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| *Honey |
Health is wealth. It is wisdom for an individual understand the food he eats to maintain good and longer life. Natural honey is one the things one drinks to perform wonders in the body. In this piece culled from Medical News Today and compiled by TimothyJideofor you will see the need for taking honey regularly.
Pure honey is a sweet fluid substance produced by bees by the use of nectar from flowers through a process of regurgitation and evaporation. Naturally, pure honey does not go bad as the longer it stays the better it becomes. Original honey, the one produced by bees could be identified by putting a drop of it in a glass of water. When the pure honey is dropped inside a glass of water it goes down without leaving a trace of oil on top of the water. Again, if a stick of match is dipped into honey, if that match is struck it will light immediately. Any honey devoid of these qualities is not from bee.
Pure honey has some proven health benefits. According to Zaki Ighalo of Ultimate Knowledge Workshop, research has proved that honey heals sores and burns either fresh or old without leaving ugly scares on the body. Honey consumption has several benefits as recorded in the ancient times in Greek, Roman, Vedic documents by philosophers and scientists such as Aristotle and Aristoxenus.
Honey has high levels of monosaccharides, fructose and glucose, containing about 70 to 80 percent sugar, which gives it its sweet taste - minerals and water make up the rest of its composition.
Honey also possesses antiseptic and antibacterial properties. In modern science we have managed to find useful applications of honey in chronic wound management.
Honey has been consumed for thousands of
years for its supposed health benefits.
Over four thousand years ago, honey was used as a traditional ayurvedic medicine (traditional Indian medical treatment involving the use of herbs and eating certain food to condition one’s mind for relaxation), where it was thought to be effective at treating material imbalances in the body.
In pre-Ancient Egyptian times, honey was used topically to treat wounds. Egyptian medicinal compounds more than five millennia ago used honey.The ancient Greeks believed that consuming honey could help make one live longer. The beneficial properties of honey have been explored in modern times, and there is evidence to suggest that these historical claims may hold some truth.
Properties of honey
Honey is made up of glucose, fructose, and minerals such as iron, calcium, phosphate, sodium chlorine, potassium, magnesium.
Below is a typical Components of pure honey:
Fructose: 38.2%, Glucose: 31.3%, Maltose: 7.1%, Sucrose: 1.3%, Water: 17.2%, Higher sugars:1.5%, Ash: 0.2%, Other/undetermined: 3.2%
The slight acidic pH content of honey which is between 3.2 and 4.5 helps in preventing the growth of bacteria while its antioxidant constituents remove free radicals. It should be noted that the physical properties of pure honey varies depending on the specific flower in which the nectar is used as well as the water content.
Health benefits of honey
Scientific research is proving the veracity of historical claims of medicinal and health benefits of pure honey. In the Bible, King Solomon is quoted as saying, “My son, eat thou honey, for it is good. In British Medical Journal Professor Mahantayya explained that pure honey is 125.9 better than distilled water at 37 celsius. Honey is also helpful in the prevention of GORD, Gastroesophageal reflux disease (a condition in which the stomach content reflux into the oesophagus because of permanent or intermittent impairment of the usual mechanism preventing this).
The use of pure honey in the treatment of infantile gastroenteritis has been proved by scientific research. It is found that pure honey shortens the period of bacteria diarrhea in children. Honey too does not allow non-bacteria diarrhea to last longer. It is also used as a substitute for glucose in oral rehydration containing electrolytes.
Honey for treating allergies.
There have been cases in which people have reported positive effects of honey in the treatment of wounds and burns. Research works proving that honey may be useful in minimizing seasonal allergies. Honey has equally proved to be better than cough medicine at alleviating and reducing the frequency of cough. In placebo-controlled study which included 36 people with ocular allergies, it was found that participants responded better to treatment with honey compared to placebo. One of the participants complained that drinking a tablespoon of honey everyday was hard to bear due to its overly sweet taste.
Fighting infections
In 2010, scientists from the Academic Medical Center at the University of Amsterdam reported in their Journal that honey's ability to kill bacteria lies in a protein called defensin-1. 5
A study published in the journal Microbiology revealed that defensin-I may even prevent them from developing in the first place. Pure honey is effective at treating chronic wound infections
Dr. Rowena Jenkins and colleagues, from the University of Wales Institute, reported that pure honey kills bacteria by destroying key bacterial proteins.
Some studies have revealed that a certain type of honey, called "Manuka honey", may even be effective for the treatment of infections Dr Jenkins concluded:
"Manuka and other honeys have been known to have wound healing and anti-bacterial properties for some time. But the way in which they act is still not known. If we can discover exactly how manuka honey inhibits infections it could be used more frequently as a first-line treatment for infections with bacteria that are resistant to many currently available antibiotics".
Manuka honey may even help reverse bacterial resistance to antibiotics, according to research presented at the Society for General Microbiology's Spring Conference in Harrogate, UK.
A study published in the journal Pediatrics, which compared honey to placebo(a harmless substance often used in tests administered on patients in place of medicine without telling them it is not real) in helping children with cough during night time, found that honey was superior. The researchers concluded "Parents rated the honey products higher than the silan date extract for symptomatic relief of their children's nocturnal cough and sleep difficulty due to URI (upper respiratory infection). Honey may be a preferable treatment for cough and sleep difficulty associated with childhood URI."6
Natural honey is better at killing bacteria than artificial honey - Kendall Powell wrote in the journal Nature that "natural honey kills bacteria three times more effectively" than an artificial honey solution of the same thickness and sugar concentration. It has also been discovered that honey is capable of preventing radiation induced dermatitis in breast cancer,
Taking two tablespoon of honey on regular basis increases virility and fertility in both men and women. This could be achieved by taking the honey as the last thing before going to bed. People suffering from obesity can take two teaspoons of honey 10 minutes before meal to slim down.
Pregnant women are advised to drink pure honey to facilitate the healthy growth of the foetus. Honey when taken at night before going to bed helps dull children improve on their academic performance. Honey is capable of inducing sleep in people finding it difficult to sleep normally in the night.
Pure honey is a sweet fluid substance produced by bees by the use of nectar from flowers through a process of regurgitation and evaporation. Naturally, pure honey does not go bad as the longer it stays the better it becomes. Original honey, the one produced by bees could be identified by putting a drop of it in a glass of water. When the pure honey is dropped inside a glass of water it goes down without leaving a trace of oil on top of the water. Again, if a stick of match is dipped into honey, if that match is struck it will light immediately. Any honey devoid of these qualities is not from bee.
Pure honey has some proven health benefits. According to Zaki Ighalo of Ultimate Knowledge Workshop, research has proved that honey heals sores and burns either fresh or old without leaving ugly scares on the body. Honey consumption has several benefits as recorded in the ancient times in Greek, Roman, Vedic documents by philosophers and scientists such as Aristotle and Aristoxenus.
Honey has high levels of monosaccharides, fructose and glucose, containing about 70 to 80 percent sugar, which gives it its sweet taste - minerals and water make up the rest of its composition.
Honey also possesses antiseptic and antibacterial properties. In modern science we have managed to find useful applications of honey in chronic wound management.
Honey has been consumed for thousands of
years for its supposed health benefits.
Over four thousand years ago, honey was used as a traditional ayurvedic medicine (traditional Indian medical treatment involving the use of herbs and eating certain food to condition one’s mind for relaxation), where it was thought to be effective at treating material imbalances in the body.
In pre-Ancient Egyptian times, honey was used topically to treat wounds. Egyptian medicinal compounds more than five millennia ago used honey.The ancient Greeks believed that consuming honey could help make one live longer. The beneficial properties of honey have been explored in modern times, and there is evidence to suggest that these historical claims may hold some truth.
Properties of honey
Honey is made up of glucose, fructose, and minerals such as iron, calcium, phosphate, sodium chlorine, potassium, magnesium.
Below is a typical Components of pure honey:
Fructose: 38.2%, Glucose: 31.3%, Maltose: 7.1%, Sucrose: 1.3%, Water: 17.2%, Higher sugars:1.5%, Ash: 0.2%, Other/undetermined: 3.2%
The slight acidic pH content of honey which is between 3.2 and 4.5 helps in preventing the growth of bacteria while its antioxidant constituents remove free radicals. It should be noted that the physical properties of pure honey varies depending on the specific flower in which the nectar is used as well as the water content.
Health benefits of honey
Scientific research is proving the veracity of historical claims of medicinal and health benefits of pure honey. In the Bible, King Solomon is quoted as saying, “My son, eat thou honey, for it is good. In British Medical Journal Professor Mahantayya explained that pure honey is 125.9 better than distilled water at 37 celsius. Honey is also helpful in the prevention of GORD, Gastroesophageal reflux disease (a condition in which the stomach content reflux into the oesophagus because of permanent or intermittent impairment of the usual mechanism preventing this).
The use of pure honey in the treatment of infantile gastroenteritis has been proved by scientific research. It is found that pure honey shortens the period of bacteria diarrhea in children. Honey too does not allow non-bacteria diarrhea to last longer. It is also used as a substitute for glucose in oral rehydration containing electrolytes.
Honey for treating allergies.
There have been cases in which people have reported positive effects of honey in the treatment of wounds and burns. Research works proving that honey may be useful in minimizing seasonal allergies. Honey has equally proved to be better than cough medicine at alleviating and reducing the frequency of cough. In placebo-controlled study which included 36 people with ocular allergies, it was found that participants responded better to treatment with honey compared to placebo. One of the participants complained that drinking a tablespoon of honey everyday was hard to bear due to its overly sweet taste.
Fighting infections
In 2010, scientists from the Academic Medical Center at the University of Amsterdam reported in their Journal that honey's ability to kill bacteria lies in a protein called defensin-1. 5
A study published in the journal Microbiology revealed that defensin-I may even prevent them from developing in the first place. Pure honey is effective at treating chronic wound infections
Dr. Rowena Jenkins and colleagues, from the University of Wales Institute, reported that pure honey kills bacteria by destroying key bacterial proteins.
Some studies have revealed that a certain type of honey, called "Manuka honey", may even be effective for the treatment of infections Dr Jenkins concluded:
"Manuka and other honeys have been known to have wound healing and anti-bacterial properties for some time. But the way in which they act is still not known. If we can discover exactly how manuka honey inhibits infections it could be used more frequently as a first-line treatment for infections with bacteria that are resistant to many currently available antibiotics".
Manuka honey may even help reverse bacterial resistance to antibiotics, according to research presented at the Society for General Microbiology's Spring Conference in Harrogate, UK.
A study published in the journal Pediatrics, which compared honey to placebo(a harmless substance often used in tests administered on patients in place of medicine without telling them it is not real) in helping children with cough during night time, found that honey was superior. The researchers concluded "Parents rated the honey products higher than the silan date extract for symptomatic relief of their children's nocturnal cough and sleep difficulty due to URI (upper respiratory infection). Honey may be a preferable treatment for cough and sleep difficulty associated with childhood URI."6
Natural honey is better at killing bacteria than artificial honey - Kendall Powell wrote in the journal Nature that "natural honey kills bacteria three times more effectively" than an artificial honey solution of the same thickness and sugar concentration. It has also been discovered that honey is capable of preventing radiation induced dermatitis in breast cancer,
Taking two tablespoon of honey on regular basis increases virility and fertility in both men and women. This could be achieved by taking the honey as the last thing before going to bed. People suffering from obesity can take two teaspoons of honey 10 minutes before meal to slim down.
Pregnant women are advised to drink pure honey to facilitate the healthy growth of the foetus. Honey when taken at night before going to bed helps dull children improve on their academic performance. Honey is capable of inducing sleep in people finding it difficult to sleep normally in the night.
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