 Health Benefits of Honey
Honey has long been recognized as a natural remedy and has been used
as a medicine for thousands of years. Health benefits of Honey - History of
Honey, Mead, Royal Jelly
Perhaps your parents failed to mention it when they discussed the birds and
the bees with you, but honey has long been known to have a multitude of
healing powers with everything from relieving a sore throat, allergies,
healing wounds, etc. It also goes great with peanutbutter. Now, new
scientific research from the University of California, Davis reveals that
honey consumption raises antioxidant levels.
In the study, 25 people were told to eat between four and 10 tablespoons of
buckwheat honey, depending on their weight, each day for a month. They could
eat the honey in almost any form, but it couldn't be baked or dissolved in
tea. Many chose to eat straight from the spoon. Antioxidant levels rose in
the participants. Antioxidants provide defense against free radicals, which
cause cell damage.
Researchers discovered honey contained as many antioxidants - which combat
the free radicals which can damage cells - as spinach, apples, oranges or
strawberries. Scientists from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
say honey appears to have a "mild protective effect".
It was already known that honey contained varying levels of antioxidants,
with dark honey having more than light. This is the first study to examine
honey's effect on human blood.
In the study, researchers checked the blood of 25 men aged 18 - 68 over five
weeks.
They found drinking four tablespoons of honey mixed into a 16-ounce glass of
water improved the antioxidant levels in their blood.
The team is currently conducting a study on rabbits to see if honey could
slow atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries.
The types of flowers the bees pollinate determine flavor and color of honey.
Buckwheat honey comes from the buckwheat plant and is dark in color with a
distinct flavor. The darker shades of honey are believed to have more
antioxidants. The study showed no weight gain in participants for the month
they were consuming honey. And, some claimed that eating honey for breakfast
actually made them feel full and satisfied.
Eating honey along with supplemental calcium appeared to enhance calcium
absorption in rats, according to a study from Purdue University.
In addition, the researchers suggested that the absorption of calcium
increased as the amount of honey taken was upped.
Sugar is a crystalline carbohydrate extracted from sugar cane and sugar
beets. It is a non-nutritive empty calorie that robs the body of vitamins
and minerals. Sugar is addicting. The biggest culprit? Soft drinks, which
account for one-third of our total sugar intake.
Approximately one half of the human diet is derived directly or indirectly
from crops pollinated by bees. Today honeybees are an essential part of a
healthy agriculture economy. If you have allergies, honey can be beneficial.
If you eat honey that is local to your area, it may prevent your seasonal
allergies. Bees use the pollen from local plants and eventually it ends up
in your honey.
Health-promoting compounds found in honey could make this ingredient a more
attractive option for food makers currently using bulk sweeteners such as
high-fructose corn syrup and looking to jump on board the growing health
foods trend, say scientists in the US.
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign say that honey
may be a healthier alternative to corn syrup due to its higher level of
antioxidants, compounds which are believed to fight cancer, heart disease
and other diseases. Honey, which contains a number of antioxidant components
that act as preservatives, also shows promise as a replacement for some
synthetic antioxidants widely used as preservatives in salad dressings and
other foods.
High fructose syrups kicked off in the US in the 1970s when the country
developed new technologies to process this bulk calorific sweetener. The
ingredient, an alternative to sucrose, rapidly gained in popularity and is
now used extensively by soft drinks makers such as Coca-Cola and PepsiCo.
Honey, a natural syrup produced by bees is similar to invert sugar, with a
small but variable excess of levulose (fructose). The composition and flavor
of honey varies with the plant source of the nectar, processing and storage
but a typical composition is 41 per cent fructose, 34 per cent glucose, 18
per cent water, and 2 per cent sucrose with a pH of 3.8 to 4.2.
According to the US researchers, dark-colored honey, such as buckwheat
honey, is generally thought to contain higher levels of antioxidants than
the light-colored varieties. Previous studies by the researchers, who
presented their findings this week at the American Chemical Society meeting
in Illinois, suggest that honey may have the same level of disease-fighting
antioxidants as that of some common fruits.
In international terms China is currently by far the largest honey producing
nation in the world, with around a 40 per cent slice of the market. The next
biggest producers are the US, Argentina and Ukraine. According to the
American Honey Producers Association, China and Argentina have been
adversely affecting America’s domestic honey industry with cheap imports,
although there is a counter argument that both China and Argentina have been
helping to counterbalance falling production in the US. Also starting to
emerge onto the world honey production arena are Thailand and Vietnam.
Honey contains vitamins, minerals, and amino acids, and is a wonderful
beauty aid that nourishes the skin and the hair. Honey acts as an
antibacterial and antifungal agent and helps disinfect and speed the healing
process in wounds, scrapes and burns.
- Honey mixed with ground almonds makes an excellent
facial cleansing scrub.
- A tablespoon of honey whisked together with an egg
white, 1 teaspoon of glycerin and about 1/4 cup of flour makes an
excellent firming mask. Just smooth on the face, leave on 15 minutes, and
rinse off with warm water. You will be pleased with the results.
- Honey also makes a great moisturizing pack. Just mix 2
tablespoons of honey with 2 teaspoons of whole milk, smooth over the face
and throat, and let it do its job for 15 minutes. Rinse off with warm
water, and finish splashing with cold water.
- Honey also makes a great lotion for dry patches of skin
on hands, elbows, or other parts. Just mix 1 teaspoon of honey with 1
teaspoon of olive oil and a 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice. Apply to hands,
elbows, heels of your foot, etc., and wash off after 15 minutes. Fast
relief!
- Honey works well on chapped lips and for acne because
it has antibacterial properties.
- To give your hair lustrous shine, mix 1 teaspoon of
honey into 4 cups of warm water. Use as a hair rinse. And if you're a
blond, add the juice of 1 lemon, too.
- Mix 1 tablespoon of honey with a cup of warm water. Use
it as a mouthwash. Honey cleans teeth and dentures, and kills germs in the
mouth.
Royal Jelly: Royal jelly is a substance produced by worker bees
inside the beehive. Inside this nutritious substance are sugar, proteins,
fats and many vitamins. It is used in problems caused by tissue deficiency
or body frailty.
Even ancient languages give us a clue to the importance of honey. The BEE (bhei-)
was particularly important as the producer of honey, for which we have the
common Indo-European name melit-. Honey was the only source of sugar and
sweetness (swd-, “sweet,” is ancient), and notably was the base of the only
certain Indo-European alcoholic beverage, medhu-, which in different
dialects meant both MEAD (“wine” in Greece and Anatolia) and “honey.”
A Land of Milk and Honey
And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to
bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a
land flowing with milk and honey: unto the place of the Canaanites,
and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and
the Jebusites. -- Exodus 3: 8
Addressing Moses from the burning bush, Yahweh announces his plan to bring
Israel out of Egypt to a "land flowing with milk and honey." God means
Palestine, the land he promised to Abraham (Genesis 12) and again to Jacob
(Genesis 28).
He doesn't mean, though, that milk and honey wash over the land -- as
"flowing" might suggest -- but rather that his people can look forward to a
booming economy. (They could also look forward to unfriendly natives, but
that's another story.) Milk and honey were dietary staples for the
semi-nomadic Israelites of biblical times, so Palestine would indeed be a
promising home, abounding in goats and swarming with bees. The soil would be
fertile also.
Mead (honey wine) has for centuries been renowned as an 'aphrodisiac' and
the word Honeymoon is derived from the ancient Viking custom of having
newly-weds drink mead for a whole moon (month) in order to increase their
fertility and therefore their chances of a happy and fulfilled marriage. We
have returned full cycle to the birds and the bees.
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