Alright, hopefully I convinced that honey IS amazing!!! Let’s get down to the benefits of honey!! SO yes honey is about 25% sweeter than regular sugar, it is not empty calories. As, I had said before, it does contain, vitamins, minerals, proteins, amino acids, and organic acids. So, eating honey can obviously have benefits just from the ingredients! But let’s get specific!
Antioxidants According to the National Institutes of Health, honey has the ability to provide natural antioxidants. Antioxidants prevents aging and damage to cells, when cells go through oxidizing stress then age and damage. It appears that the darker the honey the more antioxidant compounds that it has. Science is just beginning in this area but it looks to be promising to preventing damage to cells and to help in treating chronic conditions. One way to visualize the oxidation process is the rusting of metal—So in a way the honey would keep us from rusting! I mean, not really, but you get the point!
Antibacterial Without getting very technical, honey has a lot of physical properties that make it difficult for it to grow germs-including a low water content, super sweetness, and those bees actually produce a little bit of hydrogen peroxide when they make it! 😳 I told you those bees were amazing! But anyway, those same properties that keep it from spoiling also are used to inhibit bacterial growth. We do use honey to prevent growth in wounds. It is known that Manuka honey prevents the growth of Staph and E.Coli. Manuka honey comes from Australia and New Zealand form a bush related to the tea tree. The bacterial properties of Manual honey is 100 times higher than traditional honey.
Apoptotic Activity (Anticancer) So that same, fancy Manuka honey is also being studied as a possible cancer treatment. In very basic terms, it causes some cancer proteins to stop working and increases some anticancer proteins! And it does this naturally! So, I am not saying tha honey is a CURE for cancer! But it is known that it does have anticancer properties. Future studies in this area may lead to better treatments of cancer using the honey compounds! But we CAN EAT it now!
Anti Inflammatory and Immune Defense According to the National Institutes of Health, honey can also prevent inflammation in our joints. This is the primary cause of arthritis and joint pain, along with many other inflammatory diseases in the bowel and elsewhere. It is also suggested that honey helps to increase your immune response by a very complicated cellular system.
Other uses Other uses of honey have included diabetes, type I and type II treatments, wound healing, and asthma and allergies. There are many research articles to validate the research on the topics. This list in not inclusive of all the benefits of honey. It does show you, however, how amazing the organic molecules that make up honey can be. I don’t eat enough honey, but my husband eats it almost everyday. I will say this, I’m not sure an apple a day keeps the doctor a way, but a tablespoon may. I think I’ll buy some Manuka honey-it can’t hurt! After all the bees have been doing it for thousands of years!! And now you are honey wise!
Sources: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5424551/ https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/324997 https://health.clevelandclinic.org/manuka-honey-benefits/
Becoming Wellness Wise 