Honey and Your Health

A No-Hype Exploration of the Health Benefits of Honey

By Chris Delker

All Rights Reserved © 2012 Chris Delker

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Table of Contents

Chapter 1 - Honey Facts

Chapter 2 - About Raw Honey

Chapter 3 - Honey as an Antioxidant and Antibiotic

Chapter 4 - Manuka Honey

Chapter 5 - Honey as an Internal Medication

Chapter 6 - Honey as a Topical Medication

Chapter 7 - Honey and MRSA: Superfood vs. Superbug

Chapter 8 - Honey and Diabetes

Chapter 9 - No Scientific Proof, But Worth Considering

Chapter 10 - The News About Honey Isn't All Sweet

Chapter 11 - A Bit About Bees

Notes

Forward

I've been a beekeeper for many years. Way back when I started beekeeping in my mid-teens, I became acquainted with an old man who had been keeping bees most of his life. He taught me lots of interesting facts about honeybees, and some tricks-of-the-trade, you might say, for keeping bees.

He also had some interesting things to say about honey. Up to that point in my life, honey was just, well, honey. It was just something you spread on your toast at breakfast, or poured into your sopopilla at the Mexican food restaurant. Awfully good food, to be sure, but ultimately - just food. In fact, I sometimes even chose grape jelly over honey for my breakfast toast (gasp!).

But to hear that old man talk about honey - well, you'd think he'd kept honey in his medicine cabinet instead of in his kitchen cupboard! You could hardly mention a medical malady of any kind without him exclaiming how wonderfully beneficial honey was for that particular health problem.

Got a cut? Slather some honey on it before you slap on the bandage.

Got a burn? Dress it with honey.

Got a cough that just won't quit? Honey's the answer.

Got allergies? Well, if you'd just eat honey regularly, you wouldn't be plagued with them!

Course, I didn't really buy into all of that. I understood that way back when he was born at around the turn of the century (no, not the last turn of the century; the one before that!), modern medical treatment wasn't available to lots of people. People back then often treated themselves as best they could, using whatever potions and homespun medicines that generations of folklore and old wives' tales had handed down to them.

And much of his life had been lived before the time of the many wonder drugs and modern medical treatments that we take for granted today. So I figured that the old man's glorification of honey could be traced back to his roots of self-sufficiency and self-treatment.

But over the years, as I immersed myself in the hobby of beekeeping, often an article or an overheard comment about honey as a curative would stir dormant memories of the old man and his dogged faith in the medicinal value of honey.

Sometimes I'd read about some study that discovered or confirmed one of the benefits of honey - not just in a beekeeping magazine or book, but in a newspaper or general interest magazine as interest in honey became more widespread. And I gradually came to realize that honey truly is more than simply the breakfast table archenemy of grape jelly.

Is honey everything that my old friend, now long since passed, had claimed that it was? No, not quite. But it's rather fascinating to me that some of the health benefits that I remember him talking about are being 'rediscovered' by modern science. As it turns out, my old friend was way ahead of modern science in his recognition of the value of honey.

But science is catching up.

Controlled studies are confirming that many of the medicinal ways in which honey has been used for thousands of years are not only effective, but in some cases even challenge the efficiency and effectiveness of modern drugs and medical treatments.

Now, be aware - if you do an Internet search about the health benefits of honey, you'll find some truly outlandish claims. And in truth, honey isn’t quite the ‘miracle substance’ that some would have you believe it to be. But the many ways in which honey can truly be healing or helpful to the human body really are quite amazing.

My goal for this book is to examine some of those benefits of honey, and point out where science has verified what folklorists have long believed. On the other hand, there's no evidence whatsoever for some of the more outlandish claims (such as a mixture of honey and cinnamon will cure every illness known to man!), so we'll do a bit of myth busting in this book as well.

But through it all, let's not lose sight of the fact that honey is one of the most delectable foods on the planet. Whatever its curative powers, I feel quite safe in stating that you've never had more delightful medicine!

Chapter 1: Honey Facts

Everyone knows what honey is, right? Sure - it's that sweet stuff that honeybees make.

But what is it really? What is honey made of? How is honey made? What is its nutritional make-up? Is honey any healthier for you than sugar? Let's spend a bit of time answering these questions. And let's start with the most basic question…

Why do Bees Make Honey?

To you and I, honey may be adored as one of the most sumptuous of nature's delicacies, a treat to be savored. But from the perspective of the bees, honey is just basic fare; their meat and potatoes, you might say. That's because all of the nutritional needs of honeybees are derived from the honey they make, and from the plant pollen they gather.

During the growing season when plants are in bloom and the nectar flows freely, honeybees literally work themselves to death to gather as much nectar as possible. During the most bountiful of nectar flows, it's possible for a single honeybee colony to store over a hundred pounds of honey within just a few day's time. The bees work with such intense urgency because the survival of the colony depends upon storing up honey for the winter.

Once nature’s bounty comes to an end, and the nectar secretions dry up and winter sets in, the only source of food for the colony over the winter months is the honey and pollen that they’ve managed to store.

No matter how frigid the winter, a healthy honeybee colony can survive incredibly cold temperatures by converting the honey into body heat. So if the honey lasts until spring, the colony survives for another year. But if the honey runs out before winter releases its icy grip on the land, the colony will perish.

That's why honeybees work themselves to death during the summertime, storing up all of the honey that they can. They're genetically programmed to do so.

But sometimes, things go wrong. Perhaps a summertime drought turns normally abundant nectar sources into miserly disappointments. Perhaps an illness within a colony, or an invasion by the many parasitic enemies of honeybees, renders the colony weak, with a feeble workforce.

If for whatever reason, a colony heads into the winter with insufficient honey stores, that colony is doomed (unless a beekeeper intervenes and provides food for the colony). They won't survive the winter.

As a beekeeper, I don’t know if there’s a more heartbreaking sight than a colony that has died of starvation. When you pull out a comb from the dead hive, you’ll find most of the lifeless bee bodies entombed within the cells of the comb, head first, with the rear ends of the bees sticking out of the cell.

That’s because the starving bees died in one last desperate effort to find a trace of honey to lick off of the cell floor. Just one drop of honey found would mean another day or two of life.

How Bees Make Honey

Honey is essentially the condensed nectar of flower blossoms. Nectar is a sugary liquid secreted by blossoms to attract pollinating insects such as honeybees.

Though the flower ‘gives’ a visiting honeybee the nectar, it 'gets' something in return. Because in the process of collecting the nectar, the bee (both intentionally and unintentionally) collects some of the flower’s pollen, and deposits it at the next flower the bee visits.

So in exchange for the life-sustaining nectar, the honeybee performs a life-sustaining service for the flower: It distributes the flower’s pollen, enabling the production of seeds and the perpetuation of the species.

When the honeybee returns to her hive with a load of nectar, the nectar is processed into honey. The process by which bees transform nectar into honey is interesting, but for some it's a bit of a turn-off.

So here's a spoiler alert: If you're afraid that your enjoyment of honey might be tainted a bit by knowing exactly how it's produced, you might want to just skip this section. But if you think you can handle the truth, read on. (I'm being a bit dramatic here; it's not really all that bad!)

Still with me?

OK, here it is: Honey is the regurgitated nectar of flowers, carried from the flower to the hive in the bee’s honey stomach, where it is mixed with some enzymes from the bee’s saliva.

When the foraging bee returns to the hive with her load of nectar, she transfers it to a young worker bee (called a house bee) that begins the process of “ripening” the nectar. The nectar is ripened by reducing the moisture content of the watery nectar, transforming it into the thick, syrupy consistency of honey.

The ripening process is begun when the house bee repeatedly ingests and regurgitates the nectar, exposing it to the drying air, and then finally depositing it in a honeycomb cell where it will continue to ripen until the cell is sealed with a wax capping.

So that’s it. The bees eat the nectar, mix it with their spit, throw it up, and then do it over again and again to produce a drop of honey. That's how bees make honey. Not really all that bad, is it?

Busy Bees!

The next time you spread a little honey on your toast, or stir some into your tea, think about this: one single pound of honey requires 2 million visits to flowers, representing a cumulative flight distance of more than 55 million miles.

Just one single teaspoon of honey represents the entire life’s work of 12 honeybees!

So when you eat honey, if you’d rather not think about the other details of honey making that you’ve just learned, think instead about how hard the bees worked to make that honey for you.

Or Think of it This Way…

If we compare honey to some of the other foods we eat regularly, the description of how honey is made might not seem quite so unsavory.

For example, most of us eat the muscles of animals (meat) without blinking an eye. How many of us get squeamish about frying up some unborn chicken embryos (eggs), or guzzling some bovine mammary gland secretion (milk)? And ALL of us know better than to even ask about how things like hot dogs, bologna and sausage are made!

Perhaps eating some honeybee throw-up doesn’t sound so bad after all.

Besides, honey goes really well with pulverized wheat embryos (flour) mixed with curdled sour milk (buttermilk) and the congealed, rendered fatty tissue from animal carcasses (lard), which are the primary ingredients of…buttermilk biscuits, of course!

Honey Nutritional Facts

Honey and nutrition are two words that might not often be though of together. After all, honey is a sweet, and sweets have the reputation of being high in calories and low in nutrition. But in truth, honey is far from a nutritionally void sweet.

To be sure, the major ingredients of honey are water and sugar. The primary sugars are fructose and glucose, but honey also contains a bit of galactose, maltose, and sucrose.

But honey also contains lots of vitamins and minerals.

I’m going to reel off a long list of many of the vitamins and minerals contained in honey. But if your eyes begin to glaze over in the process of reading this list, just skip it and replace it with this: honey contains lots of good stuff!

Vitamins in honey: B-6, C, Riboflavin, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid, Choline, Betaine, Pyridoxin.

Minerals in honey: Calcium, Iron, Phosphorus, Potassium, Sodium, Zinc, Copper, Manganese, Magnesium, Sulfur, Fluoride, Selenium.

Honey also contains lots of amino acids, including: Tryptophan, Threonine, Isoluecine, Lysine, Phenylalanine, Tyrosine, Valine, Arginine, Aspartic Acid, Glutamic Acid, Glycine, Proline, Serine.

Now these vitamins, minerals and amino acids are all present in relatively small quantities, of course. You’re not going to get the daily recommended requirement of any nutrient by eating a teaspoon of honey.

But it’s nice to know that you’re getting more than just sugar when you slather that honey on your biscuit or dribble it into your tea, wouldn’t you agree?

Honey vs. Sugar: Which is Better For You?

Many people these days are trying to reduce their sugar intake and are looking for a sugar alternative.

And since most people consider sugar to be - if not unhealthy - then at least not particularly good for you, that naturally leads to the question of ‘is honey good for you?’

So let’s examine several head-to-head comparisons of honey versus sugar. Let’s consider nutrients, calories, and the effect that both sugar and honey have upon the body and see if we can come up with a clear winner.

As you can probably guess, I’m a bit biased. But I’ll try to present the evidence analytically and objectively. I promise!

Nutrients:

There’s not much room for debate here. Honey is the clear winner. In fact, it’s not even close. Although honey is used (and thought of) primarily as a sweetener, it’s actually a fairly nutrient-dense food.

As you saw just above, there’s quite an impressive list of nutrients present in a teaspoon of honey. Things like vitamins, minerals and amino acids that make honey much more than ‘just’ a sweetener.

But what about the nutrients in sugar?

Here’s what you’ll get in a teaspoon of sugar (according to the USDA National Nutritional Database): sucrose (which is sugar) and .001 milligrams of riboflavin.

That’s it.

Umm, Yeah - not much of a contest nutritionally.

Score so far in the honey vs. sugar grudge match: Honey 1 – Sugar 0.

Calories:

At first glance, it might appear that sugar holds the edge in this category. Sugar contains 16 calories per teaspoon, and honey contains 22 calories per teaspoon.

But that’s not an accurate comparison, since honey is actually sweeter than sugar. Measure for measure, honey offers considerably more ‘sweetening power’ than sugar.

In fact, when substituting honey for sugar in a recipe (and there are many great reasons to cook or bake with honey), the general recommendation is to use honey at a rate of one-half to two-thirds of the amount of sugar it’s replacing.

So let’s do the arithmetic…

Let’s use the high end of the recommendation, and say that two-thirds of a teaspoon of honey contains the equivalent sweetening power of 1 teaspoon of sugar. That means that in real terms, the amount of calories you’ll consume with honey is .66 * 22 = 14.5 calories (slightly rounded). That compares to 16 calories for the full teaspoon of sugar.

So if you’re sweetening your recipes (or your coffee, or tea, or whatever) with honey, you’ll satisfy your sweet tooth with fewer calories than you would with sugar.

Hmm, seems we might have a bit of a rout developing in this contest!

Current score: Honey 2 – Sugar 0.

The Effect Upon the Body:

Have you heard of the Glycemic Index?

It’s just a way of measuring the impact that carbohydrate-rich foods have upon the body. The faster a food is absorbed into your bloodstream, the greater the fluctuation of your blood sugar level.

In general it’s considered that gradual rises in your blood sugar level are better for your health than rapid spikes.

The way the Glycemic Index works is that it’s a scale from 0 to 100. The higher on the scale a food ranks, the greater the fluctuation it causes in your blood sugar level. So all else being equal, lower on the scale is healthier.

You’re already ahead of me, aren’t you?

That’s right, sugar ranks higher on the Glycemic Index than honey, indicating that it’s less healthy (in this respect, at least) than honey. The difference is due to the molecular structure of the different types of sugars.

Game, set, match – honey!

But is Honey Actually Good for You?

Though honey is ‘better’ than table sugar in several important categories, it’s important to remember that it is primarily a sugar, and it’s a very calorically dense food.

Honey does offer some very real health benefits, as we'll discuss in detail in upcoming chapters. But if you’re a diabetic, or if you're trying to lose weight – or trying to at least not gain it – you’ll want to be careful about the amount of honey you eat.

As with most things, moderation is important.

And though I’ve had a bit of fun with this honey vs. sugar 'contest,' certainly the differences between honey and sugar aren’t really so dramatic that you should instantly stop using sugar and only use honey instead.

But it's worth thinking about. After all, honey did win the contest!

Chapter 2: About Raw Honey

If you haven’t heard of raw honey, the term might seem a bit strange to you. When we refer to something as being raw, we’re usually thinking of a food that is normally cooked before it’s eaten, such as meat or eggs.

But when we eat foods such as raw apples or bananas, for example, we don’t usually think of them as being raw, because it’s common to eat them uncooked.

If you tell someone you just ate an apple, they will assume it was raw. Likewise, if you tell someone you just ate a hamburger patty, they will assume it was cooked (and would probably be considerably repulsed to learn otherwise!).

The difference between raw and cooked hamburger is very obvious, of course. And even a raw apple differs greatly from a cooked apple.

With honey, though, the distinction between raw and cooked is considerably less clear, and that’s why the term ‘raw honey’ is a bit misleading, and perhaps confusing to some.

Just as milk can be heated (pasteurized) before being bottled without greatly altering its taste and consistency, so can honey. In fact, honey that has not been heated is sometimes called ‘unpasteurized honey.’

Raw honey is simply honey that has not been heated and filtered (though it may have been strained to remove debris before bottling).

But Why is Honey Processed?

With the exception of comb honey - which you consume in its natural form, just as the bees made it - any honey you purchase will have been processed to some degree. Just simply extracting honey from the honeycomb is a form of processing. But for the most part, honey that you might purchase in a supermarket – especially honey produced by a large supplier – will have been highly processed.

Why? For two reasons: to improve the shelf life of the honey, and to improve its appearance. Most large-scale honey producers heat and pressure-filter their honey for exactly those reasons.

The purpose of heating the honey is to melt any tiny crystals of granulation that may be present in the honey, and to destroy any yeast spores. Granulated crystals act as catalysts in causing the entire jar of honey to granulate (sometimes called ‘going to sugar’), and removing them ensures that the honey will remain in a liquid state. Destroying yeast spores prevents the possibility of fermentation.

The pressure filtering removes all sediment from the honey, including tiny bits of wax and pollen grains.

The result is a very attractive product with a very long shelf life. Once this processed, or 'pasteurized' honey has left the packing plant, it will usually remain in liquid form for a very long time. Understandably, stores don't want a product that is marketed as liquid honey to turn solid on their shelves. Few consumers will buy it once it has begun to solidify.

Many of the Raw Honey Health Benefits May be Lost

There is a price to be paid for converting raw honey into the pretty, sparkling, processed honey sold by most supermarkets. Many of the health benefits of honey discussed in this book may be diminished, or lost altogether. That's a high price to pay for just 'prettifying' a product.

Though processed honey may taste much as it did in its raw, natural state, it’s a substantially different product. The processing procedure unquestionably alters the natural flavor of the honey, even if only by little. Whether the taste of raw honey is better than processed honey is a matter of personal opinion, but most who are accustomed to eating honey in its natural state seem to prefer it that way.

Perhaps more important than alterations to the flavor, though, are some of the health benefits that may be lost when honey is heated and filtered.

Honey is a highly nutritious food, containing many minerals, enzymes, and antioxidants. But the process of heating honey destroys some of these valuable nutrients.

And though there is some disagreement among experts about how much of these nutrients are destroyed, there’s no doubt that at least some damage is done to honey’s nutritional and healing properties during the process of heating it.

And the filtering process removes most of the pollen grains suspended in raw honey. This eliminates any value the honey may have had in helping to reduce allergy symptoms (discussed in chapter 9), and also removes the nutritional and healthful benefits of the bee pollen itself.

Is Raw Honey Safe?

One question often asked by consumers is whether raw honey is safe to eat. Most consumers know that drinking unpasteurized milk could be risky. And there are many health hazards associated with raw or undercooked meat.

So it's perfectly logical that some would wonder whether raw honey is safe. Remember, though, that the purpose of processing honey is to increase shelf life and improve appearance. It has nothing to do with making the honey safe for human consumption.

And in fact it's perfectly safe to eat raw honey – with one possible exception: Though rare, there have been cases of people having an allergic reaction when eating raw honey containing pollen spores to which they were sensitive. (You can read more about that very slight risk in chapter 9.)

And if you purchase some raw honey and it begins to solidify because it wasn't heated and filtered?

First, understand that virtually any type of raw honey will eventually begin to crystallize. Even processed honey will eventually solidify - it just takes much longer than unprocessed honey.

When this happens to your honey, the honey can be re-liquefied simply by placing the jar in a pan of hot (not scalding) water until the crystals have melted and the honey has liquefied.

Or alternatively, use the yummy stuff up before it has a chance to 'go to sugar!'

NOTE: It’s important that honey not be given to infants under 1 year of age due to concerns about infant botulism. This applies to ALL honey, whether raw or highly processed (see Chapter 10).

What You Should Know about Buying Raw Honey

Let’s clear up a couple of misconceptions that people sometimes have about raw honey. One such misconception is that if the honey is runny, you can be sure that it’s not raw. But that is simply not true.

Since raw honey will solidify faster than processed honey, when you buy raw honey it's not unusual for it to have begun to crystallize. But the fact that the honey is solid (usually with a consistency somewhat like soft butter) does not ensure that it’s raw. And raw honey most certainly CAN be runny.

If you slice into a piece of beautiful comb honey, usually you'll find runny honey, not solid honey. And comb honey is as natural and raw as honey gets.

Conversely, buying honey that has solidified does not ensure that you're getting raw honey. In fact, if you buy creamed honey or whipped honey from the grocery store, it has almost certainly been processed, and probably is not raw honey.

It’s true that heating honey retards the crystallization process, and that’s a primary reason that large-scale honey producers heat (or pasteurize) their honey. But the rate at which honey solidifies is not determined only by whether the honey has been heated. It's also influenced by the floral source of the honey. Some sources of honey will solidify very quickly, while others take longer.

In the area where I’ve been beekeeping for years, the primary sources of spring honey granulate (solidify) very slowly.

I’ve had jars of honey sit on the cupboard shelf for years without granulating. And that’s honey that was completely raw. I had extracted it from the comb, and strained it through cheesecloth. No heating at all, and no other form of processing.

So when you're shopping for raw honey, you really can’t assume that solidified honey is raw, and that runny honey isn’t.

Is Your Honey Chunky? It Doesn’t Have to Be!

Another misconception about honey is that it's not raw unless it contains chunks of honeycomb. Some very popular brands of raw honey are packed with very minimal processing - even without straining to remove debris. Chunks of beeswax, bits of pollen and propolis, and maybe even the occasional bee part are left in the honey.

All well and good if you like those things. And there’s certainly no harm in consuming the ‘chunky’ parts. The bits of pollen and propolis even add some nutrition. (Though I’ll pass on the bee parts, thank you. But that’s just me.)

But honey can be strained to remove all of those solids without harming the honey. It’s still raw. It’s pressure filtering – not straining – that disqualifies honey from being considered raw. Simple straining removes debris from the honey without removing the goodies such as pollen grains.

So if you like your honey chunky, that's fine. But be aware that you can certainly enjoy the benefits of raw honey without having to pick out the occasional bee leg from between your teeth.

Then How CAN You Tell If Honey is Raw?

If you can’t tell by the chunks, and you can’t tell by the consistency, then how can you tell whether honey is raw? How can you tell whether honey that is labeled raw, actually is raw?

Unfortunately, you can’t.

I know - that's not a very satisfying answer. But it’s the truth. You can’t accurately judge that honey is raw simply by its appearance.

And you really can’t tell just from the taste, either. Now if you had a batch of honey, pasteurized some of it and left some of it raw, and then did a taste comparison of the two, you’d be able to tell the difference.

But just to take a random jar of honey, sample it, and be able to declare from taste alone that it’s raw, or not – nope. Some may claim they can do that, but I’m highly skeptical (maybe we need to have a beekeeper’s version of the Pepsi challenge!).

The truth is that whether you’re buying raw honey from a local beekeeper or from a large company that ships honey internationally, you have to trust the labeling. Or perhaps a better way to put that: you have to decide if you trust the labeling.

But is that so different from the multitudes of other products we buy?

Pick up a jar of peanut butter at the grocery store that’s labeled as completely natural. How do you know?

Pick up a jar of natural maple syrup at the store that’s labeled as containing no high fructose corn syrup. How do you know?

Pick up a container of fruit juice that's labeled as 100% fresh, with no juice from concentrate. How do you know?

Unless you're personally acquainted with the beekeeper that produced your honey (and even then there’s still some trust required) or become a beekeeper yourself and harvest your own honey (which I highly recommend!), you have to decide whether to trust the labeling.

And we face much the same dilemma with most of the products we consume.

Chapter 3: Honey as an Antibiotic and Antioxidant

Among the many natural antibiotics that nature provides, honey may soon be considered to be one of the very most important. The natural antibiotic properties of honey have been known for thousands of years. But in recent decades, mainstream medicine has virtually ignored the use of honey as a natural antibacterial agent.

But that attitude is changing, and it’s changing fast.

It’s Nothing New

There are records indicating that honey was used as an antibiotic by the ancient Egyptians as far back as 4000 years ago. They didn’t know, of course, about bacteria. But they did know that honey helped to heal.

During the American Civil War, wounds were commonly treated with a mixture of cayenne pepper and honey. The pepper helped to staunch the bleeding, and the honey helped to prevent infection.

Honey continued to be widely valued for its natural antibacterial properties until World War II. But with the discovery and widespread use of modern antibacterial drugs, the use of honey for healing became largely relegated to folk medicine and alternative healing methods.

What’s Old is New Again

After thousands of years of being esteemed for its healing properties, and a few decades of being virtually ignored by medical science, honey is on the rebound as a valued healing agent.

The reason? Antibiotic resistant bacteria.

You’ve likely heard of the problem. After decades of use and overuse, the antibacterial drugs we’ve relied upon for most of the last century are becoming considerably less reliable as bacteria have evolved resistance to these drugs. In recent years, more and more of the pathogens that are responsible for some of the nastiest illnesses are becoming resistant to antibacterial drugs.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, virtually every known bacteria type has developed at least some degree of resistance to antibiotic drugs. In fact, the CDC considers the problem of antibiotic-resistant bacteria to be one of the world’s most critical health concerns.

Isn’t it somewhat ironic, then, that honey – so long ignored, discounted and disregarded by mainstream medicine – now offers hope in fighting one of the most critical of human health concerns?

How it Works

Honey, a sweet treat for you and me, is a deadly potion for bacteria. And it’s primarily because of two specific properties of honey that a nasty little bacterium doesn’t stand a chance against it.

Due to its high sugar and low moisture content, honey has a hyperosmotic effect upon bacteria, killing them through desiccation. In other words, honey tends to suck the moisture right out of the nasty little bugs.

But it has also been found that honey produces small quantities of hydrogen peroxide. Though hydrogen peroxide has long been known to be a very effective antibacterial agent, its effectiveness diminishes upon exposure to air or light.

Honey, though, produces hydrogen peroxide in a slow-release manner, and under the right conditions, will continually generate very small quantities of hydrogen peroxide. And the continuous presence of hydrogen peroxide is deadly to bacteria.

Scientists aren’t completely certain that they understand all of the ways in which honey exerts its antibiotic effect – there’s still some mystery there.

But the continuous presence of hydrogen peroxide, along with the osmotic effect of honey, are thought to be the primary reasons that honey is one of nature’s most valuable natural antibiotics.

The Proof…

How effective is honey as an antibacterial? A number of recent studies have shown honey to be a very effective antibacterial agent. In some cases, honey has been shown to be even more effective as an antibacterial agent than many of the drugs it was tested against.

       In a study conducted at the University of Sydney, honey was the most effective antibiotic tested. It killed ALL of the bugs that it was tested against, one of which is resistant to 13 different antibiotic drugs! 1

       This study tested the effectiveness of Manuka honey (see chapter 4) against a strain of Streptococcus (Streptococcus pyogenes) that is responsible for causing a significant number of human diseases. The honey was found to be effective as an antibiotic by interfering with the binding of the Streptococcus to human tissue. 2

       Manuka honey was tested specifically against a particularly pesky bacterium known as Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The study found that Manuka honey was an effective inhibitor of P. aeruginosa. 3

       A frequent hindrance to the rapid healing of wounds is the presence of multiple species of bacteria. The bacteria are somewhat protected from antibacterial treatments and the patient's immune response by a biofilm. The two types of honeys tested were found effective against all strains of bacteria present in this study, with biocidal substances in the honey penetrating the biofilm. 4

       This quirky little study tested honey against bacteria that can affect stored milk. It found that "samples of commercial milk stored at 40C in presence of honey were shown to inhibit opportunistic bacterial growth better compared to samples stored without honey." 5

       In this study, the antimycobacterial effect of honey was studied. The Mycobacterium genus includes such nasties as tuberculosis and leprosy. The study found that the presence of a concentration of at least 10% honey prevented the growth of Mycobacteria. 6

Other studies have yielded similar results, and many additional studies are in progress. And though it’s not yet known to what degree honey will contribute in the age-old fight against bacteria, it does appear certain that it will be a part of the modern antibacterial arsenal.

As one of her most effective natural antibiotics, honey is a healing gift that has been offered by Mother Nature for thousands of years. Modern medicine has been a bit slow to accept her generous gift. But that appears to be changing.

Honey is an Antioxidant-Rich Food

You hear it about blueberries. You hear it about apples. You hear it about red grapes, sweet potatoes, strawberries, and a host of other healthy foods. You hear that you should eat them because they offer loads of nutrients called antioxidants. But the same is true of honey.

Now in truth, honey isn't among the group of foods that are considered antioxidant blockbusters, like blueberries. But honey can certainly help to boost your overall intake of antioxidants, especially if you use it in place of antioxidant-void foods like refined sugar.

Those Pesky Free Radicals

Just why are antioxidant-rich foods important to your health?

Well, it has to do with those pesky things called free radicals. You’ve probably heard of them. They are unstable molecules that rampage throughout your body, causing all kinds of damage. They inflict damage to the body at the cellular level, and have been shown to contribute to aging and many diseases and illnesses, including heart disease and cancer.

We can’t avoid playing host to these bad guys, but we can help to minimize the damage they cause by also playing host to antioxidants. Because when a free radical molecule encounters an antioxidant molecule, it’s no longer free or radical. It’s neutralized. So one of the best things we can do for our health is to consume foods containing lots of antioxidants.

This involves eating lots of fruits and vegetables. And as we now know, honey too.

In 2009, a study was performed to test a hypothesis: that replacing refined sugars in your diet - sugars such as white table sugar and corn syrup - with less refined sweeteners could increase your antioxidant intake on a daily basis. The study found that replacing the refined sugars with alternatives such as honey, molasses, maple syrup, and others could up your antioxidant intake by the equivalent of consuming a serving of nuts or berries.

(Turned out, though, that honey wasn't the richest in antioxidants of the group of refined sugar alternatives that were tested. That honor, in case you’re interested, went to blackstrap molasses. Honey was in the second-tier group along with maple syrup.) 7

Antioxidants in Honey May Help Protect Your Heart's Health

In 2003, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign conducted a study that proved that honey has a “mild protective effect” upon heart health.

The study showed that just four tablespoons a day of honey helped to significantly decrease the level of LDL cholesterol in the blood, reducing the risk of heart attack and stroke. So by simply substituting honey for refined sugar as a sweetener in your tea or coffee, you can significantly improve your level of antioxidant protection.

The researchers in this study focused upon a class of antioxidants known as phenolic compounds. Honey is particularly rich with these types of antioxidants, which have shown promise in the treatment and prevention of heart disease. 8

And interestingly, researchers at the University of Illinois-Champaign/Urbana found that darker honeys are a better antioxidant source than lighter honeys. Of the different honey varieties they tested, buckwheat, a very dark honey, offered the highest level of antioxidants. 9

A Sweet Deal…

There have been other studies confirming that honey is an antioxidant rich food. Honey is also a calorically dense food, so you’re not going to be able to get a huge percentage of your antioxidant needs through consuming honey.

But as the studies have shown, simply substituting honey for sugar will allow you to increase your intake of antioxidants without increasing caloric intake. As we've seen, honey offers other nutritional advantages over sugar as well. And don’t forget the rich variety of flavors honey offers.

All things considered, a pretty sweet deal!

Chapter 4: Manuka Honey

Have you heard of Manuka honey? If this is the first you’re reading about it, that’s not really surprising; it isn’t really all that well known just yet. But that’s changing pretty quickly, because Manuka is a very special honey.

There are many different varieties of honey, and each is unique in its own way. Some are light colored, some are dark colored; some have a light, mild taste; others have a strong, dominating flavor.

But while all honeys offer some health benefits, the special properties of Manuka set it apart from all others.

What’s So Special About Manuka?

Manuka nectar is gathered from the blooms of the Manuka plant. Indigenous to New Zealand, the Manuka plant is also referred to as the Tea Tree (Leptospermum scoparium - and there's a closely related plant that produces a honey called jelly bush honey produced in Australia from the Leptospermum polygalifolium). The honey of the Manuka is dark and distinctly flavored.

For many centuries, the indigenous people of New Zealand, the Māori, have used parts of the Manuka plant as a source of natural medicines. And New Zealanders have known about the special properties of Manuka honey for many years.

So how is Manuka different from other varieties of honey?

All varieties of honey offer health benefits such as high levels of antioxidants and natural antibiotic properties. But it’s been discovered that honey from the Manuka plant has a special ingredient that other honey varieties possess only in much smaller quantities. This ingredient, called methylglyoxal, is why the honey produced from the Leptospermum species of plants offers particularly strong antibiotic benefits. 1

Manuka honey research has revealed that the antibiotic properties of Manuka are far stronger than any other type of honey. In fact, Manuka has been found to be MORE effective as an antibacterial healing agent than many of the frontline antibiotics in use today.

Perhaps even more importantly, to date, no species of bacteria has developed a resistance to Manuka. And because of the manner in which honey kills bacteria, scientists generally believe that bacteria are unlikely ever to evolve a resistance to the antibacterial properties of honey – particularly Manuka.

With antibiotic resistance now considered by many to be the most serious health issue on earth, many scientists now feel that honey - and Manuka in particular - will soon become a frontline weapon in the never-ending fight against bacterial disease.

What You Should Know When Shopping for Manuka Honey…

If you're intrigued about the potential health benefits of Manuka honey and want to try some for yourself, you won't have any trouble finding a retail source. Though only produced in New Zealand and Australia, Manuka honey is available through many online and offline retail outlets, including Amazon.com.

But unfortunately, buying some isn't as simple as buying just any honey labeled as Manuka. That's because honeys produced from the Leptospermum species can vary considerably in the antibacterial potency they offer. In fact, some honeys produced from the Manuka plant may offer little more antibacterial potency than most other varieties of honey (which is not insubstantial).

It's a bit of a confusing issue, but to be absolutely sure of what you're getting, you'll need to be aware of a special rating applied to Manuka honey known as the Unique Manuka Factor (UMF®). The UMF® labeling indicates the intensity of the special (not derived from hydrogen peroxide) antibacterial activity offered only by Manuka honey.

The UMF® is a registered trademark supported and enforced by the Unique Manuka Factor Honey Association. Honey producers that wish to use the UMF® trademark must be registered licensees of the Association. And each batch of honey must be laboratory tested to determine its UMF® factor before labeling. So when you buy a bottle of Manuka honey with the UMF® labeling, you can be sure that it has been tested and labeled according to strict international standards.

What the UMF® Label Tells You

Each UMF® labeled jar of Manuka honey will contain a number, usually followed by a plus sign (e.g. 10+). This tells you that lab testing for this honey has shown the UMF® factor to be at a minimum level of 5. The higher the UMF® factor number, the greater the level of antibacterial potency offered by the honey.

A UMF® of less than 5 indicates that the honey does not offer a level of antibacterial potency that is substantially superior to other honey varieties. UMF® levels of 5 or greater indicate that the honey offers a substantial level of antibacterial potency, while UMF® levels in excess of 15 are considered to offer superior levels of antibacterial potency.

The UMF® trademark also assures that the honey has been lab tested for purity, and that no other materials have been added such as sugar, corn syrup or chemicals. And the trademark guarantees that the antibacterial potency of the honey has not been damaged by heating, as tested by measuring the levels of HMF (Hydroxymethylfurfural: a chemical by-product created when honey is heated).

Chapter 5: Honey as an Internal Medication

Did you ever see the old 1960's movie, Mary Poppins? Remember the song from the movie: "A Spoonful of Sugar"? According to the song, "Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down - in a most delightful way."

No doubt, many of the medications we take can use some sweetening to make them palatable. But what if the medicine itself was even sweeter and tastier than sugar? That medicine would truly go down in a most delightful way! For many medical maladies, honey can be that medicine.

Now, honey isn't going to allow you to sweep clean all of the medications from your medicine cabinet. It won't allow you to say a permanent goodbye to your doctor. But for a number of (mostly) minor ailments, taking a bit of honey for what ails you can be a bit of a help. And for some ailments, honey can be a big help.

Isn't that sweet?

Honey as a Cough Remedy

In 2007, Pennsylvania State University completed a double-blind study that proved the effectiveness of honey as a natural cough suppressant.

The study was published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. 1 It reported that children who were given a small dose of buckwheat honey coughed less frequently, less severely, and also slept better than children who received either a common over-the-counter cough medication (dextromethorphan) or nothing at all.

The lead author of the study, Dr. Ian Paul, stated that this was “the first time honey has been actually proven as a treatment.” The researchers believe that the antioxidants in the honey are probably a factor in its effectiveness, along with the soothing, coating effect of the honey.

Using honey as a natural cough remedy avoids concerns over the potential side effects of over-the-counter medications. These include restlessness, dizziness, vomiting, and stomach pain. And these side effects aren’t limited to children; they’re also common in adults who take the medications. In fact, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration now recommends that over-the-counter cough medications not be given to very young children at all. 2

It should be noted, though, that honey also shouldn’t be given to infants under 1 year of age due to concerns about infant botulism (see chapter 10).

Honey and Athletic Nutrition

Honey has been an important component of athletic nutrition for thousands of years. As early as 400 B.C., Greek athletes are known to have used honey both for energy during competition, and as an aid in recovering from competition.

It’s no secret that carbohydrates are a valuable source of energy for athletes. Loading up on carbohydrates before an athletic competition is a common practice. Often, some form of carbohydrate is consumed during competition as well. Consuming carbohydrates after exercising is also important as a means of replenishing glycogen in the muscles and liver.

Honey is a particularly valuable carbohydrate source because of its composition of nearly equal parts of fructose and glucose.

The value of honey as a carbohydrate for athletes was demonstrated in three separate trials conducted by the University of Memphis Exercise and Sport Nutrition Laboratory.

The trial showed that honey outperformed placebos, and outperformed or equaled all popular carbohydrate sources it was tested against, including dextrose, maltodextrin, and a popular carbohydrate gel. In most cases, honey improved power, speed, and endurance.

Honey also sustained the athletes' blood sugar levels consistently for longer periods of time, and resulted in greater stability of blood sugar and blood insulin levels. 3

Honey For Stomach Ulcers

Not so long ago it was thought that stomach ulcers (also called gastric ulcers) were mostly caused by lifestyle choices. Eating the wrong kinds of food, eating too much spicy food, enduring a stressful lifestyle routine - all were thought to be causes of stomach ulcers. But now we know otherwise.

Medical science has learned that most stomach ulcers are actually caused by a bacterial infection. In fact, most stomach ulcers are caused by one particularly nasty little bacterium called Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori). Though there are other causes of stomach ulcers such as smoking and excessive alcohol consumption, more often than not, Helicobacter pylori is the cause of an ulcer.

A number of research studies have shown honey, and particularly Manuka honey, to be an effective treatment for stomach ulcers. Though the antibacterial properties of honey are likely a factor in its effectiveness as a natural treatment for ulcers, it’s not the only factor. Researchers consider it likely that the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties of honey are also factors. And there are probably other ways that honey works to inhibit ulcers that we simply aren’t aware of yet.

If you want to give it a try, spread 1 teaspoon of honey on a small piece of bread or a cracker, and take about 20 minutes before each meal, and also before bedtime. It’s important that the honey be taken on bread (or the equivalent), and not alone. If swallowed by itself, much of the honey will be absorbed into the bloodstream before reaching the stomach. Spreading it on the bread allows the honey to reach the stomach in concentrated form.

Here are some studies that have shown honey to demonstrate at least some degree of effectiveness in treating stomach ulcers:

       Multiple varieties of honey were shown to possess antibacterial activity against H. pylori, with varying degrees of effectiveness. Manuka honey was not tested in this study. 4

       This study focused on testing Manuka honey against H. pylori, and showed that H. pylori was sensitive to a 20% solution of Manuka honey. 5

       Using rats as test subjects, this study found honey to be as effective a treatment as a drug commonly used for ulcer treatment (Cimetidine (Tagamet)). 6

       Another study tested various honeys against H. pylori and found all to show antibacterial activity, concluding that honey may offer therapeutic potential against H. pylori. 7

       This study tested honey against H. pylori, and found it to be effective. It also found the honey to be effective against strains that were resistant to certain other antibacterial agents. The study recommended further clinical investigation in the use of honey in treating gastric ulcers. 8

Chapter 6: Honey as a Topical Medication

When you think of honey, you probably think of it primarily as a type of food. Makes perfect sense, since honey is one of the most delectable foods on the planet. But even though consuming honey can do you lots of good and make your taste buds tingle with delight, eating it isn't the only way to benefit from it.

In fact, humans have been making themselves icky and sticky with the stuff by smearing it on their skin for about as long as they've been eating it. The reason? Honey does a body good, on the inside and on the outside. Throughout most of recorded history, honey has been known to be an effective treatment for many ailments that are just skin deep.

Though not all of the traditional uses of honey as a topical medication have been proven by science, many have been, confirming what folklorists have known for centuries. Following are some examples…

Honey For Burns

Many home remedies for burns are not very effective. Some, in fact, may even do more harm than good. But using honey as a remedy for burns is one treatment that actually has been proven to work. So much so, in fact, that honey is being studied as a medical treatment for minor burns – and not just at home.

Several studies have shown that honey applied to minor burns promoted faster healing, with less infection, and with less scarring than the traditional treatment, silver sulfadiazine.

Using honey as a burn ointment also avoids some of the negative side effects that are associated with traditional medications. And honey-soaked dressings are easier and less painful to change, pulling easily away from the damaged tissue.

It’s thought that honey is effective as a remedy for minor burns because of its natural antibiotic properties, and possibly because of the antioxidants it contains as well. And in ways not yet fully understood, honey also seems to accelerate the healing of damaged tissue.

Here are some studies that have shown honey to be a valuable tool in the treatment of burns:

       The goal of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of honey as a treatment for superficial and partial-thickness burns in comparison with the traditional treatment, silver sulfadiazine. It was found that burn wounds treated with honey healed significantly faster than burns treated with silver sulfadiazine. And there were far fewer infections in the burns treated with honey. 1

       Infection of the wound is a frequently encountered problem in the treatment of burns. This study compared the effectiveness of honey as an antibiotic in comparison with antibiotics commonly used in the treatment of burns. Honey was found to be more effective than all of the antibiotics tested in the study. It was also found to be effective against a strain of bacteria that was resistant to methicillin (a penicillin-related antibiotic). 2

       A pathogen called Pseudomonas aeruginosa is becoming more problematic among burn victims because it has become increasingly resistant to modern antibiotic medications. The goal of this study was to determine whether honey could be an effective treatment for burn wounds infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The study concluded that honey does indeed show potential as an alternative treatment for Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections. 3

       In another study comparing honey to silver sulfadiazine for burn treatments, it was found that honey dressings enhanced healing, made the wounds sterile quicker, and even reduced the amount of scarring. 4

Honey for Wound Care

Honey has been used as a dressing for wounds for thousands of years. At least 4000 years ago, the ancient Egyptians were using honey as their go-to method for treating wounds.

Why is honey so useful in treating wounds? Well, there are several reasons that we know of, and probably some that we don’t quite understand yet.

We know that honey is a great natural antibiotic. In fact, in some situations honey is a more effective antibiotic than many of the modern antibiotic drugs. We also know that honey is rich in antioxidants, and that is thought to be a factor.

But honey has other properties that make it great for natural wound care.

One of the problems encountered in treating wounds with the dressings and medications most commonly used by modern medicine is the dehydrating effect of these treatments. Dressing the wound with honey, though, keeps it moist. This helps to minimize the amount of scarring that will result from the wound.

Because of its high sugar content, honey also exerts a powerful osmotic effect. Due to its ability to attract moisture, honey tends to attract bodily fluids and nutrients to the area of the wound. This helps to accelerate the healing process.

Numerous studies with both animals and humans have proven the value of honey as a natural wound healing agent. They’ve shown honey to be effective in healing faster, better, with less pain, and with none of the side effects of other medications.

In fact, the use of honey on minor wounds may soon be thought of as not just an alternative, natural method of wound care, but as a go-to wound care method for mainstream medicine – just as it was for the ancient Egyptians.

What’s the old saying? The more things change, the more they stay the same!

Supporting studies:

       The purpose of this study was to compare honey as a wound healing agent to a widely-used wound treatment medication, IntraSite Gel. Honey performed on a par with the traditional treatment, with the study concluding that "honey is a safe, satisfying and effective healing agent." Treating with honey was also found to be far less expensive than the traditional treatment. 5

       This study discusses a clinic's experience in successfully using Manuka honey in wound dressings. 6

       In this study, Medihoney (the first medicinal honey to receive FDA approval; see chapter 7) was evaluated as a topical treatment for patients suffering from chronic pressure ulcers. 90% of patients showed complete wound healing after 4 weeks. The study concluded that "the medical-honey approach to wound care must be part of a comprehensive conservative surgical wound-care concept." 7

       An overview of the use of honey in the treatment of wounds concluded that "there is biologic evidence to support the use of honey in modern wound care, and the clinical evidence to date also suggests a benefit. However, further large, well-designed, clinical trials are needed to confirm its therapeutic effects." 8

Honey for Oral Health

Using honey to promote oral health? That sounds rather unlikely, doesn’t it? Honey is sticky and sweet, so intuitively it would seem more likely to cause dental problems than help mitigate them. But honey – and especially Manuka honey – has been shown to be an effective treatment for gum disease.

If you’re reading this book front-to-back, then you're already aware of honey’s antibiotic properties (see chapter 3). So you’re probably thinking that killing off bacteria in the mouth is how Manuka honey helps with gum disease. And you’d be right; Manuka honey does inhibit the growth of the oral bacteria that cause plaque. But it's not that simple.

Manuka honey also prevents the bacteria from producing a substance called Dextran. Dextran, a polysaccharide, is a gummy substance produced by the bacteria to help them stick to the surface of your teeth. So even if a trouble-making bacterium isn’t killed outright by the honey, it finds it much more difficult to stick around and cause trouble. Manuka honey’s healing properties also seem to help accelerate the healing of damaged gum tissue.

If you wish, you can purchase toothpaste that actually contains small quantities of Manuka honey, but some researchers recommend simply rubbing Manuka honey onto your gums after every brushing. And since Manuka honey retains its antibacterial potency when diluted as much as 50 times, it can also be diluted and used as a mouthwash or with an oral irrigator.

Here are some studies that support using honey for oral health:

       The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of Manuka honey, a mouthwash (chlorhexidine gluconate) and xylitol chewing gum in reducing dental plaque levels. The honey and mouthwash were both found to effectively lower plaque levels to a significantly greater degree than the xylitol chewing gum. 9

       The goal of this study was to compare honey's antibacterial effectiveness against oral bacteria and plaque with mouthwash (chlorhexidine). The study concluded that "Honey has antibacterial action against tested oral microorganisms and also has anti-plaque action." 10

       This study focused on testing whether Manuka honey with a UMF® of 15 (see chapter 4) could reduce dental plaque and gingivitis. Volunteers chewed either honey leather (yummy!) or sugarless gum for 10 minutes 3 times a day after each meal. The group using the Manuka product showed significant reductions in plaque and bleeding gums. 11

Chapter 7: Honey and MRSA - Super Food vs. Super Bug

The MRSA virus is causing great concern among health professionals around the world. It’s one of the more serious threats to human health, and it’s on the rise.

What is MRSA?

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. That’s what MRSA stands for, and that’s what causes an MRSA staph infection.

MRSA infections most commonly occur in hospitals or other health care facilities. But in recent years, cases of MRSA infections occurring outside of health care facilities in otherwise healthy individuals have been on the rise. This is called community-associated MRSA, and it’s responsible for a number of serious illnesses ranging from skin infections to a particularly dangerous form of pneumonia.

MRSA Symptoms

MRSA skin infections generally first appear as small red bumps that might be mistaken for pimples or spider bites. But the infection tends to rapidly develop into deep abscesses that are very painful. If the Staphylococcus bacteria penetrate beyond the skin, life-threatening infections may result.

Unfortunately, MRSA spreads easily. Simple skin-to-skin contact, as well as simply touching items that have been handled by a carrier can spread the infection.

The REALLY Bad News…

As MRSA infections become more prevalent, MRSA treatment options are becoming fewer. Many of the antibiotics that for years were used in the treatment of MRSA are no longer viable as a result of the resistance that has been developed by Staphylococcus. And scientists fear that it may be only a matter of time before MRSA develops strains that are resistant to the antibiotics that are currently still effective.

And the Good News…

Because of Manuka honey’s particularly strong antibiotic properties (see chapter 4), it may soon become a frontline weapon in the fight against MRSA. And in fact, many scientists now feel that because of the manner in which honey kills bacteria, MRSA is unlikely ever to evolve a resistance to the antibacterial properties of Manuka honey.

Scientists are working to completely understand what makes Manuka honey such an effective MRSA virus killer. But while the research is ongoing, Manuka honey is already being used as a wound dressing in some clinical settings.

Here are some studies that have demonstrated honey's effectiveness in combating MRSA infections:

The patients in this study suffered wounds that were infected with MRSA. After other antiseptics and antibiotics failed to control the infections, medical honey was tried, resulting in complete healing of the wounds. 1

       Manuka honey was shown to achieve complete and rapid healing of an MRSA infected leg ulcer. 2

       A type 2 diabetes patient with MRSA infected foot ulcers refused amputation, but agreed to a trial of treatment with honey. Within 12 months the ulcers had healed. After 2 years the ulcers had not recurred, and the patient was able to walk with the aid of a walker. 3

Medihoney

One of the forms in which Manuka honey is used to combat MRSA is known as Medihoney. Medihoney is the first FDA approved, pre-packaged method of utilizing the medicinal properties of honey. And it's rapidly compiling an impressive record of success, demonstrating the feasibility of honey as medicine.

Medihoney is made primarily from Manuka honey. The Manuka honey is used to create a sterile, natural dressing for wounds, both as a topical gel and as pre-packaged dressings. The pre-packaged dressings are available both in non-adhesive and adhesive forms.

The manufacturer, Derma Sciences, received approval from the Food and Drug Administration in 2007.

How Effective Is Medihoney?

Medihoney has proven to be amazingly effective - and not only as an alternative to more traditional treatments. Many times over, the Manuka honey-based dressing has proven to be more effective than standard wound treatments.

Here are some studies that have shown the effectiveness of Medihoney against MRSA infections and other serious conditions:

       An update of the clinical data supporting the use of Medihoney in the treatment of wounds. 4

       Forty patients whose leg ulcers had not responded to previous treatment were treated with Medihoney dressings for a 12-week period. During this period there was a significant decrease in overall ulcer size and pain. Patient questionnaires indicated a high degree of satisfaction with the Medihoney treatment. 5

       In a case study of 11 non-healing venous leg ulcers, Medihoney trounced traditional treatments. All 11 ulcers had been treated with a variety of conventional methods including antibiotic therapy, silver antimicrobial dressings, multi-layered compression, and hyperbaric oxygen. All had failed to heal. After treating with the honey-based dressings, 6 of the wounds were healed within 4 weeks, and all were completely healed within 6 weeks. 6

       At Long Island Jewish Hospital in New York, a patient suffering from a rare non-healing fungal infection was in danger of requiring a leg amputation. None of the conventional treatments tried had been effective, but within a short time of treatment with Medihoney, the wound responded and began to heal, and the leg was saved. 7

       In a controlled clinical trial, the Medihoney dressing was found to be far more effective at eradicating the deadly MRSA bacteria than a front-line treatment. After 4 weeks of treatment, MRSA had been eradicated in 70% of the wounds treated with honey-based dressings, compared to only 16% of the wounds treated with a commonly used wound care gel. 8

Chapter 8: Honey and Diabetes

One of the most oft asked questions about honey and its effect upon health is whether diabetics can use honey as a sweetener without being concerned about the effect upon their blood sugar. The short answer to this question is no. Honey, of course, is a carbohydrate, and therefore it does increase the blood sugar level when consumed. So diabetics must take care to monitor the amount they consume and the effect it has upon their blood sugar level.

The advice often given to diabetics is that it’s perfectly fine to use honey as a sweetener – just be careful about the quantity consumed. If you’re a diabetic and you want to use honey instead of sugar, that’s OK (if your doctor approves). But there aren’t any special properties about honey that will allow you to consume more honey carbohydrates than you’d be able to consume of sugar carbohydrates.

That’s perfectly valid advice. But it might also be incomplete advice. Because there have been a number of studies completed about honey and diabetes. And many of these studies indicate that honey might offer more value to diabetics than just a carbohydrate-for-carbohydrate substitution for sugar and other sweeteners:

       This study compared the effects of fructose, sucrose (table sugar), and honey on blood sugar levels. It was found that sucrose consistently caused higher blood sugar levels than honey, and “honey provided the fewest subjective symptoms of discomfort.” The study concluded that since "…honey has a gentler effect on blood sugar levels on a per gram basis, and tastes sweeter than sucrose so that fewer grams would be consumed, it would seem prudent to recommend honey over sucrose." 1

       Very similar to the above study, this study compared the effect of sucrose, glucose, and honey upon both the glycaemic index (GI) and the peak incremental index (PI). This study concluded that “…honey may prove to be a valuable sugar substitute” for diabetics. 2

       The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of different types of honey upon both normal and diabetic rabbits. The study concluded that "…pure natural honeys in low doses may be recommended as a source of carbohydrates and even as a sweetening agent in place of sucrose to the human patients suffering from diabetes mellitus…" 3

       Building upon studies that have indicated that honey may help to improve glycemic control in diabetics, this study sought to understand the mechanisms through which honey offers its benefits. The conclusion of the study was that oligosaccharides "…might contribute to the antidiabetic and other health-related beneficial effects of honey." 4 (Oligosaccharides are carbohydrates which are found naturally in many plants and in honey. Oligosaccharides are partly indigestible and are thought to promote the growth of beneficial bacteria in the colon.)

       Some of the complications that arise from diabetes may be partly due to oxidative stress (damage from free radicals). The purpose of this study was to explore whether honey helped to reduce hyperglycemia and lessen oxidative stress using diabetic rats as test subjects. The study concluded that "honey exerts a hypoglycemic effect and ameliorates oxidative stress in kidneys of streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats." 5

       This study monitored the effects of honey consumption in diabetic patients during an 8-week period. The patients were split into 2 groups, with one group consuming honey orally during the test period. The group that consumed honey experienced reductions in body weight, total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides. HDL cholesterol increased in the group that consumed honey. Conclusion: "The results of this study demonstrate that 8-week consumption of honey can provide beneficial effects on body weight and blood lipids of diabetic patients. However, since an increase in the hemoglobin A(1C) levels was observed, cautious consumption of this food by diabetic patients is recommended." 6

       Of the 30 subjects of this study, 6 had been diagnosed as mildly diabetic, and the remaining 24 demonstrated impaired glucose intolerance. The study participants were each given a glucose tolerance test and a honey tolerance test. All participants had lower plasma glucose concentrations after honey consumption than after glucose consumption. The study concluded that "…it is evident from the present investigation that honey may prove to be a valuable sugar substitute for subjects with impaired glucose tolerance or mild diabetes." 7

So What Can We Conclude About Honey and Diabetes?

More studies are needed, but many of the studies that have been completed do seem to indicate that honey might be a superior choice for diabetics over other sweeteners.

Again, since honey is a carbohydrate, when eaten by diabetics it should be consumed only in limited quantities and it’s effect upon blood sugar monitored, same as with any other carbohydrate. And of course, if you are a diabetic, you should consult with your doctor about any changes you’re considering making to your diet.

But it truly seems that the more that honey is studied in a scientific manner, and the more we learn about it, the more we realize the value of honey as an aid to human health.

Chapter 9: No Scientific Proof, But Worth Considering

I'm faced with a dilemma...

My goal for this book is to provide you with a no-hype examination of the health benefits of honey. Every claimed benefit of honey that has been presented thus far in this book has been accompanied with at least a bit of supporting scientific evidence.

Lets consider, for example, one of the honey health benefits we examined a few chapters back: the use of honey in the treatment of wounds. Until fairly recently, there was little more than anecdotal evidence supporting the notion that honey could be beneficial when used in the treatment of wounds. That anecdotal evidence spanned thousands of years, to be sure, but the evidence was still largely anecdotal.

Now, though, there's a great deal of scientific evidence proving the value of honey in the treatment of wounds. And that evidence is mounting rapidly. But if I were writing this book a few decades earlier, and including only honey health benefits that were scientifically proven, I'd have been forced to leave out reference to honey as a treatment for wounds, because the scientific evidence didn't yet exist. And that would have been a shame, because it would have left you uninformed about one of the more remarkable health benefits of honey.

There are many claimed benefits of honey that aren't currently supported with anything more than anecdotal evidence. But the simple lack of scientific studies proving a claimed health benefit doesn't render that claim invalid. Just as the lack of evidence supporting the claimed benefit of using honey for wounds would not have rendered that claim invalid a few decades ago, before the current evidence existed.

My dilemma, then, is whether to present unproven benefits in my no-hype book about the health benefits of honey. And as you can see, I've decided to include some of them, preceded by this lengthy preamble. Along with each claimed benefit listed below, I'll describe the mechanism by which honey might be an effective aid for the respective health problem.

Please keep in mind that the potential honey health benefits that follow in this chapter are unfounded - at least in terms of controlled scientific studies. But there are lots of people that believe that honey does offer the benefits listed in this chapter, and believe that they have derived these benefits from the use of honey. Of course, the belief of large numbers of people doesn't alone prove the validity of these purported benefits, any more than the lack of supporting evidence necessarily renders them invalid.

Perhaps, in future editions of this book, some of the unproven benefits listed in this chapter will be removed and relocated to preceding chapters, accompanied with the yet-to-be-discovered evidence proving their validity. On the other hand, perhaps some of the unproven benefits in this chapter will be demonstrated to be completely invalid, and removed from this book altogether.

In the meantime, dear reader, it's left to your good judgment to make of the following what you will.

Honey For Heartburn

The pain of heartburn is caused by the acids of the stomach ‘refluxing’ into the esophagus. Since the esophagus does not have the natural protection from stomach acid that the stomach has, this creates a burning sensation. Over time, with frequent recurrences of the acid reflux, lesions can form on the esophagus, causing the condition to become ever more painful.

Honey may offer some relief by coating the esophagus, protecting it from the damaging effects of the acid. Any honey will provide this protective effect to some degree, but the unique properties of Manuka honey may make it particularly effective.

One of the great benefits of using honey as a home remedy for acid reflux is that there are no known side effects – after all, it’s just a natural food. So unlike many heartburn medications, it can be used day in and day out, ad infinitum if necessary. Providing the esophagus with continuous protection from the ravaging effects of stomach acid can give it a chance to heal, lessening or eliminating the lesions formed from frequent acid irritation.

If you want to try using honey to reduce heartburn pain, spread 1 teaspoon of honey on a small piece of bread, and take before each meal and before bedtime. For severe cases of heartburn, take an additional teaspoon on bread after meals, or whenever heartburn pain persists.

For this purpose, it’s important that the honey be taken on bread (or the equivalent), and not alone. If a teaspoon of honey is swallowed by itself, much of it will be absorbed into the bloodstream before reaching the area where it is needed. Spreading it on the bread allows it to reach the lower esophagus in concentrated form.

Honey for Athlete's Foot

Athlete's foot is caused by a tiny little parasitic fungus called a dermatophyte that feasts on the dead tissue of toenails, skin, and hair. In case you care, there are at least 4 species of dermatophytes that cause athlete's foot (also called Tineas Pedis), the most common of which is Trichopyton Rubrum.

These fearsome fungi thrive in warm, moist environments such as swimming pools, locker rooms, and public showers. Anyone exposed to the parasitic fungi is susceptible to athlete's foot. And it’s not limited to the feet; it’s also possible to have a dermatophyte infection on the hands.

Honey may be effective as a natural cure for athlete's foot because of its natural fungicidal properties. And since advanced cases of athlete's foot can often become infected with bacteria, the wonderful antibiotic properties of honey can also come into play.

If you want to give it a try, simply rub raw honey on the infected area before bedtime. Cover your feet with old socks, and leave on overnight. Wash and thoroughly dry your feet in the morning.

At the very least your feet will sure smell sweet!

Honey For Eczema and Psoriasis

If you're itching to find a natural remedy for eczema or psoriasis, Manuka honey might be worth trying.

Eczema (also called dermatitis) is a chronic inflammation of the skin caused by the body’s own immune system. Red, itching, inflamed patches of skin characterize eczema. The itching caused by eczema can become almost unbearable, leading to excessive scratching that results in broken skin, bleeding sores, and infection. Though persons of any age are susceptible to eczema, it’s more prevalent in children.

Psoriasis, also a disease of the skin, causes surface skin cells to build up rapidly in an abnormal manner. The result is thick patches of itchy, silvery scales and redness. Psoriasis tends to be a chronic condition, but may alternate between periods of remission and worsening. For some, psoriasis may be no more than an ongoing nuisance, but for others it may be debilitating.

Both psoriasis and eczema are tough problems to fix. In fact, there are no medications or treatments of any kind that will completely eradicate these diseases.

But honey might help to relieve and minimize the painful and annoying symptoms. Manuka honey, and topical creams or lotions containing Manuka honey, have been found by some to be quite effective at providing relief from the symptoms of eczema and psoriasis.

Manuka honey’s antibiotic properties may help to kill the bacteria that create the sores and inflammation of these illnesses. The honey also provides a natural moisturizing effect that can help to promote healing.

And one great advantage of trying honey as a remedy for these illnesses is that there are no known side effects. Unlike the steroids and cortisone creams often used for eczema and psoriasis, Manuka honey can be used indefinitely.

If you want to try it, you can just apply Manuka honey directly to the affected area. But if you want to avoid adding stickiness to the itchiness, you might want to purchase a cream or lotion that contains Manuka honey.

Honey for Toenail Fungus

Nail fungus occurs when parasitic fungal spores take root in the area of a fingernail or toenail. Usually the fungus takes root under the nail bed. And once it’s there, it’s tough to get rid of. Since the fungi thrive in dark, moist areas, toenails are far more likely than fingernails to fall victim to a fungus invasion.

Fungal infection results in a thickening of the nail, along with discoloration - usually yellow or brown. The nail becomes brittle and prone to breakage, and may eventually fall off entirely. Since nail fungus is infectious and may spread to other nails, it’s important to treat it as soon as it’s detected.

There’s no single treatment for nail fungus that's proven to be 100% effective, 100% of the times that it’s tried, on 100% of the people who try it. Even prescription medications may not be 100% effective - and may also cause some pretty nasty side effects such as liver damage.

Perhaps that’s why there is so much interest in home remedies for toenail fungus and fingernail fungus. One natural toenail fungus treatment and fingernail fungus treatment involves the use of Manuka honey.

Just as Manuka honey is a strong antibiotic agent, it’s also a powerful antifungal agent. And the natural healing properties of Manuka honey may help to heal the damaged tissue in and around the nail bed. But trying Manuka honey as a fingernail or toenail fungus cure may come with some additional advantages.

One of the reasons that nail fungus is so difficult to treat is that the nail itself tends to act as a barrier, preventing the treatment from getting to the nail bed where it is most needed. But since honey has the ability to soak into, around, and even under the nail, it may get at the root of the problem more effectively than other treatments.

And there are no side effects to worry about - unless, of course, you consider sticky digits to be a side effect!

Honey for the Relief of Arthritis Pain

Though there are many claimed arthritis cures, the unfortunate reality is that there is no known cure for arthritis. Arthritis is a condition that must be managed by attempting to alleviate the symptoms, and trying to improve joint function through therapy and, when necessary, surgery.

Just as there is no cure, there is also nothing that will completely stop arthritis pain. But if you suffer from chronic arthritis pain, you want as many arthritis pain management weapons in your arsenal as possible. Manuka honey is a weapon that might deserve a place in your arsenal of pain fighting weapons.

Manuka honey contains two natural anti-inflammatory agents: Glucosamine and Chondroitin Sulphate. There is some evidence that both of these may help to stimulate the manufacture of the elements necessary for the repair of joint cartilage, and that both help with reducing pain and inflammation. 1, 2 When applied to the skin, honey has a tendency to soak in deep, carrying the soothing properties of the Manuka to the inflamed and damaged tissue.

Will Manuka honey cure arthritis? No. Will it offer complete arthritis pain relief? Probably not. Will it help with arthritis pain management? It just might.

Honey and Allergies

Perhaps the most frequently asked question about honey is whether it is useful as a natural remedy for allergies, or as a natural hay fever remedy. And the answer is…maybe.

I know - that’s not a very satisfying answer!

But there’s very little scientific proof about honey’s effectiveness as a natural remedy for allergies. In fact, the one study I found when researching for this book indicated that honey was not effective in relieving allergy symptoms. 3 In spite of the controversy about honey and allergies, though, there are many, many people who believe that eating honey has helped them with their allergies or hay fever.

The idea behind eating honey for allergies is that honey produced locally will contain pollen grains that are specific to your area, and therefore are probably from some of the plants that cause your allergy or hay fever symptoms.

The theory is that when you ingest the pollen grains with the honey, your body develops a tolerance to the pollen. This tolerance helps to reduce the severity of the body’s reaction when exposed to airborne quantities of the same type of pollen.

Though there is little proof, as mentioned, it does seem reasonable that eating honey containing local pollen could work to reduce the symptoms of allergies and hay fever.

In fact, there is an immunotherapy treatment called ‘Sublingual Immunotherapy’ (SLIT) that works in much the same way that eating local honey might work. When a patient is treated with SLIT, allergen extract is placed under the tongue and then swallowed (or sometimes spat out after allowing some to be absorbed).

SLIT has been used as an alternative to allergy shots for many years in Europe. And it has been proven to be at least somewhat effective. So the SLIT treatment does provide evidence that orally consuming an allergen can help to alleviate the body’s reaction to that allergen. 4

To whatever extent eating local honey might offer a natural remedy for allergies, it’s effect will be limited to a degree, simply because the bees probably don’t visit every pollen producing plant in your area. So if a particular plant causes you problems, and it’s not a plant that the bees gather nectar or pollen from, then eating local honey won’t help reduce any of your symptoms that are caused by that particular plant.

Honey consumed in the hope of alleviating allergy symptoms must be raw honey (unheated) and it must be unfiltered (strained is fine). And the closer to your home the honey is produced, the more likely it is to contain pollen from the plant or plants that cause your symptoms.

For the most part, honey you might purchase at the supermarket will offer little or no allergy relief. It likely will have been produced hundreds or thousands of miles away, and so will have been produced from few – if any – of the plants common to your area. And the honey will probably have been heated and filtered, a process that removes most of the pollen grains.

A note of caution about honey and allergies: If you’re considering eating honey for the natural allergy relief it may offer, use caution. You should be aware that some people have suffered severe, even life-threatening reactions from eating local honey containing pollen to which they were severely allergic.

An extreme reaction is exceedingly rare, but it does happen. And it only makes sense that the more extreme your allergy symptoms, the greater the chance that you will have an adverse reaction to eating honey containing the allergens that cause your symptoms. In fact, if you’ve not eaten raw, local honey before, and you have severe allergy problems, it would probably be wise to consult your doctor first.

If you decide to try using honey for allergies, it’s recommended that you begin with a very small quantity on a daily basis (probably less than half a teaspoon). Monitor your reaction, and then gradually increase the quantity if there are no adverse reactions.

Honey for Insomnia

If you suffer from insomnia, you might want to consider trying a home remedy for insomnia using milk and honey. It’s a natural remedy for sleep insomnia that, though unproven, many believe to be effective.

Here's how it might work: Consuming milk and honey releases the amino acid tryptophan into the bloodstream. When it reaches the brain, the tryptophan is converted into a hormone called serotonin, which in darkness is finally converted into melatonin, a hormone that induces sleep.

It’s simple and easy to try. Simply add a teaspoon or two of honey into a warm cup of milk and drink it just before going to bed. If you don’t like milk, the honey may still help you sleep when mixed into a cup of caffeine-free tea, or even just warm water.

So if you’re having problems with insomnia, the honey and milk combo might be worth a try. Let the bees help you get your ZZZ’s. And even if it doesn’t help you sleep, then at the very worst you’ll have enjoyed a tasty treat before bedtime.

Honey and Weight Loss

Honey - a very high-calorie food - and weight loss. Does it seem unlikely that the two would go together? Well, there's a diet that has been around for a long time that involves drinking a mixture of apple cider vinegar and honey. Doesn’t sound terribly appealing, does it?

But does it work? Well, since it's in this chapter, you already know that there's no scientific evidence that the honey and vinegar diet is an effective aid for weight loss. But lots of people believe that the combo of honey and vinegar has helped them to loose weight.

As we've seen, honey certainly offers many proven health benefits. Apple cider vinegar, too, has been valued for its purported medicinal properties for centuries. To date, though, there seems to be little scientific evidence corroborating the claimed health benefits of vinegar.

The theory behind the vinegar and honey diet is that the body’s pH needs to be within a certain range. When the pH of the body becomes too alkaline, many problems result, including a lowered metabolism rate that causes weight gain. Consuming apple cider vinegar with honey supposedly helps to restore the body to the optimum balance of alkalinity vs. acidity. This balance rejuvenates the body’s metabolic efficiency, causing more stored fat and calories to be burned.

If you want to try using honey and vinegar for weight loss, mix 1 or 2 teaspoons of raw honey and 1 or 2 teaspoons of raw apple cider vinegar in a cup of water. Drink this mixture 3 times per day. Whether it works is unproven, but it’s not likely to do any harm (beyond puckering your puss, that is).

Be aware, though, that the vinegar could potentially interact with certain drugs to cause an excessive loss of potassium, so if you take any medications you should check with your doctor before trying this.

Honey and Cinnamon

If you zip over to Google and do a search on 'honey and cinnamon,' you'll find that you've stumbled upon an absolute miracle: the most effective cure for human ailments on the planet! You'll learn that a combo of honey and cinnamon can cure cancer, heart disease, arthritis, bad breath, baldness - and the list goes on and on, yada, yada, yada.

It's nonsense, of course. A combo of honey and cinnamon does not have the power to put all of the medical professionals on earth out of business. In fact, there's no scientific evidence proving that the combo of honey and cinnamon offers any unique benefits beyond being yummy to your tummy.

But here's the thing: If we peel away the layers of nonsensical and outlandish claims, we might find a kernel of goodness, something that really can be beneficial to health.

There certainly is a long history of belief that honey and cinnamon is beneficial; the concept of using honey with cinnamon has been around for centuries. Practitioners of Ayurdeva (a holistic approach to medicine that originated in India more than 5000 years ago) have prescribed the use of honey with cinnamon, both together and separately, for many centuries. Similarly, traditional Chinese medicine has long recommended the use of honey with cinnamon, together and also separately. And the ancient Egyptians used both cinnamon and honey as ingredients in their embalming methods (no, it’s not claimed to have raised the dead!).

There's no doubt that the ancients were on to something in their use of cinnamon for medicinal purposes. In fact, modern science is providing a growing body of evidence that indicates that the health benefits of cinnamon are real and substantial.

For example, recent studies have indicated that cinnamon may help to control blood sugar levels in diabetics. 5, 6 Research is ongoing, but it appears that regular cinnamon consumption may one day be routinely recommended for diabetics. Research has also shown that cinnamon may help to increase the brain’s cognitive functioning, and may have potential for reducing cognitive decline in the elderly. 7, 8 Cinnamon may also help to reduce inflammation, 9 and provide anti-clotting 10 and anti-microbial benefits. 11

So considering the proven medicinal benefits of honey, it doesn’t seem unreasonable that a combination of the two may indeed have some unique curative effects - at least to some degree.

But regardless of how effective honey and cinnamon may be in treating illnesses, I can’t think of any medicine that would go down with more delight. Just try it. Fix yourself a nice hot piece of toast spread with a mixture of honey and cinnamon.

I bet it will make you feel better, even if it doesn’t actually make you better!

Chapter 10: The News About Honey Isn't All Sweet…

Well, here we are in chapter 10 already, and I've spent most of the previous nine chapters telling you all about what wondrous stuff honey is. And it's true; honey is wonderful stuff! But like most things in this world, not everything about it is wonderful. To wax melodramatic about it: there is a bit of a dark side to this heavenly food that offers so many health benefits.

Is the 'dark side' of honey something that you're likely to encounter if you're an avid consumer of honey? Probably not, but it's something that you should be aware of. We're going to discuss two issues in this chapter - the first of which is by far the most important

Honey and Infant Botulism

If you haven't heard of the risk of infant botulism being associated with honey consumption, you're not alone. Many people aren't aware of this issue. But if you have children less than one year of age, it’s important for you to know that honey has been suspected of causing botulism in very young children.

Botulism is a form of food poisoning caused by a microorganism called Clostridium botulinum. When the spores of this microorganism are introduced into the lower bowels of young infants, they can generate a toxin that can block nerve impulse transmission, resulting in a type of paralysis (which gives BoTox injections their effectiveness). Occurrences of infant botulism are very rare, but also very serious.

Symptoms of botulism poisoning in an infant include:

    - continual constipation

    - overall muscular weakness

    - a weak cry (also due to muscular weakness)

    - a poor appetite, and a weakened sucking ability 

An infant displaying any of these botulism symptoms should receive immediate medical attention. In extreme cases, botulism poisoning can be fatal. Some doctors believe that some occurrences of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) may in fact be linked to botulism. 1

Though honey is a potential source of Clostridium botulinum, the risk of any given sampling of honey containing the spores is small. Various studies have tested hundreds of honey samples, and have found Clostridium botulinum spores in roughly 10% or less of samples tested (one study found 26% in a sampling of honey from Denmark). 2-6

But though the chance of an infant being infected is slim, the Centers for Disease Control and Infection, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the National Honey Board all recommend that infants less than one year old not be fed honey.

Unfortunately, botulism spores are not rare; they are present throughout nature. And honey is not the only food in which spores have been found. Fresh meats, processed meats, corn syrup, and unwashed fruits and vegetables are among the foods that have been found to contain the botulism spores. Any raw agricultural product should be very thoroughly washed before being fed to an infant.

The ingestion of botulism spores from honey do not present a health risk for older children or adults. The botulism spores are unable to grow in more mature intestines because of the beneficial bacteria present. And if the botulism spores cannot germinate and grow, they are unable to produce the toxin that causes the poisoning. Consequently, adults and children over 1 year of age can consume honey without concerns of botulism infection.

A Sweet Poison…

Poisonous honey? Yes indeed, it unfortunately does exist.

Is it something you really need to worry about? Probably not. The odds that you will ever encounter a form of poisonous honey are extremely slim. Not impossible, though, so it's something you should be aware of.

The nectar of several species of the plant family Ericaceae contains a toxin known as grayanotoxin. 7 Rhododendrons and mountain laurel are two of the most common plants that contain this toxin. Consuming honey produced from these plants can cause an illness sometimes labeled as 'mad honey disease.' Though rarely serious, the symptoms can be quite uncomfortable and frightening, and include: hypotension, dizziness, weakness, nausea, vomiting, salivation, arrhythmia, and loss of consciousness. 8

As a consumer of honey, it's very unlikely that you would encounter honey containing significant quantities of grayanotoxin for 3 reasons:

1) These plants are not widespread enough in sufficient quantity for large amounts of honey to be frequently produced from these plants.

2) Even if a hive does produce honey from these sources, when the honey is gathered and when it's harvested, usually the honey will be mixed with honey produced from other plant sources, diluting the negative effect of the honey to the point of harmlessness.

3) If a beekeeper does harvest honey produced primarily from plants that produce grayanotoxin in the nectar, he or she is likely to be the first person to be made sick with the honey - and presumably would then not sell it. After all, I've never known any beekeepers that didn't eat their own honey!

Still, on very rare occasions the safeguards listed above have failed, and consumers have fallen ill from eating honey produced primarily from mountain laurel, rhododendron, or other 'poisonous' plants. As a honey consumer myself, I don't worry about it, but it's something to be aware of. If you're buying honey from an individual beekeeper, feel free to ask whether he or she has eaten any honey from the batch you're considering purchasing.

One of my old bee books tells of beekeepers that lived in a mountainous region in the United States where mountain laurel honey was produced in large quantities in rare years. These beekeepers had a habit of testing the honey after it was harvested by first feeding a nice large chunk of honeycomb to their dog. If the dog had trouble walking within 30 or 40 minutes of eating the honey, they would dispose of the honey crop. Otherwise they'd let their kids feast on the freshly harvested honey. (The illness is temporary, so the dog would have recovered - though possibly to be forever wary of a handout of honeycomb!)

Sometimes people have the impression that the illness resulting from eating this type of honey is caused by consuming the honey raw, or unprocessed. In fact though, the extent to which the honey has been processed has absolutely no bearing upon whether the honey exerts its negative effects upon an unsuspecting victim. Whether the honey is processed highly by heating and filtering, or eaten in the least processed form possible, as comb honey, the effects are quite the same.

Chapter 11: A Bit About Bees…

I thought it would be fitting to conclude this book about the health benefits of honey with just a little bit of information about honey bees. Quite obviously, without honey bees there'd be no honey. And since you're interested in honey, it's possible that you'll also be interested in learning just a little bit about the fascinating creatures that produce your honey.

Let's begin with a brief description of the three types of bees that make up a honeybee colony: the queen bee, worker bees, and drone bees.

The Queen Bee: Slave to Her Daughters

The queen bee of a honeybee colony is not a ruling monarch – far from it. In fact, calling her a queen is quite a misnomer. She makes no decisions beyond choosing in which cells to lay her eggs. But in one sense the term fits, for she is the most important member of the hive. She is the mother of all of the bees in the hive, and if a colony becomes permanently queenless, it dies.

All of the bees in a colony begin life as an egg laid by the queen. But when the colony decides to raise a new queen, it does so by feeding a special diet to a recently hatched egg. This special diet is a substance called royal jelly. By eating this food, which is fed in large quantities only to a queen-to-be, an egg that was otherwise destined to become an ordinary worker, instead grows into a queen honeybee.

When the queen is 16 days old, she emerges from her cell, ready to begin her life as an adult. As the first order of business, though, she has a rather nasty job to perform...

When a hive decides to raise a new queen, usually there will be several queens raised simultaneously. After all, the future of the colony depends upon the queen, so to increase the odds of successfully transitioning to a new queen, the hive will raise several at once. If something goes wrong in raising one of the queens, one of the others can take her place. But normally, a hive has only one queen. So the first queen to emerge from her cell destroys the others.

She roams through the hives, searching for the cells of her sister queen bees. When she finds one, she ruthlessly tears into it, causing the death of her young sister (worker bees usually finish the job). If one or more young queens happen to emerge at the same time, they will fight it out until only one remains. If two older queen bees happen to end up in the same colony (such as when a beekeeper joins two colonies), they will fight to the death. There’s only room at the top for one!

(It’s interesting to note that although queens can sting, the only circumstance in which they will use their sting is in fighting another queen. They won’t even sting to protect themselves; beekeepers can pick up queens and handle them barehanded without any fear of being stung.)

Usually 5 to 10 days after emerging from her cell, the young queen will go on her mating flight. Male bees, called drones, find the queen while she is flying, and mate with her in flight. She mates with several drones on this one flight, and then never mates again. She will never fly or leave the hive again, unless she accompanies a swarm.

Once the queen bee begins her life’s work of laying eggs, that is all she does. She chooses a cell - usually pokes her head in the cell first as though inspecting its suitability - and then inserts her rear into the cell and deposits an egg in the bottom. And then she does the same thing again, and again, and again. During the height of the season, a queen can average laying 1500 eggs per day, and can lay over 200,000 per year.

The only break in her egg-laying routine occurs when the colony decides to swarm. When this happens, the queen is usually forced to leave with the swarm. The bees remaining in the original hive raise a new queen.

The queen bee can live for several years, but very rarely does she die a natural death. As she ages, her egg-laying capacity gradually declines. When the day comes that she is no longer productive enough to satisfy her daughters, they turn on her and commit matricide.

In a rush, the queen is suddenly covered with her daughters ripping at her wings, tearing at her legs, and attempting to sting her. Once she is dead, her body is disposed of by removing it from the hive, and a new queen is reared to take her place. Long live the queen!

Worker Bees

Unlike the queen bee, worker bees are very appropriately named. The worker bee does all of the work of a honeybee colony other than laying eggs.

All of the workers in a colony are female, and collectively - in ways not yet completely understood - they also make all of the decisions that determine the fate of the colony. When it’s time to swarm, the workers somehow make the decision to swarm, and begin the preparations. When it’s time to replace the queen, the workers decide, and do what must be done.

Each worker bee is born capable of performing every task that must be done to help the colony survive and thrive. But though not every worker will perform every task during her life, most will progress through many different jobs. The job that a bee does is determined largely by her age. Each job within the hive is performed by bees of roughly the same age group. So a bee will change jobs as she ages, leaving a job as she becomes older than the age range performing that particular job.

The following list contains descriptions of the various jobs worker bees perform. The list is arranged in the order that bees would progress from job to job according to their age. The youngest bees would do the first job in the list, and the oldest bees would do the last.

- Cell Cleaning

When an egg is laid in a cell, the egg grows into a larva that eventually pupates and spins a cocoon, within which it will grow into an adult. When the adult bee emerges from the cell, it leaves behind the remains of the cocoon along with bodily wastes. These must be cleaned out before the queen will deposit another egg in the cell.

- Capping Brood

The cell containing a larva is sealed with a wax capping at about the time the larva pupates.

- Tending Brood

Once an egg hatches into a larva, it becomes a voracious eater. During the 8 days before the cell containing a larva is capped, it will be fed more than 10,000 times by worker bees!

- Attending the Queen

The queen does not feed herself or groom herself. Attendant worker bees feed and groom the queen, and even remove her bodily waste from the hive.

- Receiving Nectar

When a foraging bee returns to the hive with a load of nectar, another worker takes the nectar from her, and begins the process of transforming the nectar into honey.

- Cleaning Debris

Honeybees are neat freaks; they keep their hive clean. Bits of debris such as dead brood, dead bees and any other items that do not belong in the hive environment are removed from the hive. Any debris that the bees are physically unable to remove is coated in propolis (a sticky substance composed primarily of resins that the bees collect from trees).

On occasion, a mouse will enter a hive in the wintertime seeking food or warmth. If the mouse dies in the hive, the bees are unable to remove its body. When this happens, bees have been known to completely coat the mouse with propolis, creating a mouse mummy that the bees seem to find preferable to a decomposing corpse.

- Packing Pollen

When a foraging bee returns to the hive with a load of pollen, she deposits the pollen loosely in a cell. Another bee will later pack the pollen into the cell, using her head to ram the pollen in tightly. When nearly full, the pollen cell will be topped off with a shallow layer of honey, and then capped. Stored in this manner, the pollen will be preserved for many months.

- Comb Building

Thousands of bees work together to build the comb used for raising brood and storing pollen and honey.

- Guarding

Every society needs security, and a bee colony is no exception. Each hive has worker bees that act as guards. The guard bees provide the first line of defense against intruders. They take posts at each entrance to the hive, and challenge anything attempting to enter the hive that is not a member of the hive.

Bees will sometimes rob the honey from a weaker hive if they can, and it is the job of the guard bees to prevent this from happening to their hive. They are able to tell if a worker bee attempting to enter is from another hive, and will fight to the death if necessary to prevent that bee from entering the hive.

- Foraging

If necessary, bees will fly more than 8 miles from the hive to find sources of nectar and pollen.

It's All About the Survival of the Colony

During the busiest time of the year, when plants are freely yielding nectar and pollen, and the hive is frantically storing food against the coming winter, the workers live for only about 5 weeks. They quite literally work themselves to death, sacrificing themselves to ensure the survival of the colony.

Quite often, the last contribution an old worker bee makes to the well being of the colony is to remove herself from the hive before she dies. Flying away in the short, ground-scraping hops that her frayed wings will permit, or even crawling if she’s no longer able to fly, she will die alone, isolated from the colony for which she has exhausted her life. With this final act of selflessness, she will have saved her colony from having to expend the energy of removing her lifeless body from the hive.

Drone Bees

It’s a beautiful, crisp, sunny day in late October. A gentle breeze swirls the kaleidoscope showers of multi-colored leaves into drifts, foretelling the drifts of white that will soon replace them. Birds sing sweetly, praising the beauty of the day with melodic harmonies. All seems serene and peaceful in the neighborhood. But deep within the recesses of one home, a life and death struggle is taking place: a young male is being cold-bloodedly murdered by his sisters.

The young male is a honeybee. He’s only a few weeks old, but he’s lived a pretty cushy life - up till now.

Male bees are called drones, and their sole purpose in life is to mate with a queen honeybee. Drone bees do not work; they simply eat, loaf, and fly around looking for a queen on her mating flight. But with winter approaching, there will be no queen bees on mating flights for months, and so the drone has outlived his usefulness.

During the long, hard winter, the hive will have to survive on the honey they’ve stored up during the summer. There will be no other sources of food during the winter, and if they run out of stored honey before spring, the entire hive will perish. So the now useless drone bee will no longer be tolerated.

When their instincts tell them that the time has come, the worker bees - all female, and all offspring of the same mother queen - drag their hapless brothers out of the hive. If the outcasts attempt to return to the hive, they are repelled, and so soon die from exposure or starvation. Fewer mouths to feed increase the odds of the hive surviving the winter.

Oh, and if the drone does happen to find a queen to mate with during the spring or summer …well, that doesn’t exactly end nicely for him either. You see, during the mating flight, just as he’s finishing the act of mating with the queen, his abdomen explodes and he plummets to the ground dead.

Honeybee Swarms

Swarming is simply nature’s way of perpetuating the species. When a honeybee colony swarms, it is giving birth to a new colony. The swarm emerges from the parent hive with a queen, with honey, and with a large enough workforce to establish a new colony.

The process of giving birth can be risky at times for any species, and it’s no different for bees; a new honeybee swarm faces many challenges. Will it be able to find an adequate shelter? Will it face starvation, or will it be able to build up its own stores of honey sufficiently to survive the coming winter? Will it succumb to disease or parasites?

Much is not yet understood about how a colony arrives at the decision to swarm. But in the spring, as the population of the hive increases, the resulting congestion within the hive is one of the primary catalysts for swarming. A hive with an older, less vigorous queen is also more likely to swarm.

Preparations for swarming actually begin several weeks ahead of time. A few weeks before the swarm occurs, the queen begins to lay an abnormally large number of eggs. The hive experiences a population boom as these eggs grow to adult bees. During this period, the queen also lays eggs in a number of queen cells. One of these new queens will eventually take the current queen’s place in the parent colony when she leaves with the swarm.

Roughly a week before the swarm leaves, the queen’s egg laying drops off sharply. And her attendant bees feed her much less; so much so that her abdomen begins to shrink and her body weight diminishes. Her forced weight loss will enhance her flying ability.

A few days before the swarm, scout bees begin to actively search for a new home. They communicate potential new home sites to the hive by dancing. Just before the swarm issues from the hive, the bees engorge themselves with honey. And then, as if on cue, tens of thousands of bees explode from the hive, filling the sky with a cloud of honeybees.

Usually, bee swarms will cluster temporarily at a location close to the parent hive, while scout bees continue their search for the ideal new home site. The scout bees continue to convey information about possible new locations by dancing on the surface of the swarm cluster. The more vigorous the dance of the scout, the better the location the scout bee has found.

Once the swarm has chosen a new location from the candidates the scout bees have provided, the cluster takes wing again and makes its way to its new home. With luck, they'll be able to establish a new home and stock it with enough honey to see them through the coming winter.

Honeybees Live in Air Conditioned Comfort

Honeybees have the ability to air condition their hive. They do this by distributing water droplets in strategic locations throughout the hive, and fanning their wings to generate air movement.

The bees on fanning duty will orient themselves so that fresh air is drawn into the hive, circulated throughout, and then exhausted. On a hot day, you can look at the entrance to a hive, and you will see bees facing away from the entrance on one side, and bees facing toward the entrance on the other side.

The bees facing away are drawing air into the hive, and those facing inwards are drawing air out of the hive. Fanning bees are also distributed throughout the interior of the hive, keeping the air circulating completely throughout the hive. The fanning bees grip the surface with their feet, point their heads downwards, and furiously fan their wings. It looks like hard work!

But the hard work pays off. As the air currents created by the fanning bees pass over the droplets of water within the hive, the water evaporates, and lowers the temperature of the air through the physics of evaporative cooling.

In extreme heat, many bees will even hold a drop of water in a thin film across their mandibles, exposing a greater surface area of water to the airflow, and thereby increasing the effectiveness of the evaporative cooling.

How effective is this air conditioning? Well, it’s been shown that bees are able to survive with outside air temperatures over 150° F. That’s pretty effective!

Honeybees Can Survive Sub-Freezing Temperatures

Honeybees have an amazing ability to adapt to harsh environmental conditions. The target temperature for the interior of a hive is 95° F, but it has been shown that bees are able to maintain this temperature in the brood nest (where the queen lays her eggs) with outside temperatures as low as -50° F!

In the wintertime, bees maintain the temperature within the brood nest by forming a cluster, thereby concentrating their body heat in the center of the cluster. As the outside temperature falls or rises, the cluster tightens or loosens in response, maintaining the brood area at target temperature.

The outer layer of the cluster consists of bees that are packed very tightly together, with their heads pointed toward the interior of the cluster. The bees in the outer layer are crowded so tightly together that the fine hairs on their bodies interlace, trapping air that serves to further insulate the interior of the cluster. The outer layer bees periodically change positions with interior bees, preventing the exterior bees from eventually succumbing to the cold.

If the outside temperature continues to fall once the cluster has contracted to its tightest, the bees maintain the core temperature by converting stored honey into heat. The bees eat honey and use its energy to fuel the constant shivering of their flight muscles, producing more heat.

In icy conditions, you can sometimes look at the exterior of a hive and see where the cluster is positioned inside the hive. The ice on the outer surface of the hive will be melted close to the cluster, while the rest of the hive exterior is caked with ice.

Honeybee Communication

Imagine that you need to communicate to a friend how to get to a specific location (let’s call it point B) that is about 4 miles away from where you both stand (point A). And it’s vitally important. The long-term survival of both of you and your families depend upon it.

Shouldn’t be too difficult, should it? You’ll just tell your friend which street to go down, and how far, and where to turn off to get to point B.

But you can’t do that, because in our imaginary scenario there are no streets or street signs. You are out in the wilderness. There are no distinguishing landmarks or geographical markers; there is only point A and point B, separated by about 4 miles (3.87 miles, to be precise, and you have to communicate that exact distance to your friend as well!).

Well, maybe you could tell your friend exactly which direction to go, and how far to walk.

Nope. Sorry, but neither of you can speak. You can make sounds, but you can’t form words. And you can’t read or write. And neither of you can see the other, so you can’t guide your friend. And you can't take your friend by the hand to lead her to the destination.

But again, if you don’t direct your friend to point B, your families will die.

Can you do it? Honeybees can.

Are You Talking to Me?

Perhaps no single characteristic more defines a species than the means by which members of the species communicate among themselves. And honey bees are amazingly effective at communicating with one another. They have to be, because honeybees are highly social insects, and without effective communication the complex social structure of the hive would not be possible.

Honeybees, of course, must forage for their food. At any one time, as many as 35% of the foraging bees of a colony are serving as scouts; searching for new, untapped sources of nectar and pollen.

With a potential foraging area of more than 200 square miles per colony (based upon the distance bees will fly to forage), the scouts need to be able to communicate their findings to other members of the colony, so that foragers can maximize the yield from each source. Without such organization and teamwork, the colony would not be able to forage effectively enough to sustain the colony.

So how does one lone scout bee direct her sisters to point B?

Dance, Baby, Dance!

You probably know already that one form of bee communication is dancing, but did you know that bees can give intricate and precise directions by dancing? Did you know that one bee could guide another to our imaginary point B simply by dancing?

This is how it works:

Through variations of the speed of the dance, the pattern of the dance, and sounds emitted by the dancing bee, the distance and direction to the food source is communicated. Movements by the dancing bee relative to the pull of gravity are translated into bearings by the audience bees. The 'compass' that the bees use to translate the bearings into a physical direction is the sun.

While she’s dancing, the scout bee distributes samples of the nectar from the new food source to the audience bees. The audience bees can also smell the fragrance of the new source clinging to the dancing bee’s body, and this will help them in identifying the new find when they get to point B.

Many plants yield nectar or pollen only during a specific time of day, and even this bit of information is communicated by the bee dance, since the dance only occurs during the time of day that the source is available.

Remarkably, all of this information is transferred within the depths of the hive, in pitch-black darkness. None of the bees are able to see the dance. The bees are able to sense the movements of the dancer by touch, with some of the audience bees following and mimicking the dancer.

Bees are also able to follow the movements of the dancer through the air movements created by the dancer. It’s thought that bees are able to sense the direction of movement of the air particles set in motion by the dancing bee, and by sensing the air movement, they can interpret the movements of the dance, even without seeing or touching the dancer.

It’s also interesting to note that nature has built a defense mechanism into the dancing method of bee communication. Scout bees, upon discovering a new source, will make a number of trips to the new source before announcing the discovery to the hive. It’s as if they are testing the new source, making sure that it’s worthy of announcing to the entire hive.

But because of this delay, if there are any natural toxins or pesticides present in the new source, the scout bee is likely to die before she 'tells' thousands of foragers about the discovery.

And if there happens to be extraordinarily heavy predator activity in the vicinity of the new source, it’s less likely that the scout bee will survive all of her initial visits to the new source before communicating the find. This delay may spare the hive the huge losses it might otherwise incur if the scout bee announced the discovery immediately.

What’s That Smell?

Dancing isn’t the only form of honeybee communication. They can also communicate by smell - or, at least, what you and I would think of as smell.

This form of bee communication utilizes chemicals that are called pheromones. Honeybees secrete many different pheromones, and these play crucial roles in helping to regulate the activities of the hive. Each unique pheromone transmits a unique message or signal from the bee emitting the pheromone to the bee receiving it.

A pheromone released during the process of stinging, for example, spreads an alarm signal throughout the hive, and serves to mark the sting victim as the target for additional bees responding to the alarm.

Queen bee pheromones identify the queen to other members of the hive, and help drones to locate her during mating flights.

And foraging honeybees even mark flowers that are found to be inadequate sources of nectar or pollen with a scent that basically says “don’t waste your time here” to any bee that may visit that flower later. Conversely, pheromones deposited on a flower by the feet of many foraging bees may inform a later visitor that “there’s good stuff here!”

All things considered, wouldn’t you agree that honeybees are amazingly adept at communicating among themselves? In fact, in some ways, I’m not so sure that honeybee communication doesn’t beat human communication for pure and simple effectiveness!

We Sure Do Owe Those Bees…

As you've probably heard, the world's honeybee population has fallen upon hard times in recent years. Parasites, pesticides, and massive wintertime losses have caused an alarming decline in honeybee populations in many regions. Detailing all of the problems that honeybees face, along with the causes (to the extent that we understand the causes), would be the topic of a separate book.

But suffice it to say that it's a scary situation, because we're very dependent upon those little critters. They provide all of the honey health benefits noted in this book, but their pollinating activities are also directly responsible for about a third of the foods we eat.

So if we humans do all that we can to help protect the honey bee from the problems it has faced in recent years, and help to ensure its long-term survival, we might, in fact, only be returning the favor.

Notes

3. Honey as an Antibiotic and an Antioxidant

S. E. Blair, N. N. Cokcetin, E. J. Harry and D. A. Carter, European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases, Volume 28, Number 10: "The unusual antibacterial activity of medical-grade Leptospermum honey: antibacterial spectrum, resistance and transcriptome analysis."

Maddocks SE, Lopez MS, Rowlands RS, Cooper RA, Microbiology, January 2012: "Manuka honey inhibits the development of streptococcus pyogenes biofilms and causes reduced expression of two fibronectin binding proteins."

Henriques AF, Jenkins RE, Burton NF, Cooper RA, European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases, 2011: "The effect of Manuka honey on the structure of pseudomonas aeruginosa."

Merckoll P, Jonassen TØ, Vad ME, Jeansson SL, Melby KK, Scandinavian Journal of Infectious Diseases, 2009: " Bacteria, biofilm and honey: A study of the effects of honey on 'planktonic' and biofilm-embedded chronic wound bacteria."

Krushna NS, Kowsalya A, Radha S, Narayanan RB, Indian Journal of Experimental Biology, 2007: "Honey as a natural preservative of milk."

Asadi-Pooya AA, Pnjehshahin MR, Beheshti S, Rivista Di Biologia, 2003: "The antimycobacterial effect of honey: an in vitro study."

Phillips KM, Carlsen MH, Blomhoff R, Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 2009: "Total antioxidant content of alternatives to refined sugar."

Khalil MI, Sulaiman SA, African Journal of Traditional, Complimentary and Alternative Medicines, 2010: "The potential role of honey and its polyphenols in preventing heart diseases."

University Of Illinois At Urbana-Champaign, ScienceDaily, 1998: "Dark Honey Has More Illness-Fighting Agents Than Light Honey."

4. Manuka Honey

Mavric E, Wittmann S, Barth G, Henle T, Molecular Nutrition & Food Research, 2008: "Identification and quantification of methylglyoxal as the dominant antibacterial constituent of Manuka (Leptospermum scoparium) honeys from New Zealand."

5. Honey as an Internal Medication

1.  Ian M. Paul, MD, MSc; Jessica Beiler, MPH; Amyee McMonagle, RN; Michele L. Shaffer, PhD; Laura Duda, MD; Cheston M. Berlin Jr, MD, Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine, 2007: "Effect of Honey, Dextromethorphan, and No Treatment on Nocturnal Cough and Sleep Quality for Coughing Children and Their Parents"

2.  U.S. Food and Drug Administration, October 8, 2008: "Using Over-the-Counter Cough and Cold Products in Children"

3.  Kreider, R.B, CJ Rasmussen, SL Lancaster, C Kerksick, and M Greenwood. Strength and Conditioning Journal, 2002: "Honey: An Alternative Sports Gel"

4.  Nzeako BC, Al-Namaani F, Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal, 2006: "The antibacterial activity of honey on helicobacter pylori."

5.  Al Somal N, Coley KE, Molan PC, Hancock BM, Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 1994: "Susceptibility of Helicobacter pylori to the antibacterial activity of manuka honey."

6.  Bukhari MH, Khalil J, Qamar S, Qamar Z, Zahid M, Ansari N, Bakhshi IM, Journal of the College of Physicians and Surgeons - Pakistan, 2011: "Comparative gastroprotective effects of natural honey, Nigella sativa and cimetidine against acetylsalicylic acid induced gastric ulcer in albino rats."

7.  Ndip RN, Malange Takang AE, Echakachi CM, Malongue A, Akoachere JF, Ndip LM, Luma HN, African Health Sciences, 2007: "In-vitro antimicrobial activity of selected honeys on clinical isolates of Helicobacter pylori."

8.  Ali AT, Chowdhury MN, al Humayyd MS, Tropical Gastroenterology: Official Journal of the Digestive Diseases Foundation, 1991: "Inhibitory effect of natural honey on Helicobacter pylori."

6. Honey as a Topical Medication

Malik KI, Malik MA, Aslam A, International Wound Journal, 2010: "Honey compared with silver sulphadiazine in the treatment of superficial partial-thickness burns."

Bd-El Aal AM, El-Hadidy MR, El-Mashad NB, El-Sebaie AH, Annals of Burns and Fire Disasters, 2007: "Antimicrobial effect of bee honey in comparison to antibiotics on organisms isolated from infected burns."

Cooper RA, Halas E, Molan PC, The Journal of Burn Care & Rehabilitation, 2002: "The efficacy of honey in inhibiting strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa from infected burns."

Gupta SS, Singh O, Bhagel PS, Moses S, Shukla S, Mathur RK, Journal of Cutaneous and Aesthetic Surgery, 2011: "Honey dressing versus silver sulfadiazene dressing for wound healing in burn patients: a retrospective study."

Ingle R, Levin J, Polinder K, South African Medical Journal, 2005: "Wound healing with honey--a randomised controlled trial."

Visavadia BG, Honeysett J, Danford MH, The British Journal of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, 2006: "Manuka honey dressing: An effective treatment for chronic wound infections."

Biglari B, Vd Linden PH, Simon A, Aytac S, Gerner HJ, Moghaddam A, Spinal Cord, 2012: "Use of Medihoney as a non-surgical therapy for chronic pressure ulcers in patients with spinal cord injury."

Lee DS, Sinno S, Khachemoune A, American Journal of Clinical Dermatology, 2011: "Honey and wound healing: an overview."

Nayak PA, Nayak UA, Mythili R, Contemporary Clinical Dentistry, 2010: "Effect of Manuka honey, chlorhexidine gluconate and xylitol on the clinical levels of dental plaque."

S A, S S, Malgi V, Setlur KP, R S, Setty S, Thakur S, Journal of Periodontology, 2012: "A Comparative Evaluation of the Anti-Bacterial Efficacy of Honey, In Vitro and Anti-Plaque Efficacy in a 4 Day Plaque Regrowth Model In Vivo - Preliminary Results."

English HK, Pack AR, Molan PC, Journal of the International Academy of Periodontology, 2004: "The effects of manuka honey on plaque and gingivitis: a pilot study."

7. Honey and MRSA - Super Food vs. Super Bug

Blaser G, Santos K, Bode U, Vetter H, Simon A, Journal of Wound Care, 2007: "Effect of medical honey on wounds colonized or infected with MRSA."

Natarajan S, Williamson D, Grey J, Harding KG, Cooper RA, Journal of Dermatological Treatment, 2001: "Healing of an MRSA-colonized, hydroxyurea-induced leg ulcer with honey."

Jennifer J. Eddy, MD; Mark D. Gideonsen, MD, The Journal of Family Practice, 2005: "Topical honey for diabetic foot ulcers."

Acton C., British Journal of Nursing, 2008: "Medihoney: a complete wound bed preparation product."

Dunford CE, Hanano R, Journal of Wound Care, 2004: "Acceptability to patients of a honey dressing for non-healing venous leg ulcers."

Tanisha Smith, Kennedy Legel, Jason R. Hanft, Advances in Skin & Wound Care, 2009: "Topical Leptospermum Honey (MEDIHONEY) in Recalcitrant Venous Leg Wounds: A Preliminary Case Series"

Michael Vlaicu, BioMedReports.com, 2009: "Derma Sciences (OTC:DSCI): Advanced Wound Healing"

Gethin G, Cowman S, Journal of Wound Care, 2008: "Bacteriological changes in sloughy venous leg ulcers treated with manuka honey or hydrogel: an RCT."

8. Honey And Diabetes

Shambaugh P, Worthington V, Herbert JH, Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, 1990: "Differential effects of honey, sucrose, and fructose on blood sugar levels."

Samanta A, Burden AC, Jones GR, Diabetic Medicine: A Journal of the British Diabetic Association, 1985: "Plasma glucose responses to glucose, sucrose, and honey in patients with diabetes mellitus: an analysis of glycaemic and peak incremental indices."

Akhtar MS, Khan MS, JPMA (The Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association), 1989: "Glycaemic responses to three different honeys given to normal and alloxan-diabetic rabbits."

Erejuwa OO, Sulaiman SA, Wahab MS, Molecules, 2011: "Oligosaccharides might contribute to the antidiabetic effect of honey: a review of the literature."

Omotayo EO, Gurtu S, Sulaiman SA, Ab Wahab MS, Sirajudeen KN, Salleh MS, International Journal for Vitamin and Nutrition Research, 2010: "Hypoglycemic and antioxidant effects of honey supplementation in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats."

Bahrami M, Ataie-Jafari A, Hosseini S, Foruzanfar MH, Rahmani M, Pajouhi M, International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition, 2009: "Effects of natural honey consumption in diabetic patients: an 8-week randomized clinical trial."

Agrawal OP, Pachauri A, Yadav H, Urmila J, Goswamy HM, Chapperwal A, Bisen PS, Prasad GB, Journal of Medicinal Food, 2007: "Subjects with impaired glucose tolerance exhibit a high degree of tolerance to honey."

9. No Scientific Proof, But Worth Considering…

Chou MM, Vergnolle N, McDougall JJ, Wallace JL, Marty S, Teskey V, Buret AG, Experimental Biology and Medicine, 2005: "Effects of chondroitin and glucosamine sulfate in a dietary bar formulation on inflammation, interleukin-1beta, matrix metalloprotease-9, and cartilage damage in arthritis."

Reginster JY, Bruyere O, Lecart MP, Henrotin Y, Current Opinion in Rheumatology, 2003: "Naturocetic (glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate) compounds as structure-modifying drugs in the treatment of osteoarthritis."

Rajan TV, Tennen H, Lindquist RL, Cohen L, Clive J, Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, 2002: "Effect of ingestion of honey on symptoms of rhinoconjunctivitis."

Kuna P, Samolinski B, Worm M, Pfaar O, Klimek L, European Annals of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 2011: "Sustained clinical efficacy of sublingual immunotherapy with a high-dose grass pollen extract."

Davis PA, Yokoyama W, Journal of Medicinal Food, 2011: "Cinnamon intake lowers fasting blood glucose: meta-analysis."

Kirkham S, Akilen R, Sharma S, Tsiami A, Diabetes, Obesity & Metabolism, 2009: "The potential of cinnamon to reduce blood glucose levels in patients with type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance."

Frydman-Marom A, Levin A, Farfara D, Benromano T, Scherzer-Attali R, Peled S, Vassar R, Segal D, Gazit E, Frenkel D, Ovadia M, PloS ONE, 2011: "Orally administrated cinnamon extract reduces β-amyloid oligomerization and corrects cognitive impairment in Alzheimer's disease animal models."

Peterson DW, George RC, Scaramozzino F, LaPointe NE, Anderson RA, Graves DJ, Lew J, Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, 2009: "Cinnamon extract inhibits tau aggregation associated with Alzheimer's disease in vitro."

Tung YT, Chua MT, Wang SY, Chang ST, Bioresource Technology, 2008: "Anti-inflammation activities of essential oil and its constituents from indigenous cinnamon (Cinnamomum osmophloeum) twigs."

Huang J, Wang S, Luo X, Xie Y, Shi X, Thrombosis Research, 2007: "Cinnamaldehyde reduction of platelet aggregation and thrombosis in rodents."

Keskin D, Toroglu S, Journal of Environmental Biology, 2011: "Studies on antimicrobial activities of solvent extracts of different spices."

10. The News About Honey Isn't All Sweet…

Arnon SS, The Western Journal of Medicine, 1980: "Honey, infant botulism and the sudden infant death syndrome."

Arnon SS, Midura TF, Damus K, Thompson B, Wood RM, Chin J, The Journal of Pediatrics, 1979: "Honey and other environmental risk factors for infant botulism."

Nakano H, Okabe T, Hashimoto H, Sakaguchi, Japanese Journal of Medical Science & Biology, 1990: "Incidence of Clostridium botulinum in honey of various origins."

Rall VL, Bombo AJ, Lopes TF, Carvalho LR, Silva MG, Anaerobe, 2003: "Honey consumption in the state of São Paulo: a risk to human health?"

Nevas M, Lindström M, Hautamäki K, Puoskari S, Korkeala H, International Journal of Food Microbiology, 2005: "Prevalence and diversity of Clostridium botulinum types A, B, E and F in honey produced in the Nordic countries."

Schocken-Iturrino RP, Carneiro MC, Kato E, Sorbara JO, Rossi OD, Gerbasi LE, FEMS Immunology and Medical Microbiology, 1999: "Study of the presence of the spores of Clostridium botulinum in honey in Brazil."

Koca I, Koca AF, Food and Chemical Toxicology, 2007: "Poisoning by mad honey: a brief review."

Yilmaz O, Eser M, Sahiner A, Altintop L, Yesildag O, Resuscitation, 2006: "Hypotension, bradycardia and syncope caused by honey poison