Honey for your Health
We are all familiar with honey with its sweet taste and distinct aroma. It's not just amazing for its yummy flavor, it is highly medicinal as well! The uses for honey are vast, from a sore throat remedy, a digestive tonic, to a skincare staple, honey is an essential addition to your at home apothecary! To learn more about the traditional and modern uses of honey and all its amazing benefits, keep reading…
What is Honey?
Before we dive into the medicinal benefits of honey let's learn some background about this sweet remedy…
The Basics
Honey is one of the only insect derived liquids that has widespread use within our cultures. It is produced by honeybees (who would have thought) as they collect nectar from surrounding flowers. The journey to honey starts when a bee finds a flowering plant. The bee then collects the pollen from the flower into little pollen buckets on its back. This pollen is combined with nectar to compact it before it is brought back to the hive. The pollen gives the honey its characteristic color!
Just as the number of flowers in existence seems infinite, there are countless types of honey out there. From blackberry honey to the common clover honey, each type has a unique taste and color. There are over 300 types of honey that have been cataloged, each called a different variety. Even harvests of the same variety of honey may taste different, depending on the weather that year. It's actually quite amazing to see how even the smallest changes create big impacts on honey production!
Color
Typically honey is a light to dark amber color, but I have even seen honey that is water white! The color of honey is due to the type of pollen used in its production. As well the mineral content of the pollen will also affect the end color of the honey. There are seven color grades of honey shown below: water white, extra white, white, extra light amber, light amber, amber, and dark amber.
Chemical Breakdown
Honey is mostly made of carbohydrates, typically around 95% by weight, but the true magic is in the remaining 5%. This small fraction contains proteins, amino acids, antioxidants, minerals, vitamins, flavonoids, glycosides, anthraquinone, alkaloids, and more! These compounds are responsible for the medicinal actions of honey. They may make up a small fraction but they have big effects on our bodies.
Of course we can’t forget the most distinct aspect of honey, its sweetness! Honey is regarded as even sweeter than table sugar because it contains more fructose. Table sugar is usually an even split of glucose and fructose while honey contains one third more fructose than glucose. These two sweet compounds are known as monosaccharides, and make up a majority of the carbohydrates within honey.
Traditional and Modern uses of Honey
Honey has been used within almost all ancient civilizations spanning thousands of years. In fact the first written record for using honey is 8000 years old! These Stone Age paintings detailed a medicinal delicacy harvested from the hives of bees, sound familiar? It is even featured in many religious texts including the Veda, the Bible, the Qur’an, and Egyptian papyri! But why have so many before us turned to honey to treat their ailments? Keep reading to find out!
Antioxidant
Antioxidants work in the body by scavenging free radicals and other compounds that cause cellular damage. There are many types of antioxidants out there but consuming them is the best way to introduce them into your body. The antioxidant content of honey is indicated by its color. The darker the honey the higher the antioxidant content!
Phenolic compounds are responsible for the antioxidant activity of honey, relieving your body of oxidative stress! These compounds are produced by plants to aid in their defense against pathogens and even UV radiation. You might have heard of a subset of these compounds, tannins and flavonoids, as they are known to create the flavor of some popular plant products like wine! Collected by the bees in pollen and nectar these compounds are concentrated in honey.
Antimicrobial: perfect in wound care
Due to the high sugar content, the low water activity, and low pH of honey it is a natural preservative even acting as an antimicrobial agent able to inhibit the growth of bacteria. For this reason it has been used for millennia in wound care to prevent infection. Just like the antioxidant content varies between different types of honey, so does the antimicrobial value.
Its antimicrobial action is partially due to its hydrogen peroxide value. We all know that hydrogen peroxide poured over an open wound is great to clean it!
Its consistency also helps prevent infection. Generally it is very thick in nature and this thickness can create a barrier against environmental microbes. When used in this way its hygroscopic nature also assists in wound healing! Hygroscopic substances draw moisture out of their surroundings. This action helps heal wounds because a moist environment helps create a hypoxic environment which prevents infection.
Even more amazing is honey’s ability to induce tissue repair! It triggers our bodies' leukocytes to release cytokines which are directly responsible for starting the tissue repair process. No wonder honey has been a go to for so long in treating wounds!
Anti-inflammatory
Inflammation is our bodies natural response to pathogens. However, sometimes our immune system goes into overdrive and inflammation can get out of hand. When that happens, looking for natural remedies can be beneficial, including honey! The phenolic compounds that are responsible for the antioxidant activity of honey are also anti-inflammatory. They suppress the enzymes in our bodies that create inflammation, in particular COX-2 and iNOS. This sounds complicated, but in general by preventing inflammation at the cellular level, honey is able to help your body regulate an overactive immune system.
Soothes Digestive Problems
Honey’s anti-inflammatory nature makes it a soothing remedy for an upset stomach too! An inflamed gastrointestinal tract can lead to many painful problems. Decreasing this inflammation can help soothe these issues. The antibacterial properties of honey can also help you keep your gut microbiome in check. Honey is known to suppress harmful gut bacteria like Salmonella, Escherichia coli, and Clostridiodes difficile.
As well it has been shown to be an excellent prebiotic to support healthy gut bacteria. Prebiotics typically contain non-digestible carbohydrates like the oligosaccharides found in honey. Even though us humans cannot break them down, our gut microflora have a field day with them! Including prebiotics in your diet help to support healthy gut bacteria like Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria.
Honey in Herbalism
Now that you know all about the benefits of honey, let's look at some easy ways to incorporate honey into your herbalism practice!
A sweet remedy
Honey by itself is a sweet remedy for a sore throat or an upset stomach. Just a spoonful is enough for some quick relief! Make sure not to give honey to children under one year of age, however, their microbiome is not able to handle it at that age.
Adding a spoonful to an herbal tea is my favorite way to take honey. That way I can benefit from the dual action of decocted herb and the added honey. There is nothing better than a warm cup of sweet tea on a cold winter morning!
Infused Honey
Another great way to use honey is in an infusion. Infused honey is fairly simple to make and can be as versatile as you want! To make a honey infusion simply add your herb or fruit of choice to a jar of honey and allow it to macerate for at least a month. My favorite plant to infuse into honey is rose petals. The subtle floral flavor is delicate and enchanting! Other great honey infusions include ginger, turmeric, elderberries, and oranges. When making infusions I prefer to use dried fruits and herbs as I find that fresh plant material adds too much water making a very watery infusion. As well, using dried plant material extends the shelf life of your infusion.
Oxymels
Oxymels are another one of my go to honey infusions. These have a base of vinegar with honey mixed in at a 50/50 ratio. Because you make them with vinegar infusions they are also extremely versatile. The addition of honey makes them a perfect tonic for kids! These are a great alternative to alcohol based tinctures for those sensitive to the taste.
If you liked this post stay tuned for an Ebook I am writing about Oxymels and Tinctures! It will include lots of information about using honey in tonic making and has some yummy recipes to try out too! Thank you so much for reading!