CHAPTER 35
Honey: A Unique God Gift

“The fruit of bees is desired by all, and is equally sweet to kings and beggars and it is not only pleasing but profitable and healthful; it sweetens their mouths, cures their wounds, and conveys remedies to inward ulcers.”

Saint Ambrose

Honey has been in use for the benefit of human beings as long as 3,500-4,000 years and that too all across the globe. In Ayurveda honey is called “madhu”. It is a Sanskrit word means “perfection of sweet”. Honey is a sweet viscous fluid produced by honey bees from the nectar of flowers. One of the striking feature of honey is in its raw form is pure and doesn’t require any kind of additional flavours, sweetners, colour or preservative. It is one of the best sources of energy. Honey when consumed with different natural products such as milk, fruit juices and others or can be used as jam to spread over bread. It is one of nature’s most splendid gift to mankind.

Since vedic period honey has been advocated as food and medicine. It is written in ancient Charak Samhita that enjoying a spoonful of honey a day will live a long healthy life. A natural immune booster, honey is fully loaded with vitamins, essential minerals, iron, amino acids, and has many antibiotic and antiseptic properties. Bacteria can not live in presence of honey because of the presence of antibiotics and high contents of potassium in honey.

Honey is considered an “anupama” a vehicle or carrier for other herbs to increase their efficacy. It enhances their medical qualities, and helps to reach deeper tissues. Hense almost all powdered herbs are advised to be taken with honey.

Composition of Honey

Among all foods available to day, honey is one of the most complex natural foods and contains a wide variety of nutrients. Darker honeys tend to provide higher amount of minerals than lighter varities. One hundred gram (100 g) honey contain approximately 304 calories and average 17.1 g water. Honey contains 82.4% carbohydrates, which include 38.5 g fructose, 31 g glucose, 7.3 g maltose and just over 1 g sucrose. Honey also contains more complex carbohydrates which are medium size carbohydrates containing more than three simple sugar sub units. Complex sugars are are formed when nectar is converted into honey. The average pH of honey is 3.9. The low pH, high amount of sugars and presence of antibiotics and high content of potassium do not allow micoorganisms to proliferate.

Properties of Honey

• • It is a viscous, semi-translucent liquid of golden brown colour
• • Has a tendency to become opaque and crystalline.
• • It has an aromatic odour and sweet taste.
• • Crystallization of honey does not alter its properties, rather it sign of naturalness.
• • Older honey is onsidered particularly valuable for reducing blood sugar in diabetes and for cough.
• • Any medicine taken with honey is easily absorbed by the body system and recovery from illness is faster as honey has property of acting as a catalyst to the process of absorption.
• • Honey which has turned crystalline can be clear and smooth again by standing the sealed jar in a sauce pan of warm water.
• • If honey is one of the ingredients mentioned in a recipe, warm it slightly to fllow smoothly.
• • There are many countries where this wonderful gift of nature, honey has been, and still is, used in various culinary recipes
• • It is natural preservative.

Health Benefits

• • For thousand of years, honey is one of the most important medicines that has been used in Ayurvedic healing. Honey is both food and medicine, and for that reason it can be used for both internal and external applications.
• • One of the greatest benefits of honey is that it acts as a transporting vehicle inside the body once it has been ingested or applied externally with herbs, making sure the benefits of the various herbs that are mixed with the honey are penetrating deep and fast into the tissues and improving the herbs’ efficacy to heal and repair.
• • When applied directly on the surface of the wound, it helps to remove poisons from the body by using the same vehicle technique it uses to move herbs through the tissues of the body.

Honey Commercial Product    Appearance of Honey

• • Used as vehicle for many drugs because of its yogavaha characters. It is also known to mitigate the increased kapha dosha. It should also be kept in mind that fresh honey helps to increase body mass while old honey produces constipation and decreases body mass. Cold honey should always be preferred.
• • For individuals with vata and kapha types of constitutions the intake of honey is most beneficial, as it is warming and soothes those with cold body constitutions. It is too strong for pitta types, as it undergoes a chemical transformation in the intense fire of the pitta’s metabolism, turning it into a harmful acid. Honey is not recommended for pitta constitution.
• • It has been proved that honey has powerful inhibitory effect on no fewer than 60 species of different types bacteria. Many of these bacteria are notoriously resistant to antibiotics; but they are powerless against antimicrobial properties of honey.
• • Honey can be used for the treatment of eye diseases, cough, thirst, sore throats, diabetes, obesity, asthma, and added as a sweetener that doubles as a healing ingredient in many beverages.
• • Honey is one of the ingredient in no less than 634 ayurvedic preparations to treat incredibly range of health problems. They include tuberculosis, bronchitis, fever, kidney stone, diabetes, heart disease, asthma, colic, mental disease, stiffness, fainting, obesity, smallpox, odema, stomatitis, hicupp, alopesia, syphilis etc.
• • Unlike antibiotics and other medications honey is nontoxic and produces no side effects. It is inexpensive, easy to obtain, and can be used virtually by anyone.
• • Sweet honey known as madhu in Ayurvedic scriptures is one of the most important medicines used in Ayurveda.

Types of Honey

In Ayurvedic medicine honey possesses a variety of medicinal properties and is classified as heavy, dry, cold. According to the text of honey and its Ayurvedic approach, practitioners have classified, eight distinct types of medicinal honey depending upon type of bee that collects it.

1. 1. Makshikam: This honey is collected from large bluish honey bees, very light and dry natured. Used in the treatment of eye diseases, hepatitis, piles, asthma, cough and tuberculosis. Among all types, This honey is considered to be best. It is said to contain immense medical properties.
2. 2. Bhraamara: This honey is collected from another type of small bees. It is sticky and transparent white in colour. Used in the treatment of urinary tract infection, blood related problems. For general consumption it is not recommended.
3. 3. Kshoudra: Honey collected from medum sized brown honey bees. Considered light and cold in nature. Used in the treatment of diabetes.
4. 4. Pouttika: Honey is collected from small honey beees that live in the hollows of old tree. This type of honey increase vata dosha and create burning sensation in the chest. Used in the treatment of diabetes and to reduce the size of tumors, and urinary infection.
5. 5. Dala: Honey is dry in nature and is good for digestion. Used in treatment of diabetes and vomiting.
6. 6. Chatra: Honey is collected frm brown and yellow bees that builds honeycomb in Himalayan forests. Beehive is umbrella shape(chata). It is heavy and cold in nature. Useful in gout, worms, indigestion. It is a good honey for overall nourishment.
7. 7. Arghya: Honey is made by yellow bee. Good for the eyes but causes arthritis.
8. 8. Auddalaka: Honey is made by small brown bee that lives in anthill. Astringent in nature. Used to treat skin disease. Also taken internally to improve voice modulation.

Cultured or purified honey, which is made by most of the authentic Ayurvedic manufacturing units as per the Ayurvedic scriptures should be use.

Interesting Facts

1. 1. Like poison, it spreads immediately throughout the whole body and penetrates to the deepest tissues without being first digested.
2. 2. Honey becomes toxic when transformed by heat. It should never be used in cooking or baking as it enhances poisonous qualities that result in the production of ama in the body.
3. 3. Another amazing fact about honey is that honey is the only food that will never rot. A jar of honey may remain edible for thousands of years!

Home Remedies

• • A teaspoon of honey and 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon will work against a cold within a day or two! Take twice a day. Both honey and cinnamon are antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal. Also, this treatment is a great way to reduce sugar levels, blood pressure and bladder/kidney infections, and it acts as a pain reliever for arthritis., cough, thirst, phlegm, hiccups, blood in vomit, leprosy, diabetes, obesity, worm infestation, vomiting, asthma, diarrhoea and healing Drink honey mixed with beet juice.
• • Honey is great for building haemoglobin due to its quantities of easily absorbed iron, copper and manganese.
• • Honey’s anti-septic and soothing qualities cleanse and quickly repairs deep wounds. It accelerates new tissue growth.
• • Honey and cinnamon made into a paste, and massaged onto joints relives pain.
• • Try one tablespoon honey to stop hiccups.
• • Honey in hot milk increases sperm count considerably.
• • Honey, ground almonds, and whole milk mixed into a paste, makes an excellent cleanser and moisturizer.
• • Daily in morning ½ hour before breakfast on an empty stomach and at night before sleeping drink honey and cinnamon powder boiled in one cup water. If taken regularly it reduces over weight. Also drinking this mixure regularly does not allow the fat to accumulate in the body even though the person eat a high calorie diet.
• • Make a paste of one teaspoonful of cinnamon powder and five teaspoonful of honey and appy on the aching tooth. This may be applied three times a day till the tooth stops aching.
• • An equal mixture made up of ginger juice, black pepper powder and honey when taken at least three times a day can really help prevent asthma attacks and cure asthma.