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WHAT ARE THE HEALTH BENEFITS OF HONEY!?
Honey is a sweet liquid produced by honey bees using nectar from flowers through a process of regurgitation and evaporation.
This MNT Knowledge Center feature is part of acollection of articles on the health benefits of popular foods. It includes a brief history of honey in traditional medicine and explains some of its potential health benefits.
The possible health benefits of consuming honey have been documented in early Greek, Roman, Vedic, and Islamic texts and the healing qualities of honey were referred to by philosophers and scientists all the way back to ancient times, such as Aristotle (384 - 322 BC) and Aristoxenus (320 BC).
Honey has high levels of monosaccharides, fructose and glucose, containing about 70 to 80 percent sugar, which gives it its sweet taste - minerals and water make up the rest of its composition.
Honey also possesses antiseptic and antibacterial properties. In modern science, we have managed to find useful applications of honey in chronic wound management.
However, it should be noted that many of honey's health claims still require further rigorous scientific studies to confirm them.
History of honey
Honey has been consumed for thousands of years for its supposed health benefits.
Over four thousand years ago, honey was used as a traditional ayurvedic medicine, where it was thought to be effective at treating material imbalances in the body.
In pre-Ancient Egyptian times, honey was used topically to treat wounds.1.
Egyptian medicinal compounds more than five millennia ago used honey.
The ancient Greeks believed that the consuming honey could help make you live longer.
Even the Prophet Mohammed glorified the healing powers of honey.
The Quran also praises honey's healing ability:
"And thy Lord taught the Bee to build its cells in hills, on trees, and in (men's) habitations; Then to eat of all the produce (of the earth), and find with skill the spacious paths of its Lord: there issues from within their bodies a drink of varying colors, wherein is healing for men: verily in this is a Sign for those who give thought."
The beneficial properties of honey have been explored in modern times, and there is evidence to suggest that these historical claims may hold some truth.
Properties of honey
Honey is made up of glucose, fructose, and minerals such as iron, calcium, phosphate, sodium chlorine, potassium, magnesium.
Below is a typical honey profile, according to BeeSource:2
- Fructose: 38.2%
- Glucose: 31.3%
- Maltose: 7.1%
- Sucrose: 1.3%
- Water: 17.2%
- Higher sugars: 1.5%
- Ash: 0.2%
- Other/undetermined: 3.2%
The slightly acidic pH level of honey (between 3.2 and 4.5) is what helps prevent the growth of bacteria, while its antioxidant constituents cleans up free radicals. The physical properties of honey vary depending on the specific flora that was used to produce it, as well as its water content.
Health benefits of honey
Modern science is finding that many of the historical claims that honey can be used in medicine may indeed be true. In the Bible (Old Testament), King Solomon said, "My son, eat thou honey, for it is good", and there are a number of reasons why it may be good.
There have been some cases in which people have reported positive effects of honey in treating wounds.
Acid reflux
Professor Mahantayya V Math, from MGM Medical College, Kamothe, Navi Mumbai, India, explained in the BMJ (British Medical Journal) that, as it is 125.9 more viscous than distilled water at 37 celsius (body temperature),honey may be helpful in preventing GERD (Gastroesophageal reflux).3
Infantile gastroenteritis
E. Haffejee and A. Moosa reported in the BMJ on a clinical study in which they used honey in oral rehydration solution in children and infants with gastroenteritis. Their aim was twofold:
- Determine whether honey might affect the duration of acute diarrhea
- Evaluate honey as a glucose substitute in oral rehydration
They found that honey shortens the duration of bacterial diarrhea in infants and young children.4 They added that honey does not prolong non-bacterial diarrhea duration, and "may safely be used as a substitute for glucose in oral rehydration solution containing electrolytes."
Healing wounds and burns
There have been some cases in which people have reported positive effects of honey in treating wounds. Hurlburt, a borderline diabetic, with recurring cellulitis and staph infections tried taking antibiotics for months. However, they failed to alleviate the symptoms. Hulburt's physician, Jennifer Eddy of UW Health's Eau Claire Family Medicine Clinic, suggested that she should try topically applying honey. Soon after applying the honey, she began to feel better.
Hulburt said that she remembered thinking "holy mackerel-what a difference. It's a lot better than having to put oral antibiotics into your system."
A review published in The Cochrane Library indicated that honey may be able to help heal burns, the lead author of the study said that "topical honey is cheaper than other interventions, notably oral antibiotics, which are often used and may have other deleterious side effects."
However, it should be stressed that there is a lack of evidence to fully support this claim. In fact, a study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases concluded that applying medical grade honey to wounds of patients has no advantage over normal antibiotic among patients undergoing dialysis.
Honey for treating allergies
There is some research to suggest that honey may be useful in minimizing seasonal allergies. The Guardian reported that honey even 'beats cough medicine' at alleviating and reducing the frequency of cough.
One placebo-controlled study which included 36 people with ocular allergies, found that participants responded better to treatment with honey compared to placebo. However, a third of them reported that eating a tablespoon of honey every day was hard to tolerate due to its overly sweet taste.
Fighting infections
In 2010, scientists from the Academic Medical Center at the University of Amsterdam reported in FASEB Journal that honey's ability to kill bacteria lies in a protein called defensin-1. 5
A study published in the journal Microbiology revealed that Manuka honey is effective at treating chronic wound infections and may even prevent them from developing in the first place.
Dr. Rowena Jenkins and colleagues, from the University of Wales Institute, reported thatManuka honey kills bacteria by destroying key bacterial proteins.
Some studies have revealed that a certain type of honey, called "Manuka honey," may even be effective for the treatment of MRSA infections.
Dr Jenkins concluded:
"Manuka and other honeys have been known to have wound healing and anti-bacterial properties for some time. But the way in which they act is still not known. If we can discover exactly how Manuka honey inhibits MRSA it could be used more frequently as a first-line treatment for infections with bacteria that are resistant to many currently available antibiotics."
Manuka honey may even help reverse bacterial resistance to antibiotics, according to research presented at the Society for General Microbiology's Spring Conference in Harrogate, UK.
A study published in the journal Pediatrics, which compared honey to placebo in helping children with cough during night time, found that honey was superior. The researchers concluded "Parents rated the honey products higher than the silan date extract for symptomatic relief of their children's nocturnal cough and sleep difficulty due to URI (upper respiratory infection). Honey may be a preferable treatment for cough and sleep difficulty associated with childhood URI."6
Natural honey better at killing bacteria than artificial honey - Kendall Powell wrote in the journal Nature that "natural honey kills bacteria three times more effectively" than an artificial honey solution of the same thickness and sugar concentration.7
Honey's other possible uses in medicine
New research is always finding new possible uses of honey in treating certain conditions and diseases.
One study found that Manuka honey may prevent radiation-induced dermatitis inbreast cancer patients.
Recent developments on honey from MNT news
A trial published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases shows that applying medical grade honey to wounds of patients undergoing dialysis does not have an advantage over normal antibiotic use.
Forthcoming research in the journal Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry analyzes the physiological effects of three separate pesticides on honey bees (Apis mellifera).
Written by Joseph Nordqvist
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