The issue of honey is to be looked into in this very publication. A systematic analysis of honey and its nutritional values will be reviewed for the benefits of those who have interest and those who do not know much about honey as food and medicine.
Honey is a substance produced by bees. It was seemingly mans first sweetening agent and has remained one of the sweetest food item since the dawn of civilization; that is why any sweet syrup given the name may be accepted by most people as real honey without realizing that such indiscriminate classification of honey can lead to many health problems. To day honey is gradually regaining its place as food and medicine. It is better to clearly define or describe it to avoid any doubts or misconception for people looking for honey especially for the cure of some ailment.
Reference in the old testament of the Bible indicates that honey had been included in the human diet 3000 years B.C. Man has, therefore been associated with honey for long enough to make honey well tolerated by the human body. It was the introduction of factory-produced sugar that has taken away the attention of the civilized world from honey. Prominent among the users of honey before the Christian era were the ancient Egyptians who used honey as one of the ingredients for preserving the bodies of their dead pharaohs for thousands of years. However modern science is yet to discover these techniques used by Egyptians to preserve their mummies years ago.
The Honey is made from nectar collected by bees from different flowers and it is a mixture of natural sugar. Almost 100% processed by the bees. The colour of honey depends on the species of the flowers from which it is collected and its age. The special flavor of honey comes from the amount of volatile aromatic substance derived from flowers. It has been defined by the United States Department of Agriculture as “The nectar and Saccharine exudation of plants, gathered modified and stored as honey in the comb by honey bees. It contains about twenty five percent of water, many hundreds of ash and not more than eight percent of sucrose. Any substance, which cannot be defined as presented, does not qualify as honey and cannot be guaranteed to provide the benefits of honey”.
Honey can be adulterated by adding sugar canes syrup; this most people do in the name of making more money. Sugar cane and other ingredients can be proceeded to give the colour and near texture of honey. To know the difference between pure honey and adulterated honey is not difficult. The aroma is not the same. The pure honey does not leave sediments when diluted in water unless it was not filtered, the adulterated honey leaves an oily layer on top of the water and the sides of the cup.
The antibiotic properties of Honey Bee are well known as you can see it in its wonderful way of preservation. Honey is 98 percent predigested by the bees and this makes it so easy for the body to absorb. It had been established that Honey is rich in Thiamin (Vitamin B1) ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) riboflavin, pantothenic acid, pyridoxine and niacin; it also contains protein, lipase, emulsion inverts, iron, aluminum, silicon and phosphorus. The uses to which one can put honey are many; it can be used as food to build up the body. No wonder it was recorded that John the Baptist in the wilderness lived and survived on it and locust. The Essenence of Palestine was among the first group of people to perfect the art of beekeeping and they make good use of honey as food and medicine, it was use as healing agents for burns, wounds and ulcers, unfortunately, the intensity of modern advertisement for the introduction of modern antibiotics and healing agent took the attention of way from the natural antibiotic of honey. Although many of the synthetic antibiotics are quite strong and effective if not cheater but they tend to produce negative side effect by destroying the body defense mechanism.
Interviews with most people have revealed an unbelievable high level of ignorance of the benefits of honey bee over factory refined sugar which to some people may appear more attractive in colour, cheaper in terms of price and to some, may have more pleasant taste. The popular choice of sugar in many case is the product of commercialization. Many people do not know that in the course of processing beet root or sugar cane nutrients like vitamins, minerals, enzymes and other substance of nutritional value are remove to make sugar more attractive, and tasty, what is left is sterile carbohydrate which produces nutritional imbalance in the body and constitute a health hazard when taken over a long period of time.
Such as immune disorders, cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol problem, blood disorders and hepatitis etc.
Barbara Cartland says in her book, “Honey helps to keep older men and their virility into the 80s, if only they took honey regularly”. She advise older women to give honey to their husband. She told of how honey was used to increase the academic ability of average and under average students. An experiment was carried our somewhere in England to prove that average students placed on honey would become more than average academically. The energy giving properties of honey is much and an average students placed on it will improve because it averts distractions due to tiredness. Receipt for brain tonic or stimulant will be given later in this issue.
It has been proved beyond doubt that while refined sugar tends to promote the multiplications of harmful germs, bacteria and other harmful organism in various parts of the body especially in diabetic persons, honey does not promote such multiplication; rather it kills these foreign disease agents without harm to the cells of the body. Research has been made on the effect of sugar on the heart. It has been established that white sugar causes oxygen deficiency in the heart and this may cause disease in the heart, honey on its own part nourishes the heart says the researchers. But the controversy among doctors on the effects of honey on the heart is yet to be resolved since some of them still think the sugar content of honey may promote the growth of some fat to clot the arteries. However the overwhelming beneficial effects of honey on whole body does not make the heart an exception. The cause of the controversy actually rests with the type of honey that has been taken into the body.
The removal of certain macro and micronutrients from cane or beet root sugar during processing tends to produce negative effects on the heart; it can produce oxygen deficiency, which may accumulate over a long period to cause a serious heart problem. One other harm that maybe done to the heart is the way it sensitizes and agitates the pancreas to the extent of making it produce the insulin hormones above or below the body requirements giving rise to low or high blood sugar. (Hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia). This tends to indirectly affect the heart. This is why some nutritionists feel that sugar does not qualify to be made a part of food, rather it should be seen as drug since it can save the lives of those suffering low blood sugar, but persons with normal Pancreatic action should go on honey and brown sugar as it promotes healthy living.
Dr. Tonifelix C. Manu
(PHYTOTHERAPIST)
