18 Medicinal Use of Honey
18 Health Benefits of Honey
By: Arlene Gentallan
Honey has been use as food and medicine since the ancient times, long before table sugar became popular. Bees produce it so efficiently that it's the only naturally produce food that don' spoil!
What is honey made of?
Honey is mostly composed of sugar with very little water content:
1 tablespoon honey contains about:
Honey Facts
Did you know that it takes about a lifetime's work of 12 average worker bee to make a single teaspoon of honey? In order to make a single pound of honey, 60,000 bees must visit about 2 million flowers, traveling about 80,000 km or 50,000 miles.
How do bees make honey from flower's nectar?
Bees collect sweet fluid called "nectar" from flowers using it's long tube-shaped tongue called "proboscis." The bee then stores the nectar in it's extra stomach called "honey sac" in which this sugary liquid mixes with enzymes.
A bees stomach can store up to about 70 mg nectar.
Once the bee gets back to the beehive, it regurgitates the nectar for other bees to chew on it. It is then stored in the cells of the honeycomb where bees have to fan there wings in order to evaporate water from it.
The bees then seals it with beeswax.
18 Health Benefits of Honey
1. Memory Booster
Honey has several flavanoid contents which are neuroprotective which protects the brain from damage accumulated as we age. Consumption of honey has been shown to improve memory and reduces anxiety.
2. Protects your heart
Honey has anti-inflammatory property which has been shown to prevent cardiovascular diseases.
3. Cough & Sore throat Remedy
Honey is a popular timeless home remedy for cough and sore throat. It can be taken by children 1 year old and above as a safe and effective alternative treatment for cough and sore throat.
Related article: Find out how to use honey to get rid of cough and soothe the throat
4. Gets rid of wrinkles
Honey also has many beauty application. It's an indispensable part of various face mask recipes that get's rid of wrinkles and prevents premature aging.
Related article: Honey and lemon facial mask that get's rid of wrinkles
5. Antioxidant
Honey contains antioxidant, polyphenols, and flavonoids which combats free radicals, preventing premature aging.
6. Anti-cancer
Honey causes cancer cell death in various types of cancer. The antioxidant content of honey prevents cancer formation.
7. Antimicrobial
Honey is a broad spectrum antimicrobial effective against bacteria, viruses, fungi, and mycobacterium. In fact, raw unprocessed honey can directly be applied to a wound (burn, cuts, laceration) to make healing faster.
8. Prevents tooth decay and bad breath
Because of honey's antimicrobial property, it is good for your oral health. Consumption of honey is associated with decreased rick of dental carries and gingivitis. Honey can also be mixed with warm water as an alternative treatment for bad breath.
9. Dandruff
Honey can be use as an anti-dandruff formula. Simply mix half cup water and 2 tablespoon honey, rub on your scalp and let it sit for 3 hours before rinsing. Repeat this for about 4 weeks.
10. Improves eyesight
Honey is used as an eye ointment in various cultures around the world to treat infection of the eye like conjunctivitis, and prevention of corneal scarring secondary to measles infection.
11. Improves physical performance
Consumption of honey has been shown to improve physical performance of an individual. Honey's sugar content is a combination of fructose and glucose. While glucose is rapidly being used by the body as energy-source, fructose has slow absorption rate which provides the body with steady supply of fuel. Thus, it gives a person energy for a longer period of time.
12. Enhances digestion and soothes ulcer
Honey has enzymes which promotes proper digestion of food especially carbohydrates. It also soothes stomach ulcer and other intestinal problem due mainly to it's antimicrobial property.
13. Diabetes
Diabetic people can safely take honey without the risk of shooting up their blood pressure because the major constituent of honey is fructose which is metabolizes by the body differently from glucose.
Although caution should still be taken with regard to high fructose content foods like honey because it adds burden to the liver and is readily converted by the body to fat. It should be taken in moderation.
Related article: Danger of high fructose corn syrup especially to gout
14. Anemia
A study has shown that eating honey increases hemoglobin, red blood cell, and hematocrit count.
15. Herpes Lesion
A study by Al-Waili has shown that topical application of honey to genital area provides a safe and effective management against genital herpes lesion.
16. Pollen allergy and boost immune system
It has been shown that consuming honey locally made in your area exposes your to the pollen to which your immune system steadily builds immunity. It has been shown that consumption of locally made honey reduces allergic symptom and use of antihistamine.
17. Sleep problem
Consuming about 1 tablespoon of honey before bedtime has been shown to improve insomniac symptoms.
18. Combats stress
Honey boosts energy levels which helps the body to manage stress and fatigue.
Reference:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15278008
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4020454/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3583289/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3865795/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3611628/
By: Arlene Gentallan
 |
| 18 Reasons you should add honey to your diet. |
Honey has been use as food and medicine since the ancient times, long before table sugar became popular. Bees produce it so efficiently that it's the only naturally produce food that don' spoil!
What is honey made of?
Honey is mostly composed of sugar with very little water content:
- 18% water
- 76% sugar:
- 38% fructose
- 31% glucose
- a little percentage of various kind of sugar such as sucrose
- Honey also contains vitamins, minerals, proteins, antioxidants, and enzymes.
1 tablespoon honey contains about:
- 64 calories
- 0.1 g protein
- 17.0 g carbohydrates
- zero gram fat
Honey Facts
Did you know that it takes about a lifetime's work of 12 average worker bee to make a single teaspoon of honey? In order to make a single pound of honey, 60,000 bees must visit about 2 million flowers, traveling about 80,000 km or 50,000 miles.
How do bees make honey from flower's nectar?
Bees collect sweet fluid called "nectar" from flowers using it's long tube-shaped tongue called "proboscis." The bee then stores the nectar in it's extra stomach called "honey sac" in which this sugary liquid mixes with enzymes.
A bees stomach can store up to about 70 mg nectar.
Once the bee gets back to the beehive, it regurgitates the nectar for other bees to chew on it. It is then stored in the cells of the honeycomb where bees have to fan there wings in order to evaporate water from it.
The bees then seals it with beeswax.
18 Health Benefits of Honey
1. Memory Booster
Honey has several flavanoid contents which are neuroprotective which protects the brain from damage accumulated as we age. Consumption of honey has been shown to improve memory and reduces anxiety.
2. Protects your heart
Honey has anti-inflammatory property which has been shown to prevent cardiovascular diseases.
3. Cough & Sore throat Remedy
Honey is a popular timeless home remedy for cough and sore throat. It can be taken by children 1 year old and above as a safe and effective alternative treatment for cough and sore throat.
Related article: Find out how to use honey to get rid of cough and soothe the throat
4. Gets rid of wrinkles
Honey also has many beauty application. It's an indispensable part of various face mask recipes that get's rid of wrinkles and prevents premature aging.
Related article: Honey and lemon facial mask that get's rid of wrinkles
5. Antioxidant
Honey contains antioxidant, polyphenols, and flavonoids which combats free radicals, preventing premature aging.
6. Anti-cancer
Honey causes cancer cell death in various types of cancer. The antioxidant content of honey prevents cancer formation.
7. Antimicrobial
Honey is a broad spectrum antimicrobial effective against bacteria, viruses, fungi, and mycobacterium. In fact, raw unprocessed honey can directly be applied to a wound (burn, cuts, laceration) to make healing faster.
8. Prevents tooth decay and bad breath
Because of honey's antimicrobial property, it is good for your oral health. Consumption of honey is associated with decreased rick of dental carries and gingivitis. Honey can also be mixed with warm water as an alternative treatment for bad breath.
9. Dandruff
Honey can be use as an anti-dandruff formula. Simply mix half cup water and 2 tablespoon honey, rub on your scalp and let it sit for 3 hours before rinsing. Repeat this for about 4 weeks.
10. Improves eyesight
Honey is used as an eye ointment in various cultures around the world to treat infection of the eye like conjunctivitis, and prevention of corneal scarring secondary to measles infection.
11. Improves physical performance
Consumption of honey has been shown to improve physical performance of an individual. Honey's sugar content is a combination of fructose and glucose. While glucose is rapidly being used by the body as energy-source, fructose has slow absorption rate which provides the body with steady supply of fuel. Thus, it gives a person energy for a longer period of time.
12. Enhances digestion and soothes ulcer
Honey has enzymes which promotes proper digestion of food especially carbohydrates. It also soothes stomach ulcer and other intestinal problem due mainly to it's antimicrobial property.
13. Diabetes
Diabetic people can safely take honey without the risk of shooting up their blood pressure because the major constituent of honey is fructose which is metabolizes by the body differently from glucose.
Although caution should still be taken with regard to high fructose content foods like honey because it adds burden to the liver and is readily converted by the body to fat. It should be taken in moderation.
Related article: Danger of high fructose corn syrup especially to gout
14. Anemia
A study has shown that eating honey increases hemoglobin, red blood cell, and hematocrit count.
15. Herpes Lesion
A study by Al-Waili has shown that topical application of honey to genital area provides a safe and effective management against genital herpes lesion.
16. Pollen allergy and boost immune system
It has been shown that consuming honey locally made in your area exposes your to the pollen to which your immune system steadily builds immunity. It has been shown that consumption of locally made honey reduces allergic symptom and use of antihistamine.
17. Sleep problem
Consuming about 1 tablespoon of honey before bedtime has been shown to improve insomniac symptoms.
18. Combats stress
Honey boosts energy levels which helps the body to manage stress and fatigue.
Reference:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15278008
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4020454/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3583289/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3865795/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3611628/
