosting the performance of athletes. It is a great way to maintain blood sugar levels, muscle recuperation, and glycogen restoration after a workout, as well as regulating the amount of insulin in the body, as well as energy expenditure.

Source of Vitamins and Minerals

It contains a variety of vitamins and minerals. The type of vitamins and minerals and their quantity depends on the type of flowers used for beekeeping. Commonly, honey contains vitamin C, calcium, and iron. If you check the vitamin and mineral content in regular sugar from any other source, you will find it to be completely absent or insignificant.

Antibacterial and Antifungal

It has antibacterial and anti-fungal properties, so it is often used as a natural antiseptic in traditional medicines.

Antioxidants

It contains nutraceuticals, which are very effective for the removal of free radicals from the body. As a result, our body immunity is improved against many conditions, even potentially fatal ones like cancer or heart disease.

Skin Care with Milk and Honey

Milk and honey are often served together since both of these ingredients help in creating smooth, beautiful skin. Consuming this combination every morning is a common practice in many countries for this very reason.

Wound Management

Significant research is being carried out to study its benefits in the treatment of wounds and the Nursing Standard explains some of these benefits in wound management described below

Honey possesses antimicrobial properties.
It helps in promoting autolytic debridement.
It deodorizes foul-smelling wounds.
It speeds up the healing process by stimulating wound tissues.
It helps in initiating the healing process in dormant wounds.
It also helps in promoting moist wound healing.

Now that you know the benefits of honey, how do you eat it? You can eat it raw, add it to water or different beverages and you can also add it to several recipes.

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Facts Regarding Benefits Of Honey

The benefits of honey that we get greatly depend on its quality. Not all of it is created equally, so quality is different.

Both the price and the health benefits of honey are dependent on its quality, so it has become very important for both the manufacturers and consumers to understand the various factors that affect the quality of honey. Some of these factors include the type of flowers used in the formation of the honeycombs, the blending process, storage conditions, the temperature of heating, and much more. These factors have been explained in more detail below:

Type of flowers: According to the Honey Research Center at the University of Waikato, New Zealand, there is not enough evidence to draw conclusions on the properties of honey, especially the antimicrobial properties, based on the type of flowers used for its production. However, extensive research has been carried out on the honeydew variety obtained from the conifer forests in the central European mountains and the manuka variety obtained from New Zealand. The above-mentioned honeydew kind has been found to have a high microbial activity while Manuka kind has been found to have high non-peroxide activity.

Blending: It is also believed that poly-floral honey (which is obtained from more than one flower) provides more benefits than monofloral. For this reason, many companies sell blended honey as it offers the benefits from a variety and is therefore considered to be healthier than non-blended.

Storage: When stored for a long duration, it becomes darker in color. It loses some of its properties and may also ferment if the water content is too high. Therefore, prolonged storage should be avoided, while newly harvested honey is almost always preferred.

Heating: Heating honey leads to drastic changes in its chemical composition. As a result, heating to high temperatures reduces its benefits. It is no wonder many people prefer raw or organic or raw organic honey. While raw by definition signifies less processing (and no heating), organic honey is prepared using stringent organic production methods and processing standards, in which heating to high temperatures is not allowed.

Water Content: Honey can also undergo fermentation. If the water content is high (above 19%), the chances of it becoming fermented are high.

Color: The color is a very useful tool to judge its quality. Light colored honey is more valued than dark colored as the former has a delicate flavor. It becomes darker upon storage and heating.

Filtration: Most of the benefits are due to the presence of the pollen within the honey. Without the pollen, it is a glucose-fructose solution and is just as bad for you as sugar. Unfortunately, companies market the transparent clear product as good quality, while in reality, ultra-filtered honey does not have many health benefits at all. That being said, you should be very cautious while consuming pollen-rich honey. If you have a pollen allergy, avoid consuming it.

What Is Organic Honey?

Some people have the opinion that all honey available in the market is natural and obtained from the wild. Others feel that during its production carried out on chemically sprayed farms it cannot get contaminated with the pesticides sprayed on the crops and weeds.

However, the truth is that the bees may also get affected by the extensive pesticide usage which goes on in the chemically treated farms. Moreover, non-organic production involves extensive use of antibiotics for disease control. It should also be noted that so far, there is no “scientific” proof that organic honey is healthier than non-organic.

Then why should you eat organic honey? Well, many people prefer to be cautious. Most of our decisions are based on our beliefs and conscience. Since organic production involves following stringent guidelines, people feel secure when they eat organic type as compared to when they eat non-organic. Given below are some of the ways in which pesticide and antibiotic contamination of honey can take place:.

Residues of Antibiotics

Conventional bees are given large doses of antibiotics to help protect them from diseases, but unfortunately, the honey also becomes contaminated with these antibiotics.

What leads to this antibiotics contamination? Unlike organic production, conventional honey production does not involve stringent guidelines for the quantity and mode of transmission of antibiotics to the bees. As a result, beekeepers have a free hand when using these antibiotics. When farmers use excessive quantities of antibiotics the chance of contamination increases.

Honey FAQs

Where to buy raw honey?

You can buy raw honey at many grocery stores and health food stores. Local farmers markets are also great places to pick it up. Since it can be locally produced, you can also find this beneficial product at co-ops around the world.

Where to buy local honey?

Some of the best places to find raw honey are in the local neighborhoods near you. Local farmers markets and co-ops almost always have raw honey for sale. You can also go to larger stores and chains, which have seen the trend and gotten on board.

What does honey do for you?

Honey does a number of things for the body, including strengthening the immune system, healing wounds and burns, preventing infections, soothing inflammation in the respiratory system, eliminating coughs and colds, balancing blood sugar and increasing athletic stamina. There are dozens of reasons why it has become such an important staple in our diet, due to the many minerals and nutrients it contains.

What are the health benefits of honey?

The health benefits of honey are quite impressive, and since it is such a concentrated source of nutrients, it can be added to many different meals. Honey maintains blood sugar levels, increase energy in a healthy and sustainable way, soothe inflammation throughout the body, protect heart health, and help to speed the healing process of wounds, and prevents infections.

Is pure honey good for you?

Yes, pure honey is very good for you. Although it is high in sugar, there are also numerous antioxidants and organic compounds that make it well worth consuming. Also, pure honey is unprocessed, which you won’t find in many of the major labels and brands of honey. Locally produced honey, otherwise known as raw honey, is the healthiest type of honey you could possibly buy.

Is organic honey good for you?

Organic honey is indeed good for health. It is unprocessed, so it retains all of the minerals and antioxidants, which is what you want. If you process honey, very often you’re only left with sugar, which is arguably the worst part of honey!

What makes honey organic?

Honey is considered organic when it is locally grown and not processed. Organic honey is also known as “raw” honey, cannot contain any pesticides or environmental pollutants. Since it does not go through the traditional process for safety, these standards must be upheld for honey to be considered organic. Also, non-organic sugars and antibiotics cannot be used at any point in “organic honey”

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