Health Benefits of Honey
Honey and its potential health benefits humans have been collecting honey and beekeeping for at least eight thousand years is a long history of medicinal use saving back to ancient Egypt reported benefits or uses include antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties and I'm going to address those claims later on in this article honey is a sweet food made by bees foraging nectar from flowers for bees it serves both as a short-term energy source during foraging and for long-term energy storage during the offseason the sweetness of honey is derived primarily from its content of fructose and glucose just a few other pieces of information for context 1.7 million tons of honey were produced worldwide in 2013 in China was the number one producer in addition to its use as a food additive honey can be used to make Mead or honey beer and there are many different classifications and types of honey as well as grades of honey based on flavor absence of defects and clarity but that is beyond the scope of this article so the first question I asked myself is honey better for you than sugar now just to start off at the end of the day sugar is sugar and that can cause problems with your body's metabolism over time the dietary guidelines of America the American Heart Association Center for Disease Control prevention I'll recommend reducing your total sugar intake however if you have to choose between refined cane sugar or tabletop sugar versus honey honey probably does have a very slight edge it contains more types of sugar than just glucose and fructose for example dextran and some of these are more complex and require more energy to break down this means your body can theoretically spend more energy breaking down and absorbing honey and table top sugar however that said I'm not aware of any study that compares honey consumption versus sugar head-to-head to assess any differences in weight gain or blood sugar honey also has trace minerals and vitamins not found in refined sugar which I will address in just a second so the nutritional content of honey 1 tablespoon contains 64 calories 0 grams of fat no cholesterol 1 milligram of sodium 17 grams of carbohydrates which are all sugar and no protein it contains minimal amounts of your daily needs of vitamins and minerals meaning overall not a good source of vitamins or minerals but it does contain trace amounts of calcium iron magnesium phosphorus potassium selenium and fluoride it also contains the minerals vitamin A C and folate or folic acid as far as potential health benefits the first and most common would be common cold and cough a systematic review of the evidence suggests that it probably does not help with coughs and adults but may help in children one study did show that beat out robitussin in a head-to-head treatment of cough symptoms it also is thought to help improve sleep quality through the night when your cough symptoms can be more obnoxious high D is also relatively safe so it is reasonable to use both adults and children's as a cough suppressant it does not appear to treat the virus which is caused by the common cold but it does seem to help alleviate some of the symptoms it's also known for its potential healing properties it does contain trace compounds that have been implicated in healing such as hydrogen peroxide and methylglyoxal however the evidence is weak and no firm conclusions can be drawn on whether it can help improve healing of post-surgical wounds or burns manuka honey
Specific type made in New Zealand does appear to have some beneficial effects on wound healing and is endorsed by some wound care doctors in the US the benefit of this is likely due to the acidic content of the honey which can help in the healing process it has some reported antibacterial properties and in the lab it has been shown to hamper the growth of some well known bacteria including ecoli salmonella staph aureus and Pseudomonas but whether it has any effect or the same effect in humans is unproven it has reported uses to treat allergies all of the evidence is weak that it provides any benefit for treating allergies or clearing up a stuffy nose several studies have looked at the polyphenol content of honey polyphenols are known to have antioxidant properties in humans and one study found that honey consumption did increase the measurable blood content of phenolic antioxidants more research is required to determine if this is clinically significant there's a widespread myth that honey is better sugar for diabetics than regular cane sugar or any other type sugar generally speaking sugar is bad for diabetics and there is no best the glycemic index is a way to compare foods head to head and measure how much they increase your blood sugar, pure honey the glycemic index is 58 and for white table sugar that range is 58 to 65 and so I would argue that's a negligible difference foods that have a low glycemic index are in the 10 to 30 range in higher numbers are closer to 100 diabetics should avoid sugar period and you'll be hard-pressed to find a nutritionist telling a diabetic it's okay to consume honey one more point here one caution is do not give honey to any infants under one-year-old as this can expose them to a very serious bacterial infection known as botulism and so in conclusion we can make a few points honey has thousands of years as a staple in human culture and consumption it's probably not any better than table sugar in terms of calories but it does have slightly more nutritional content it appears to help treat cough symptoms wound healing and acts as an antioxidant it does not have good evidence suggesting that it can help in the treatment of allergies or as an anti bacterial diabetics should avoid honey just like they avoid any other sugar and do not give honey to infants under one-year-old...
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