honey health benefits

Honey is Good for Your Health. Here’s Why.

Beyond the sweet taste, honey does so much more.

Honey is a sweet, gooey, natural food substance with amazing medicinal properties. In this post, you’ll learn about the health benefits of honey.

Honey is a supersaturated mixture of monosaccharides and oligosaccharides. 

The varieties of honey depend on the sources it comes from. Its variation also depends upon the color and sweetness level of honey.

Nutritional value of honey

Honey contains sugars in many species. Mainly consist of three types of sugar.

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Fructose is greater in ratio than glucose and sucrose is in the least quantity. Honey also contains protein, minerals, acids, and other nutrients.

Even the nutrient and ratio of sugars to one another present in honey depends on the sources.

Minerals

Mineral in honey raises its value for the consumption of humans.

Honey contains a good amount of:

  • magnesium
  • potassium
  • manganese
  • copper
  • silicon
  • calcium
  • magnesium
  • phosphorus
  • sodium
  • sulfur and chlorine

Honey of a darker tone is rich in mineral than light color honey.

Protein

Honey protein is coming from flower pollen and nectar. It also contains vegetable protein. Protein in honey varies from simple to complex proteins.

Acids

The acid in honey is known as formic acid. It is present in the stomach or venom of bees. It inserts into honeycomb cells to conserve honey.

Vitamin and Essentials Oils

Vitamins and essential oils are present in honey. These essential oils give a specific aroma of honey and vitamin complex B and vitamin C are present in moderate quantity.

Health benefits of honey

1. Improves cardiovascular health

Honey is a great source of phytochemical because of its origin from plants.

Flavonoids present in honey provide its cardiovascular protective properties.

How? The presence of nitric oxide obstructs lipid peroxidation. This in turn hinders the action of cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase. 

Hence, it improves endothelial function and inhibits platelet aggregation.

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This in turn leaves beneficial effects on blood lipid profiles, insulin resistance, and blood pressure. 

Honey always give a therapeutic effect in vasodilation, thrombosis, plaque stability, and atherosclerosis.

2. Can help regulate insulin

Many experimental studies show that honey plays an important role in insulin regulation. The glycemic load of glucose and sucrose is higher than honey. 

It shows a lower hyperglycemic response than both the other sugars. It also helps in regulating insulin resistance. 

3. Has antiseptic and wound health properties

Honey also has properties such as antiseptic, antimicrobial, and antifungal properties. This makes honey a good treatment for wounds 

Honey can be effective in treating many skin disorders and wounds from chemotherapy or surgery.

4. Supports gastrointestinal health

One of the standout health benefits of honey is its impact on gastrointestinal health. Let me explain.

Honey contains monosaccharides as well as oligosaccharides which mainly act as prebiotic.

Oligofructose on which bifidobacteria live in GIT grow and help in maintaining GIT health. 

It also helps in treating ulcers and gastroenteritis. 

5. Is good for respiratory health 

Some medicines contain honey to help sedate the cough. But that’s not all.

Honey is also used in drugs to reduce inflammation or inflammatory cells improving the respiratory tract.

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 It also helps in treating asthma and cure or prevent the structural changes that occur due to asthmatic conditions. 

6. Stimulates tissue growth

Honey helps in the regrowth of tissue improves the impairment and helps in angiogenesis. 

It helps in the growth of collagen and epithelial cells that help to strengthen the tissues. It prevents scarring and other tissue damage.

7. Has anti-cancer properties

Honey is rich in anti-oxidants. This property of honey helps in lowering several malignant cells.

It increases the apoptotic phase to produce healthy cells. 

Many medicines use in cancer are apoptotic inducers that it is a vital property of honey also have an antitumor effect.

Takeaway

 Different studies show honey has different therapeutic properties. It also has antibacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-inflammatory characteristics

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Honey is resistant to micro bacterial activity also helps in the protection of heart diseases. 

It maintains blood lipid profiles and removes the risk of blood clotting or platelet aggregation in blood vessels.

Honey can help treat gastrointestinal disorders, ulcers, and diarrhea. 

Honey is also important during chemotherapies, maintains respiratory tract structure, and also helps in blood glucose regulation. It helps to maintain glycemic spikes in the blood.

When used for wound treatment, honey can help with the regrowth of tissues. This is one of the little-known health benefits of honey.

This is because it helps to protect against fungal and bacterial attacks and prevents colloid formation.