http://9jaflave..com/2013/10/health-series-5-health-benefits-of-honey.html

“My son, eat thou honey, for it is good” — King Solomon – Proverbs: 24:13

Honey is one of the oldest sweeteners on earth and its health benefits are well-known facts. Honey is a food that should be in every woman's kitchen and every home. It is a reliable substitute for sugar (from sugarcane).

How honey is produced:
Bees search for a source of nectar. When they find a suitable flower they go in and swallow the nectar into their ‘crop’ [like a stomach for honey]. Then they regurgitate it (vomit it back up). The bees then chew the regurgitated nectar, mixing it with saliva to add enzymes. Then they swallow it again and regurgitate it again. This process is repeated many times.

Health Benefits:
1. Prevent cancer and heart disease:
Honey contains flavonoids, antioxidants which help reduce the risk of some cancers and heart disease.

2. Reduce ulcers and other gastrointestinal disorders.
Recent research shows that honey treatment may help disorders such as ulcers and bacterial gastroenteritis. (Honey is used for diarrhoea and stomach ulcers caused by infection with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) bacteria).

3. Anti-bacterial & Anti-fungal:
“All honey is antibacterial, because the bees add an enzyme that makes hydrogen peroxide,” said Peter Molan, director of the Honey Research Unit at the University of Waikato in New Zealand.

4. Increase athletic performance.
Ancient Olympic athletes would eat honey and dried figs to enhance their performance. This has now been verified with modern studies, showing that it is superior in maintaining glycogen levels and improving recovery time than other sweeteners.

5. Reduce cough and throat irritation:
Honey helps with coughs, particularly buckwheat honey. It has been found to be at least as effective as the cough suppressant dextromethorphan in typical over-the-counter doses.

6. Blood sugar regulation:
Even though honey contains simple sugars, it is NOT the same as white sugar or artificial sweeteners. Its exact combination of fructose and glucose actually helps the body regulate blood sugar levels.

**The secret behind its ability to do so lies in its balance of fructose and glucose. When you eat honey, the fructose portion allows the glucose to be taken in by the liver to form glycogen -- which becomes available for the brain, heart, kidneys, and red blood cells. This enhances the functioning of those essential organs and tissues, while removing glucose from circulation and thus lowering blood sugar. Studies have shown that honey does not raise blood sugar or insulin levels, and produces more liver glycogen than any other food on a per gram basis!

7. Heal wounds and burns:
External application of honey has been shown to be as effective as conventional treatment with silver sulfadiazene. Honey seems to reduce odors and pus, help clean the wound, reduce infection, reduce pain, and decrease time to healing. In some reports, wounds healed with honey after other treatments failed to work. Also it is used in cases of diabetic ulcers.

8. Probiotic:
Some varieties of honey possess large amounts of friendly bacteria. This includes up to 6 species of lactobacilli and 4 species of bifidobacteria. This may explain many of the therapeutic properties of honey.

9. Beautiful skin:
Its anti-bacterial qualities are particularly useful for the skin, and, when used with the other ingredients, can also be moisturizing and nourishing.

Honey Warning
Do not use raw honey in infants and young children under 12 months of age due to the chance of botulism poisoning. This is not a danger for older children or adults.

**Honey can become contaminated with germs from plants, bees, and dust during production, and also during collection and processing. Fortunately, the germ-fighting characteristics of honey ensure that most contaminating organisms cannot survive or reproduce. However, bacteria that reproduce using spores, including the bacterium that causes botulism, may remain. This explains why botulism has been reported in infants given honey by mouth.

Honey Trivia
**To make 1 pound (454 g) of honey, a bee colony must visit over 2 million flowers, flying over 55,000 miles, at up to 15 miles per hour to do so.

**During a bee’s lifetime, she will only make approximately one teaspoon of honey, which is essential to the hive for times when nectar is scarce, such as during winter.
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http://9jaflave..com/2013/10/health-series-5-health-benefits-of-honey.html

I better start taking honey

K

I am not an endocrinologist, but I know honey is not given to diabetics, so that clause containing regulation of blood sugar is doubtful....

Please Correct me if I'm wrong

Lagusta: I am not an endocrinologist, but I know honey is not given to diabetics, so that clause containing regulation of blood sugar is doubtful....

Please Correct me if I'm wrong

The secret behind its ability to do so lies in its balance of fructose and glucose. When you eat honey, the fructose portion allows the glucose to be taken in by the liver to form glycogen -- which becomes available for the brain, heart, kidneys, and red blood cells. This enhances the functioning of those essential organs and tissues, while removing glucose from circulation and thus lowering blood sugar. Studies have shown that honey does not raise blood sugar or insulin levels, and produces more liver glycogen than any other food on a per gram basis!
So honey is still preferable to sugar(sucrose), but better for diabetics to stay away from both!