I think Pooh said it best when he was talking to the bee that flew into Pooh’s window. “The only reason for being a bee is to make honey, and the only reason for making honey is so I can eat it.” Pooh may have been a bear of very little brains, but I think he was smart enough to know the goodness of honey.
I want to continue to stress how much helpful information about honey there is, and I would strongly encourage you to read the many articles, all very recent, that you’ll find here. Trying to include everything would be impossible. This is where a little homework is necessary. <grin>
With that said, let’s review some of the most important points about the wonderful benefits honey gives us.
- Keep in mind that the quality, taste, and color were and are determined by the variety of the flowers from which the nectar is collected by the bees.
- Raw honey is best, and there is a set of requirements that bee keepers must carefully adhere to in order to market their honey as raw.
- There are seven different types of bee products that include bee pollen, bee wax, royal jelly, propolis, organic honey, mead, and bee bread. Refer to the Intro to review descriptions of each of these.
- Honey is used for a wide range of issues from arthritis to cancer, heart disease/high cholesterol to skin infection and even weight loss.
- Honey is known to have several trace minerals in it, along with choline, a B-vitamin (important for cell function, brain and heart health) and acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter.
- Honey is known to be anti-microbial, anti-parasitic, and anti-viral, with a high success rate of inhibiting the growth of fungi and other microorganisms. We also obtain hydrogen peroxide from honey glucose oxidase.
- Refer here to find the recipe I use to make a honey-lemon base cold/cough syrup for several issues (including hay fever) that I and my family may encounter, especially during cold and flu season.
- Honey can be used for burns, applying the sticky medicine directly to the burn itself or on the dressing.
Many of the references listed below are very helpful for further study, as I mentioned earlier. Also, these hard copy materials give further evidence of honey’s usefulness.
- Bioactive Foods in Promoting Health: Probiotics and Prebiotics. Ronald Watson, University of Arizona Health Science Center; Tucson, AZ; USA; Victor Preedy, Kings College London, UK; February, 2010.
- Bioactive Food as Dietary Interventions for Diabetes: Bioactive Foods in Chronic Disease States. Ronald Watson, University of Arizona Health Science Center; Tucson, AZ; USA; Victor Preedy, Kings College London, UK; October, 2012.
- Natural Standard Herb & Supplement Guide: An Evidence-Based Reference. Natural Standard. January, 2010.
References
http://www.naturalnews.com/honey.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey
http://www.benefits-of-honey.com/health-benefits-of-honey.html
http://www.rxlist.com/honey/supplements.htm
Definition of a honey bee allergy – http://www.rxlist.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=26060
http://www.benefits-of-honey.com/honey-bees.html
http://www.livestrong.com/article/270875-honey-vs-sugar-glycemic-index/
http://www.jacn.org/content/27/6/677.full
http://www.elsevier.com/s/search.html?profile=_default&form=sitesearch&collection=elsevier-meta&query=honey
