We all must be thankful to nature because it has provided us with remedies for every problem we face. The ancient culture has found out the god’s gifts and their uses. Honey is one such nature’s gift that is useful for its numerous health benefits.
So, let’s know some facts about honey, the health benefits of honey, and its applications in our daily life.
Table of Contents
What is Honey?
Honey is a golden yellow-colored, sweet and viscous fluid obtained from the beehives hanging on the trees in forests. The honeybees make honey by collecting nectar from flowers in the surrounding areas and storing it in the hexagonal cells of their hives.
It’s a fact that honey bees travel about 55ooo miles to collect nectar from about 2 million flowers.
Apiculture
Similar to agriculture, farmers perform apiculture as a secondary occupation. Apiculture is also a primary occupation for some tribes living in forest areas around the world. It is a fact that India was able to export honey worth 700 crores in 2020 through apiculture.
Apiculture includes bee-keeping in which, the honeybees are provided with ready-made hives. So they store the nectar sucked from flowers in the forest.
The honey prepared by these bees is then collected, purified, or pasteurized, and packed.
What are the health benefits of Honey?
Now without any further delay let’s know the health benefits of honey:
1. Honey as a natural sweetener
Honey can replace sugar in our diet. Sugar is harmful to our body due to lots of calories. Therefore honey can be used instead of sugar. The carbohydrate content in honey is about 68%. It includes glucose and fructose. Fructose is a natural sugar in fruits. We can add honey to our juices instead of table sugar.
Is Honey Good for Diabetes?
Honey contains sugar fructose and glucose. Fructose shows a hypoglycemic effect. According to a study conducted on diabetic mice, the honey-treated mice showed a decrease in levels of fasting blood sugar. In addition, it also reduced the oxidative stress on their kidneys.
In another study, it was concluded that the antioxidants present in honey help in wound healing as it kills the bacteria, and reduces inflammation of the wounds.
Therefore, honey is good for diabetic people when eaten in very small quantities. However, Doctors do not recommend honey to diabetic people because of the debates on the purity of honey.
2. Honey provides vitamins and minerals
Based on the plant from where the honeybees collect nectar, the amount and types of vitamins and minerals in the honey are known. For instance, honey contains vitamins such as pantothenic acid, niacin, etc. Minerals such as iron, vitamin C, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, zinc, etc., are common.
3. Honey boosts Immunity
When a teaspoon of honey is consumed daily, the hemoglobin levels improve and the Red Blood Cells rejuvenate faster. The body gets a good supply of oxygen that is carried with the hemoglobin molecules. Moreover, this reduces anemia and boosts the immune system.
Honey is an antibacterial and antioxidant substance. Therefore, it also promotes signaling molecules like cytokines, macrophages which are an important part of the immune system. Most importantly, it also prevents tumor formation and thus avoids cancer.
4. Honey helps in weight loss
People who visit the gym daily should include honey in their diet. Honey is a food with a low glycemic index. Thus it helps reduce weight if taken in combinations, for example, honey with lemon, honey with ginger, honey with cinnamon.
Further, honey can help to avoid cholesterol levels to rise, which will eventually avoid weight gain. In addition, it shows an improvement in lipid metabolism. It also improves the overall cell metabolism and makes the body flexible.
It is to be noted that honey should be taken with warm water only, not with hot water nor with cold water as this may show opposite effects.
5. Honey gives relief from Cough
This is one of the best health benefit of honey. Honey has been used in cough syrups and homemade remedies for cough. Firstly, it fights the infection. Secondly, it soothes the throat and reduces redness and dryness.
For sore throat, eat 1.5 teaspoons of honey at night before sleeping. According to a study on nocturnal cough in small children, it was found that honey was effective in reducing the restlessness of the children due to cough as compared to the commonly prescribed drug named dextromethorphan, thereby improving sleep.
Honey and ginger juice can be the best remedy for cough. We can also add extract of tulsi leaves in a teaspoon of honey to cure irritation due to cold.
Our grandmothers have the skill to make the magical soup – ‘kadha’, for curing cough and cold. It contains ginger, tulsi leaves and turmeric added to a glass of water. This mixture is heated till it becomes half a glass. Then the honey is added to the kadha to make it soft and sweet to the throat. Drinking it surely reduces cough.
Similarly, Sitopaladi churna with honey is yet another effective remedy on cough. Firstly add one and a half teaspoon of sitopaladi churna to a dish. Secondly, add a teaspoon of honey to it and mix well. Eat this mixture twice a day or once at night time. This remedy is also useful in upper respiratory tract infections and asthama.
6. Benefit of Honey as an energy booster
Honey helps in rejuvenating the cells of the body. If consumed by mixing it with warm water, it can energize you before an energetic task. It can replace synthetic energy drinks as it contains natural sugars, minerals like zinc, sodium, potassium, and phosphorus.
The ancient Greeks had been using honey to treat fatigue. Greek athletes consumed a mixture of honey and water before major athletic events.
7. Honey detoxify the body
As honey contains antioxidants, it gives a cleaning effect to the cells. Honey can detoxify our body. Along with honey, a teaspoonful of lemon juice can be added to the warm water for better detoxification. This combination can give us healthy skin.
When our body gets detoxified, the growth of new cells naturally increases and we feel fresh and energetic while managing our daily tasks.
8. Honey Benefits on Face
People always wonder whether honey for face benefits? It’s my own experience that when honey is applied to the dark spots or pimple marks along with some lemon juice and massaged, the spots become lighter and eventually disappear if practiced regularly.
In winter season the skin becomes dry and the lips chap. If honey is applied to the chapped lips, it makes them soft. Honey acts as an exfoliator when mixed with sugar and applied on the elbows and dried areas
Water and honey benefits the mouth by reducing redness and rash. It also prevents bad breaths. If there is a toothache or decay, keep a small cotton ball dipped in cotton at the place of the decay. As honey is antibacterial and antiseptic, it would help in destroying the teeth-decaying bacteria and relieve pain to some extent.
9. Honey benefits on Hair
Honey also benefits the hair by making them long and silky. If a teaspoon of honey is mixed with the same amount of olive oil and applied to hair, it gives a conditioning effect after washing.
Also when applied as a hair mask of honey and Aloe vera gel or honey and apple cider vinegar for 15-20 minutes and then washed off with lukewarm water, the scalp problems such as dryness, dandruff, scabs, etc. are eliminated.
The scalp massage with honey and coconut oil mask gives dual benefits are honey is antibacterial and antioxidant which nourishes the scalp while coconut oil penetrates inside the hair shafts and helps them to grow longer and stronger.
Raw Honey Vs Purified Honey – Which is good?
Raw Honey is the honey extracted from the hives and used directly or after simply filtering it through sieves to remove the unwanted organic particles of the hive.
It is good to consume as it has all the natural antioxidants and vitamins in its pure structural forms. Although, there are high chances of the presence and contamination of yeast and other fungi in the raw honey.
Purified honey is collected and processed or pasteurized in large vessels to destroy the yeast or fungal spores in it. After that, it is packed in glass or plastic bottles with airtight lids.
Purified honey may contain a fewer amount of nutrients and vitamins as compared to raw honey. There is no chance of contamination by yeast or other microorganisms. It is safe to eat.
Raw honey side effects
Raw honey consists of pollens, enzymes as well as some honeycomb particles, bee wax, etc. There is a high chance of honey being contaminated by microorganisms like bacteria, yeast, and other fungi.
Clostridium botulinum is a bacteria that grows on food. It causes botulism, a severe form of food poisoning.
It is recommended that honey may be raw or purified, should not be given to children below 1 year of age due to the risk of bacterial contamination and botulism.
Adults and children above 1 year of age can consume both raw and processed honey.
Even though raw honey has some side effects, it is preferred over processed honey due to lots of health benefits.
When we buy honey, we must check the ingredients written on it. The bottle of honey must be labelled as ‘raw honey’ or ‘organic honey’ on it. If it is not, that honey is a processed one.
Following video shows the method used to collect raw honey from the beehives hanging on trees in forests by native people.[Courtesy: honeyandspice.in & WWF]
Purity test of honey
Honey has a big share in the market. Pure honey is expensive due to its quality, nutrient contents, and collection techniques.
Some honey sellers mix it with sugar syrup and other synthetic sugars to earn high profits. This is called adulterated honey.
Centre of science and environment (CSE) performs tests for finding the purity of honey of brands available in India.
FSSAI has set up several parameters on which honey is tested using , Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, a high-end technology.
Test for purity of honey at home (DIY)
Take a glass full of water and add a teaspoon of honey to it.
If honey settles down to the bottom of the glass without mixing with water, then it is pure. On the contrary, if it mixes well with water, then it is adulterated.
Another test includes a cotton bud with is dipped in honey and burned with a match-stick.
If the cotton bud completely burns quickly, the honey is pure.
Does Pure Honey crystallize?
YES. Crystallization is a natural tendency of honey. Honey is made up of glucose and fructose polysaccharides. The ratio of glucose to fructose and that of glucose to water are responsible for the crystallization process. The molecules of these sugars naturally form crystals at about 15 degree Celsius.
Other factors that play a role in crystallization of raw honey is organic contents in honey such as the pollens, bee wax, leaves, etc. Also the type of bottle it is packed also affects crystallization process. It is seen that bottles made up of plastic promote crystallization of honey as compared to that packed in glass jars.
In the honeycombs, honey is found in a crystallized form. So if the honey is seen to be crystallized it is not spoiled or adulterated.
If honey at your home crystallizes, then simply heat water in a pan and stir the jar of honey in the water until the crystals of honey completely dissolve.
What are the ways to eat honey?
Now, after knowing the honey benefits for health, we must know how to eat it. Honey should be eaten as it is. A teaspoon of honey taken directly from the packed bottle can be consumed. It can be added to a glass of warm water to drink. Also, it can be added to fruit juices, milk shakes, custards, black tea, herbal tea, dark chocolate drinks, lemonades, etc.
Honey can be spread on bread instead of jam or butter and eaten as a honey sandwich. It can be also used in cookies and cakes instead of sugar.
The nutritional value increases if honey is added to dry fruits like cashews, almonds, pistachios, apricots, walnuts, etc. It can also be added to banana if you want to gain weight.
Among Hindus, Jains and Buddhists it is a tradition to offer ‘Panchamrita’ as a Prasad after ‘Puja’ or worship ritual. Panchamrita is a combination of 5 healthy ingredients like Honey, Cow milk, jaggery, curd, and ghee.
It is to be noted that honey may show no effect or opposite effects when heated. Thus we must avoid heating honey and add it to warm food items (not boiling or hot), after turning the the gas flame or oven off.
Thank you for reading my blog. For more such interesting and informative articles, click here.
Excellent article. I certainly appreciate this website. Stick with it!
Thank you!
Thanks for your blog, nice to read. Do not stop.
Thanks, Mark. Do visit again to read more!
Very nice post. Keep it up!
An interesting discussion. Many thanks for sharing these benefits!!
Everything is very open with a very clear clarification of the challenges. It was really informative. Your site is extremely helpful. Thank you for sharing!