In addition to its use as a natural sweetener, honey is used as an anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antibacterial agent. People commonly use honey orally to treat coughs and topically to treat burns and promote wound healing.
Daily consumption of honey has a beneficial effect on the level of antioxidant compounds in the body that can fight excess cholesterol. Research shows that the antioxidants contained in honey can prevent arteries from narrowing.
“Honey should be treated like all added sugars, something to include in your diet carefully and kept to a minimum,” Keating says. The American Heart Association recommends that men consume no more than nine teaspoons (36 grams) per day; women and children, no more than six teaspoons (24 grams) daily.
What Makes Honey the Most Natural Superfood? Honey contains all of the nutrients that bees collect from flowers. It contains fructose, glucose, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, enzymes, and antioxidants. This combination makes honey a powerful natural medicine with many health benefits.
It works as a natural laxative, boosts metabolism, improves memory, helps in combating seasonal flu, allergies, fever, cold, sore throat and has anti- carcinogenic properties, which prevent several types of cancer.
"Honey's advantages over sugar include a slightly lower glycemic index (i.e. it doesn't affect your blood-sugar levels as much)," Dr. Dixon says. "It also contains more vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, such as calcium, potassium, vitamin C, zinc, phenolic acids, and flavonoids."
Therefore, honey, as it has anti-inflammatory activity, may contribute positively to the prevention of metabolic and cardiovascular diseases particularly in case honey mixed with other healthy foods.
This research by Al-Himyari (2009) set out that honey has memory booster effects to treat dementia and cognitive deterioration. It improves the cholinergic system and blood flow in the brain and has antioxidant effects.
Thanks to its antibacterial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, manuka honey can be used to help treat wounds, improve your oral health, soothe a sore throat and treat ulcers and acne.
Morning is the best time to eat honey for boosting energy levels and staying all charged up. Having honey in the morning is not just good for your skin but has ample health benefits including: Helps you shed those extra kilos. Improves your digestive system.
Honey Deeply Moisturizes and Hydrates the Skin.
Honey's natural humectant properties make it an effective moisturizer. The enzyme activity in honey enables it to penetrate deeply into the skin and bring hydration to the underlying layers. This results in plumper, softer skin with a natural radiant glow.
Manuka honey is more expensive than most other honey because it is rare and only produced in Australia and New Zealand. The flowers the bees collect the nectar from, to make Manuka honey are from the Leptospermum family, which is native to Australia. Farming Manuka honey costs more to produce than other honeys.
Manuka honey is made by bees that gather nectar and pollen exclusively from the manuka tree, while regular honey is made by bees that get nectar and pollen from different types of flowers.
Manuka honey may treat inflammatory skin conditions, heal wounds, and improve oral health. Do not use manuka honey if you have diabetes, an allergy to bees, or are under the age of one.
Studies suggest that honey might offer antidepressant, anticonvulsant and anti-anxiety benefits. In some studies, honey has been shown to help prevent memory disorders.
After the consumption of honey for 5 years, only 489 subjects developed dementia. This research by Al-Himyari (2009) set out that honey has memory booster effects to treat dementia and cognitive deterioration. It improves the cholinergic system and blood flow in the brain and has antioxidant effects.
Taken together, honey was found to improve lipid outcomes by reducing total cholesterol, LDL-C, and fasting triglyceride levels and increasing HDL-C levels.
Women often go through hormonal imbalance, which is a result of disbalance in testosterone levels, which in the long run affects reproductive health. Consuming honey on a daily basis helps in balancing the testosterone levels, which improves reproductive health, reduces mood swings and improves hormonal balance.
A common concern when adding honey to hot water is that it might become poisonous. However, this is not the case! The temperatures reached when boiling water are not high enough to change the chemical structure of honey. So rest assured, your honey tea will be perfectly safe to drink.
Even though honey doesn't have an expiration date, it can still undergo natural changes. The National Honey Board says that over time honey may “darken and lose its aroma and flavor or crystallize,” depending on changes in temperature.
The recommendation for a healthy person, without weight problems, and who does not base his diet on an excessive consumption of sugars would be to take a maximum of one small spoon of honey a day. This is approximately 10 to 12 grams of honey.
More is more: Australia's unmatchable variety of Manuka
The diversity of Australia's Manuka trees is vastly superior to New Zealand. Australia is home to 83 species of Manuka, 12 of which have bioactive, medicinal properties, making them ideal for high-MGO Manuka production. In comparison, New Zealand has only one.