• Brief history of honey
• Honey an health
• Honey and cooking

HONEY AND HEALTH

• Honey is a concentrated natural source of energy that quickly feeds the human body with nutritional benefits that can help to prevent fatigue and also provides a welcome boost prior, during or after a bout of exercise. Our bodies derive energy from glucose (blood sugar - also known as 'dextrose'), which (along with fructose - aka 'levulose') honey has in abundance and is therefore swiftly absorbed. Consequently, honey is deemed to be a natural 'pick-me-up'.



• Honey is thus popular as part of a breakfast or as part of a snack/drink before a daily workout. Your overall intake of nutrients that benefit your body can be greatly enhanced with day-to-day consumption of honey. Drizzle some over fresh fruit, breakfast cereal or yoghurt or even stir a teaspoon of honey into a cup of hot water with the juice of half a lemon. Failing that, take a teaspoon full of honey straight from the jar!



• Honey is made up of many different vitamins (B6, thiamine, riboflavin, pantothenic acid); minerals (calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, zinc); several amino acids and certain composites that act as antioxidants - one of which is called pinocembrin, a compound that's uniqueness is reserved for honey alone. Antioxidants help to prevent cancer, heart disease and stroke.



• It is said that people who suffer from hay fever tend to eat honey in order to help their immune system build a defence against pollen. Although pollen is a constituent in most types of honey, it is usually removed from 'filtered' liquid honey.



• Honey consumption can benefit the digestive system, particularly when suffering from a gastric ailment such as Diarrhoea, because it destroys the bacteria that causes it. Honey hampers the growth of other harmful bacteria, which include Salmonella, Eschericia Coli ('E-Coli'), Shigella (causes 'Dysentery') and Vibrio Cholerae (causes 'Cholera'). Since honey attracts water it soaks up all the moisture around the infected area and literally dehydrates to death any bacteria that it encounters.



• The effective treatment of ulcers can also be aided with honey. Scientists have found that daily consumption of honey arrests the growth of Helicobacter Pylori (responsible for several kinds of ulcer) within three days. Scientists have also found that honey, as an antiseptic, is highly effective for treating minor burns and wounds because it prevents infection and accelerates the healing process.



• Honey is an essential ingredient for maintaining healthy skin and hair and is, in fact, one of the oldest natural cosmetics known to man. Cleopatra was said to have bathed in asses milk and honey to keep her skin looking youthful whilst modern cosmetic companies feature honey in products such as moisturisers and cleansing agents.



• A spoonful of honey can help to soothe a sore throat to make it feel a little better as it heals and it also complements remedies for coughs, colds and 'flu. Furthermore, honey has a high iron content and is therefore beneficial for people who are anaemic.



• Generally speaking, honey promotes good heath and wellbeing. However, there is one type of honey that has recently come to the fore and become firmly established as the leader in terms of using honey for its medicinal qualities Ð Active Manuka Honey. Native to New Zealand, the properties of active manuka honey aroused the interest of many medical researchers and several television programmes, all of which were clearly impressed by this wonder of nature.



• Active manuka honey is made from the pollen and nectar of the flowers that grow on the Manuka Bush of New Zealand. The Manuka Bush thrives uncultivated throughout New Zealand and is aided in its growth by the country's extremely low levels of pollution, which also happens to benefit the development of the honey.



• The difference between 'active' and ordinary manuka honey is in the identification of the special property known as UMF - the Unique Manuka Factor. To determine whether the manuka honey is 'active' tests are carried out in the laboratories of the Honey Research Unit, which is based at the University of Waikato in Hamilton, New Zealand. If indeed the manuka possesses UMF it is given a rating and labelled 'active'. The higher the UMF rating the greater its antibacterial potency. Ordinary manuka honey does not have a UMF rating and is thus only as effective as common honey.



• Active manuka honey has all the attributes associated with ordinary honey but its effectiveness is increased many times over. For example, it is used in the treatment of several skin conditions including eczema, psoriasis and acne. In addition, active manuka honey is used to treat a variety of bacterial and fungal infections.



• Most of the research into the medicinal properties of active manuka honey has been (and still is) conducted by Dr Peter Molan at the University of Waikato. Dr Molan has even developed a new gel-like dressing made entirely from active manuka honey for treating wounds and burns.