Honey is perhaps the healthiest sweetener we know. It is much healthier than sugar. You can use honey to sweeten almost any dish. The disadvantage of honey is that if it gets too hot, the sweet taste is lost and the nutrients are lost. For this reason, honey should never be warmer than 37 degrees. Honey is an excellent antibiotic. NB! This article is written from the personal view of the author and may contain information that is not scientifically substantiated and/or in line with the general view.

Contents:

• Medicinal effect is a mystery
• Raw honey
• Against colon cancer
• Against viruses, bacteria and fungi
• Respiratory tract infections
• Honey is better than sweeteners or sugar
• Honey usage tips

Medicinal effect is a mystery

Many medicinal properties of honey are still a mystery to scientists. Doctors and researchers can determine that it works, but they do not know how it works. Healthy bacteria are thought to be responsible for honey’s medicinal properties, specifically 6 different species of lactobacilli and 4 species of bifidobacteria.

Raw honey

Honey comes in two types, the transparent honey and the cream version. If you leave honey for a long time, it will crystallize and become cloudy. You can make this cloudy honey transparent again by adding a little transparent honey and placing it on a heater. After a few hours, the entire jar of honey will be liquid again. However, never make honey warmer than 37 degrees. All important phytonutrients lose their effectiveness when it is warmer than 37 degrees. So there is no point in putting honey in cake products, cookies or hot sauces. You should only eat honey ‘raw’ to benefit from the healthy substances it contains. You can therefore add honey to a cake without sugar, so that the cake is soaked in honey.Empty honeycomb / Source: fir0002, Wikimedia Commons (GFDL-1.2)

Against colon cancer

Honey contains some minerals and vitamins, but these nutrients never make up more than 2% of the Recommended Daily Allowance. That is very little. However, the health of a product cannot only be measured by the number of vitamins and minerals it contains. Honey contains even more phytonutrients . It contains many nutrients with complicated names such as caffeic acid methyl caffeine, phenylethyl caffeine and phenylethyl dimethyl caffeine. These substances prevent colon cancer by disabling some of the enzymes responsible for it.

Against viruses, bacteria and fungi

The main medicinal properties of honey are that they act as a natural antibiotic. Not only viruses but also bacteria and fungi can be combated with honey. This has been known for some time because in traditional medicine honey was rubbed on wounds to prevent infections. Honey is still used as a disinfectant, even in hospitals.Whole honeycomb / Source: George Shuklin, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA-1.0)One of the mysterious findings of scientists is that honey is good for memory. 

Respiratory tract infections

Internal infections of the trachea that lead to nighttime coughing, which in turn leads to insomnia, can be effectively combated with honey. In a scientific study, patients, especially children, were given either honey or a honey-tasting medicine that could not be visually distinguished. It turned out that people who took honey suffered much less from infections.

Honey is better than sweeteners or sugar

There is another reason why honey is better than sweeteners or sugar. Honey contains antioxidants that can also prevent well-known lifestyle diseases, especially type 2 diabetes. Diabetic patients have a good tolerance for honey, more so than for sucrose.

Honey usage tips

You only add honey to coffee or tea when it is at drinking temperature (37 degrees). Otherwise, much of the active ingredients will be lost. You can put honey on bread or on a cake that is not baked too sweet. It is delicious to mix honey and mustard with vinegar for a dressing over a green salad. Honey is also healthy to eat straight. It lubricates the throat and helps against hoarseness and laryngitis. Many singers use honey in its pure form to keep their vocal cords and throat in optimal condition. Some singers use the combination of honey and green tea.

read more

• The medicinal power of pumpkin
• The healing power of pineapple