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Honey
-
honey /
royal jelly
/ propolis
/ bee pollen /
Ph balancing /
vitamins
Honey is a naturally sweet substance made by bees by concentrating
plant nectars. Bees traveling to and from the hive may cover a
distance of 40,000 miles and visit over 2 million plants in their
quest to find the finest plant nectars.
The most common of all bee products, honey has been used for many
centuries for its ability to heal wounds, treat infections and
provide fast energy.
Many people use honey as a natural sweetener, and it is important
to understand why honey is a far healthier alternative to
processed sugars.
Sugars provide us with energy. All carbohydrates, whether simple
sugars or complex carbohydrates, must be broken down to glucose,
or blood sugar, before our bodies can absorb them and use them as
energy. Honey combines glucose and fructose, when compared to
white sugar, which is sucrose. The basic sugar types in honey are
more easily assimilated into the bloodstream and thus yield their
energy giving properties more quickly and efficiently than with
white sugars. The glycogen in a spoonful of honey is said to pass
into the bloodstream in ten minutes to produce this ‘quick
energy’.
Many people refrain from using honey in the belief that it is high
in calories and may cause unwanted weight gain. An average
teaspoon of honey contains only around 25 calories, and as
mentioned above it converts quickly and efficiently into ‘energy’,
unlike white sugar.
What is the chemical composition
of honey?:-
Honey is so much more than glucose and fructose, it is a nutrient
rich substance with an impressive array of vitamins and minerals
with trace amounts of amino acids and antioxidants. Honey contains
proteins, carbohydrates, hormones, organic acids, and
anti-microbial compounds.
At
the University of Florida’s Department of Food Science and Human
Nutrition, Dr. Susan Percival found honey contains important
nutrients, including vitamin B6, riboflavin, thiamin and
pantothenic acid. Minerals found in honey include calcium, copper,
iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, sodium and
zinc.
Dr. Percival writes:- "……several different amino acids, the
building blocks of protein, have been identified in honey."
The vitamin and mineral content of honey is:
.
Vitamin A
·
Betacarotene
·
B-complex vitamins (complete)
·
Vitamin C, D, E, K
·
Magnesium
·
Sulfur
·
Phosphorus
·
Iron
·
Calcium
·
Chlorine
·
Potassium
·
Iodine
·
Sodium
·
Copper
·
Manganese
Raw honey also contains a rich supply of live enzymes and like the
other bee products; some substances in honey cannot be identified.
Honey may contain other medicinal compounds, depending on the type
of plant from which the pollen was taken.
Honey and our health:-
Scientists in Istanbul have
experimented with Honey in an effort to reveal potential benefits
in the operating theatre. They have established that honey applied
to wounds post surgery can prevent the formation of tumors and
prevent the growth of cancerous cells.
Work is underway at the Mayo clinic into discovering potential
uses for bee products in the medical field. This and other ongoing
research into the medicinal uses of bee products is extremely
encouraging. The only surprise is just how long it has taken the
medical community in the USA to show serious interest, whereas the
rest of the world it seems has known for years.
There are several factors that may account for honey's healing
properties:
·
Bacterial
infections require water to thrive. The sugars in honey attract
water, and may deprive the bacteria resulting in diminished
activity from the virus.
·
Bee pollen and
propolis enzymes are present in even the purest of raw honey.
These possess anti-viral and antibacterial properties that work
from within the honey to sterilize wounds and assist healing.
·
Glucose oxidase
found in honey combines with water and produces hydrogen peroxide.
Hydrogen peroxide has antiseptic properties.
Dr. Paavo O. Airola, has written the book ‘Health Secrets from
Europe’. In it he writes about the natural therapeutic effects of
honey and states: "Honey is a perfect food. It contains large
amounts of vitamins, minerals, being particularly rich in vitamins
B and C. It contains almost all vitamins of the B-complex, which
are needed in the system for the digestion and metabolism of
sugar. Honey is also rich in minerals such as calcium, phosphorus,
magnesium, potassium, silicon, etc……some kinds may contain as much
as 300 milligrams of vitamin C per 100 grams of honey."
Royden Brown in his book ‘Bee Hive Product Bible’, provides
invaluable insight into the properties of bee products. He writes
about the use of Honey to treat respiratory ailments, and relates
to exhaustive research conducted in Bulgaria:
"We found Honey has bactericidal, anti-allergenic,
anti-inflammatory and expectorant properties that insure the body
an immunobiological defense and give it the capacity to regenerate
its attacked cells"
Dr. Peter Molan, MBE, is an Associate Professor in Biochemistry at
the University of Waikato, in New Zealand. Dr. Molan has over 17
years of research into the medicinal and healing properties of
honey. Dr. Molan has conducted extensive testing into the regional
variations of honey, and how honey from different regions exhibit
different medicinal properties.
The results from his tests have shown scientifically that all
honeys have varying degrees of healing properties, mainly due to
the antibacterial agent, hydrogen peroxide, which is found in all
honey regardless of region
May R. Berenbaum, is an entomologist at the University of
Illinois. Recent studies by Berenbaum show honey to possess
surprising quantities of antioxidants. It was apparent that honey
from different regions exhibited varying antioxidant properties,
and that generally, honey which is darker in color was found to be
more potent as an antioxidant. Antioxidants are important in their
ability to fight toxicity in the bloodstream and may help fight
off harmful infections.
How is honey processed for human
consumption?:-
Honey is often treated with a pasteurizing process to minimize
crystallization once packaged. This process may involve exposure
to high temperatures that can destroy some of the valuable natural
enzymes in honey.
Raw and unprocessed honey is generally preferred over honey which
has been heavily processed. When honey crystallizes, it is
generally a simple case of gently warming the product until it is
re-liquefied. Temperatures of 110 degrees or less should be
adequate to re-liquefy the product and at this temperature the
live enzymes should remain unaffected.
This also has significance concerning the end use of honey, and
there are conflicting opinions in this regard. Clearly, certain
live enzymes are destroyed when the product is heated excessively,
and therefore its nutritive and therapeutic properties must be
diminished. So using honey in hot drinks, as so many people do,
may not be yielding the full range of benefits from the product.
However, recent studies into how heating certain vegetable
products may effect their nutrient yield is uncovering some
interesting results that seem to go against popular opinion. In
one study, carrots were analyzed for their beta-carotene, or
Carotenoid content. Carotenoids are phytonutrients, the
nutritional elements that occur naturally in fruits and
vegetables, giving them their distinctive yellow, orange or red
colors. They are commonly believed to be powerful antioxidants
that rid the body of harmful free-radicals. For many years
nutritionists have told us that eating raw vegetables is the only
way to benefit significantly from their nutritional properties,
and that heating vegetables destroys their nutrient content.
However, in a recent series of tests, carrots were heated through
various stages to simulate a typical cooking process. At different
temperatures the beta-carotene levels of the carrots was analyzed,
and it was found that the levels actually increased through the
heating process. At a certain stage the levels began to diminish,
but never to a level below the raw, uncooked food.
Similar research has been conducted into the effect on honey. It
was found that the antioxidant properties of honey may increase
through heating: "When honey is cooked, it appears to acquire
additional, functionally important antioxidants", according to
related studies at Clemson University in South Carolina.
So, to heat or not to heat? The simple answer is to use your honey
straight from the jar by teaspoon, and use it in hot drinks also.
That way you have the best of both worlds, unheated with its live
enzymes intact, and its increased antioxidant levels when heated.
Summary:-
Honey is much more than just a sweetener, it has real nutritional
properties that provide us with potent antioxidants and a host of
other nutritional benefits.
By
embracing honey into your everyday diet, you may help your body
help itself – fighting and removing toxins, viral infections and
providing useful energy that is not derived from harmful sucrose.
Honey acts as the perfect accompaniment to royal jelly - adding a
touch of sweetness and flavor, and naturally preserving the liquid
royal jelly, avoiding the need for refrigeration or preservatives.
Honey, mankind’s oldest sweetener, is being rediscovered as a
natural source of energy with the added benefit of having potent
medicinal and therapeutic properties.
Conclusion:-
There is clear medical research indicating that Bee Products are
very special substances when it comes to their nutritional
properties and your health.
Bees are perhaps the oldest living species on our planet, and it
is no accident that they have remained unchanged in their
existence for many millions of years.
Mother Nature created a perfect environment when creating the
honeybee, and at the same time equipped the honeybee with all of
the tools required for longevity, come what may.
Fortunately for mankind, the industrious little insect with the
gentle sting is more than capable of creating its nutritious
produce in sufficient quantities for man to enjoy.
Perhaps the sting was designed to draw attention to the otherwise
innocuous little insect, as a way of prodding and awakening us to
the power of its wares.
Take the time to seek out and enjoy quality bee products, embrace
them into your every day diet like you would with any conventional
foods, and enjoy the energizing, protecting and invigorating power
of the beehive.
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