Honey is among the oldest foods known to man. To this day, this golden liquid is revered for its nutritional and therapeutic properties. It is among the rare foods that don't spoil or rot no matter how old they are. For these reasons, honey has been a staple food of many countries and cultures since the beginning of mankind. Let's take a good look at the many health benefits of honey.
What is honey?
Honey is a product made by bees from the nectar of flowers. It is the only insect-derived food consumed by man. Honey has been around for 8000 years as evidenced by Stone Age paintings. Ancient scrolls, tablets and Vedas also indicate the use of honey as a drug by the ancient Greeks, Romans, Chinese, Mayans and Babylonians.
Depending on the type of nectar, 300 varieties of honey have been recognised today. Each variety has a unique colour and flavour. Honey can come in a spectrum of colours, from clear and colourless to dark amber or black coloured.
The nectar from the flowers is collected by the bees and is processed in the upper aero-digestive tract of the insects. By fanning the nectar with their wings and mixing it with the enzymes in their stomach, bees create honey, which is highly acidic and low in moisture.
Honey has a pH of almost 3.9 and its water activity is between 0.56 and 0.62. This unique composition makes it truly inhospitable to any bacterial growth. Since it never expires, honey doesn't need refrigeration and can also be stored for a long time at room temperature in a dry place.
Honey has a complex chemical composition comprising 200 substances like amino acids, vitamins and enzymes, but it is primarily made of two ingredients: water and sugar.
Honey was used in ancient times as a natural sweetener due to its high level of fructose. These days, people have been using honey as a healthier substitute for processed white sugar.
Honey has a unique place in Ayurveda. Known as madhu, it is used as a vehicle for many medical preparations and is considered a natural antibiotic.
Honey nutrition facts
100 ml of honey contains the following nutrients:
| Nutrients | Measure |
| Calories | 304 |
| Protein | 0.3 gm |
| Fat | 0 |
| Carbohydrates | 82.4 gm |
| Fibre | 0.2 gm |
| Sugars | 82.1 gm |
| Glucose | 35.8 gm |
| Fructose | 40.9 gm |
| Calcium | 6 gm |
| Iron | 0.42 mg |
| Magnesium | 2 mg |
| Phospohorus | 4 mg |
| Potassium | 52 mg |
| Sodium | 4 mg |
| Zinc | 0.22 mg |
| Copper | 0.036 mg |
| Manganese | 0.08 mg |
| Selenium | 0.8 mg |
Health benefits of honey
Honey is one of the most nutritionally dense foods in the world. It has several health-beneficial effects such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiseptic and antidiabetic.
Honey contains proteins, vitamins, amino acids, minerals, and organic acids. Pure honey also contains flavonoids and polyphenols. The main nutritional qualities of honey come from its monosaccharides -- fructose and glucose.
From cough to skin infection, honey has wide-spectrum applications for a variety of health conditions. It can aid in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, asthma, neurological diseases, wound healing and gastrointestinal diseases.
Following are some of the health benefits of honey:
- Provides instant energy
- Prevents inflammation
- Kills harmful germs
- Treats eye diseases
- Benefits hearth health
- Improves immune system
- Prevents constipation
- Kills intestinal worms
- Treats piles
- Heals eczema
- Heals ulcers and wounds
- Kills cancer cells
- Modulates the immune system
- Helps in the treatment of diabetes
- Treats respiratory illnesses like asthma
- Improves nerve health
- Good for stomach health
Can help treat diabetes: Honey to manage diabetes may seem counterintuitive since it is sweeter than sugar; however, both clinical trials and animal studies attest to its anti-diabetic properties. Fructose in honey helps in regulating insulin response, leading to controlled blood glucose levels. It is also full of antioxidants that have an antidiabetic effect.
Can fight cancer: Honey also has anti-cancer properties and can aid in causing the death of malignant cells in breast, colon and cervical cancer. Honey also works as an oestrogen modulator, which prevents cancers of the breast, uterus and ovaries. It contains the spread of cancer cells and reduces inflammation, which can cause malignancies.
References:
1. Samarghandian, S., Farkhondeh, T., & Samini, F. (2017). Honey and Health: A Review of Recent Clinical Research. Pharmacognosy research, 9(2), 121–127. https://doi.org/10.4103/0974-8490.204647
2. Mandal, M. D., & Mandal, S. (2011). Honey: its medicinal property and antibacterial activity. Asian Pacific journal of tropical biomedicine, 1(2), 154–160. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2221-1691(11)60016-6
3.Eteraf-Oskouei, T., & Najafi, M. (2013). Traditional and modern uses of natural honey in human diseases: a review. Iranian journal of basic medical sciences, 16(6), 731–742.
4.Ahmed, S., Sulaiman, S. A., Baig, A. A., Ibrahim, M., Liaqat, S., Fatima, S., Jabeen, S., Shamim, N., & Othman, N. H. (2018). Honey as a Potential Natural Antioxidant Medicine: An Insight into Its Molecular Mechanisms of Action. Oxidative medicine and cellular longevity, 2018, 8367846. https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/8367846
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