Honey is a popular folk remedy. It’s also recommended in traditional healing systems such as Ayurveda and traditional Chinese medicine. Studies convincingly demonstrate that the contents of this amber elixir can be:
• Alkalinizing
• Anti-cancer
• Antimicrobial
• Anti-obesity
• Antioxidant
• Anti-inflammatory
• Capillary (tiny blood vessel) strengthening
• Cholesterol-lowering
• Detoxifying
• Digestion-enhancing
• Immunity-boosting
• Nerve-message-carrying
• Smooth-muscle-relaxing.
The importance of each effect differs from honey to honey.
Honeys originating from medicinal plants may contain some of the compounds in herbal remedies made from their roots, stems, leaves, flowers, seeds or fruits. So perhaps we should think of these honeys as herbal remedies, too.
Refined white table sugar is the most common sweetener in the average westernized diet. High-fructose corn syrup is next and widely used in the US and Japan, though not in Europe. But these sweeteners provide only ‘empty calories’ because they have no nutritional benefit other than their sugars supplying energy.
Honey, however, not only provides energy, but also contains many health-enhancing compounds.
If we choose honey, we tend to consume less than we would sugar, since honey is sweeter and tastes more characterful. Honey behaves differently from sugar in the body, even if we eat a lot of it, because of its acidity, flavonoids and other antioxidants, vitamins, copper and zinc.
Compared with sugar, the average honey makes blood glucose and, therefore, insulin, rise more slowly and climb less high. Certain honeys, including acacia, yellow-box and raw honeys, many high-fructose honeys and runny honeys, make blood glucose rise even less.
This is good, because many health problems (including Alzheimer’s, artery disease, diabetes, eye disease, high blood pressure and inflammation) are encouraged by repeated high blood glucose. This encourages oxidation in blood vessels, damage (glycation) to body proteins such as insulin, collagen and certain brain proteins and, eventually, resistance to insulin.
It can help to know about the glycaemic index (GI), which ranks foods from 1–100 or more according to their blood-glucose-raising ability. (Fats don’t raise blood glucose, while proteins do so only in particular circumstances – see below.)
A honey’s GI depends on its proportions and amounts of sugars, and on its acids, flavonoids and other contents that influence blood glucose. Choosing a low-GI honey instead of sugar helps prevent unhealthy rises (‘spikes’) of blood glucose and insulin.
| GI | FOOD | ||
| Low GI | 55 or less | Fructose | 19 |
| Black locust honey | 32 | ||
| Yellow box honey | 35 | ||
| Raw honey | 30–40 | ||
| Acacia, chestnut, heather and linden honeys | 49-55 | ||
| Medium GI | 56–69 | ‘Average’ honey | 58 |
| Oilseed rape honey | 64 | ||
| Raw sugar | 65 | ||
| Sucrose (average of 10 studies) | 68 | ||
| High-fructose corn syrup – HFCS 42 (42g fructose/100g) | 68 | ||
| Clover honey | 69 | ||
| High GI | 70 or more | Corn syrup | 75 |
| High-fructose corn syrup – HFCS 55 (55g fructose/100g) | 87 | ||
| Honeydew honey | 89 | ||
| Glucose | 100 | ||
| Maltose | 105 | ||
Honey is also better than sugar at amassing glycogen in the liver. Glycogen is made from linked glucose molecules, and the liver contains up to 100g/4oz. Liver glycogen is a glucose store and releases glucose to maintain an adequate blood glucose when necessary.
Cells take in blood glucose and burn it as a fuel to produce energy. Brain cells take in 15–20 times as much as other cells yet can store only enough for 30 seconds. They are therefore particularly reliant on blood glucose; they also have first call on it. About a teaspoon of glucose usually circulates in the blood at any one time. Any less and we lose consciousness.
If we go to bed with a low liver-glycogen store, the liver can’t top up our blood glucose during the long hours of the night fast. Our cells then need fat or protein as alternative sources of energy.
Fat can be broken down into glycerol and fatty acids, and most cells can burn fatty acids. Fat is an important energy source for these cells, especially at night. While by day most of our energy comes from glucose, during sleep, 70 per cent comes from fat.
But brain cells can’t burn fatty acids, because these can’t leave the blood vessels in the brain. If low blood glucose continues for two to three days running, the body breaks fatty acids into ketones, which brain cells can burn. Until then, brain cells must recruit stress hormones to help get glucose.
If liver-glycogen stores and blood glucose are low overnight, glucose-depleted brain cells get their energy needs met by recruiting the stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline. These raise blood glucose by making cells resistant to insulin so they take in less blood glucose, making cells burn less glucose and degrading protein so the liver can use it to make glucose.
But stress hormones also raise the blood pressure and heart-rate and make cells burn less fat. And because cells burn less glucose and less fat, they may not have enough energy to work properly.
In other words, stress hormones cause metabolic stress. This can make us sleep badly and have night-time urination, cramp and acid reflux, plus early-morning fatigue, weakness or nausea.
If continued night after night, the resulting chronic metabolic stress can have deleterious effects on health. We risk getting diabetes, artery disease, certain cancers, depression, fatigue, high blood pressure, inflammation, low immunity, memory loss, metabolic syndrome, polycystic ovaries, poor repair of skin, muscles and other tissues, central obesity and osteoporosis.
Consuming 1–2 teaspoons of a low-GI honey on its own or in a drink within the hour before bedtime is a good way of topping up liver glycogen after a much earlier evening meal and so helping prevent chronic metabolic stress.
Another way is to eat a meal or snack late in the evening, although many people prefer not to eat late.
The options include:
• Any honey.
• Raw honey.
• Monofloral honey with particular healing potential; note that certain honeys are allocated a rating for their antibacterial, antioxidant or oligosaccharide activity.
• Honey-containing lozenges, eyedrops, dressings, creams, ointments, gels and patches (from certain pharmacies, drugstores or on the internet).
• Supplements containing concentrated honey extract.
Consume honey as part of a healthy balanced diet, on its own, with food or in coffee, teas or other drinks. Official health advice is to get no more than 6 per cent (in the US) to 10 per cent (in the UK) of energy from sugar, including that in honey.
Honey is generally very safe and often cheaper than other treatments.
Honeys vary in their contents and therefore their healing potential. Many folk healers and complementary therapists, including apitherapists who treat ailments with honeybee products, recommend particular honeys.
These are rare, but:
• Many experts advise against honey for under-ones (see page 56).
• Honey stings broken skin slightly in 1 in 20 people.
• A very few people are allergic to pollen, or bee proteins, in honey. Urgent medical help is needed for itching or swelling of the lips, swelling in the mouth or throat, breathing difficulty or faintness after consuming honey.
• People with diabetes or pre-diabetes would probably be wise to avoid the regular use of manuka or jellybush honey with a UMF or ULF of 10 or more (see page 26).
To learn more about a study mentioned here, enter keywords into an internet search engine, plus the journal’s name and year.
The suggestions here should not replace any necessary medical diagnosis and therapy.
Honey kills acne bacteria. Its high sugar content draws pus from acne spots, and its anti-inflammatories soothe the skin.
Action: Apply honey, or manuka-honey cream, three times a day.
A survey in the 1980s of some of the world’s oldest people found three in four ate raw, unfiltered honey each day.
If honey can indeed help maximize lifespan, one possible reason is that its antioxidants help prevent heart attacks, strokes and cancer.
Another is that honey can boost glutathione – a powerful antioxidant and detoxifier that slows ageing. To produce this from the amino acid homocysteine, our body requires vitamins B6 and B2, and zinc. These are quite often lacking, but honey can help fill the gap.
Also, raw honey may help because it’s an alkali-producing food (see page 22).
Action: Consume one teaspoon of raw honey three times a day.
People with Alzheimer’s are prone to oxidation, inflammation and high levels of homocysteine, an amino acid. They also have low (perhaps only 90 per cent of normal) levels of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that aids memory.
Honey discourages oxidation, can lower inflammatory prostaglandins and homocysteine, and contains small amounts of acetylcholine.
High blood glucose can encourage Alzheimer’s by damaging (‘glycating’) brain-cell proteins. Honey triggers lower blood-sugar spikes than sugar.
Action: Eat one teaspoon of raw and, ideally, antioxidant-rich honey three times a day, including a teaspoon within the hour before bedtime.
Honey contains iron (vital for haemoglobin), copper (aids iron absorption) and manganese (helps build haemoglobin). The amounts are small, but nevertheless may help.
When 10 volunteers in Dubai took a daily 1.2g of honey per 1kg bodyweight for 2 weeks, blood tests revealed a 20 per cent increase in iron, a 33 per cent increase in copper and slight increases in haemoglobin and red cells.
Journal of Medicinal Food, 2003
Action: Eat one teaspoon of honey three times a day. Ideally, choose dark honey as it’s richer in iron.
Pleasure from honey’s fragrance and flavour could boost the production of serotonin, a calming and ‘lifting’ neurotransmitter. Honey contains tryptophan, which can be converted into serotonin. Because honey is a high-carbohydrate, low-protein food, it also helps tryptophan enter the brain.
Honey is particularly good at boosting liver glycogen. A good liver-glycogen store protects the brain’s energy supply, preventing the need for stress hormones to take over (see pages 63–4).
Too much of the amino acid homocysteine in the blood is a risk factor for depression; research suggests honey can help lower it.
Chronic metabolic stress (see page 64) can encourage depression; taking honey before bedtime can help prevent this.
Raw honey may be particularly useful as it’s an alkali-producing food (see page 22).
In a study at Waikato University, New Zealand, 45 rats ate a sugar-free diet or a diet containing sugar or honey. After 1 year, the honey group were less anxious.
Journal of Food Science, 2008
Action: Eat one teaspoon of raw honey three times a day, including one within the hour before bedtime.
Atherosclerosis narrows arteries with atheroma, stiffens them with inflammation-induced scarring and calcium deposits, and encourages poor circulation, strokes and heart attacks.
One cause is high LDL-cholesterol (as this is inflammatory if oxidized) and low HDL-cholesterol (the protective sort of cholesterol). Others include pre-diabetes, high blood pressure, blood fats, or homo-cysteine, and an abnormal tendency to inflammation or blood clotting.
High blood glucose can encourage artery disease by damaging (‘glycating’) collagen in artery walls and making it less pliable. Honey triggers lower blood-sugar spikes than sugar.
A test-tube study shows honey discourages blood clotting. The researchers say this could result from its hydrogen peroxide, antioxidants, or sugars.
Pakistan Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2011
In a study of 55 volunteers at Mashhad University of Medical Science, Iran, the 38 who included 70g of honey in their daily diet for 4 weeks had lower fasting levels of LDL-cholesterol, triglycerides and C-reactive protein (a marker of inflammation) than those who had 70g of sucrose.
Scientific World Journal, 2008
Researchers at Qassim University, Saudi Arabia, found that giving honey to rats helped normalize high homocysteine.
Vascular Disease Prevention, 2006
Also, honey’s flavonoids and other antioxidants help protect collagen. This helps keep arteries pliable and strengthens capillary walls, encouraging good blood flow.
Chronic metabolic stress (see page 64) can encourage artery disease by triggering pre-diabetes and high blood fats.
Raw honey may help as it’s an alkali-producing food (see page 22).
Action: Eat one teaspoon of raw honey three times a day, including a teaspoon within the hour before bedtime. Antioxidant-rich honey might be especially useful.
Honey contains anti-inflammatories. Honey before bedtime can discourage inflammation (see page 87). Honey’s flavonoids and other antioxidants help protect collagen in joints. And honey can lower raised homocysteine, which can be linked with rheumatoid arthritis.
Raw honey may be particularly helpful as it’s an alkali-producing food (see page 22).
Action: Eat one teaspoon of raw honey three times a day, including a teaspoon within the hour before bedtime.
Massage honey into the skin over a painful joint.
Honey is reputed to help prevent childhood bedwetting.
Action: Give one teaspoon of honey within the hour before bedtime.
Studies suggest honey reduces pain, discourages blistering and infection and speeds skin-cell regeneration of superficial and partial-thickness burns.
Researchers in Maharashtra, India, used honey or silver-sulfadiazine to treat burns in 100 people. After 1 week, 91 per cent of honey-treated burns were infection-free, compared with 7 per cent of the others. Honey-treated burns healed in 15 days, compared with 17 for the others.
British Journal of Surgery, 2001
Action: Apply a honey dressing (see page 94).
Test-tube and animal studies suggest that honey has moderate anti-cancer effects and pronounced anti-cancer-spread effects. The constituents responsible include certain flavonoids and other polyphenols. Research will hopefully reveal similar effects in people.
Studies suggest honey:
• Discourages oxidation and inflammation
• Enhances immunity
• Reduces high homocysteine
• Kills bacteria and viruses
• Deactivates certain enzymes
• Detoxifies cancer-causing agents
• Reduces cancer-cell formation
• Reduces cancer-cell proliferation
• Discourages the new-blood-vessel growth that enables cancer growth.
• Encourages apoptosis (suicide) of cancer cells
• Potentiates the anti-cancer drugs 5-fluorouracil and cyclophosphamide
• Prevents the enzyme aromatase, enabling oestrogen production from androgens (male hormones)
• Discourages adverse effects of certain cancer drugs
• Discourages multi-drug resistance.
For example:
A Malaysian study found tualang honey (a forest honey) induced apoptosis of mouth and bone cancer cells.
BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2010
Research at Greek and Finnish universities suggests thyme honey reduces the body’s oestrogenic activity, so could deter oestrogen-dependent breast, prostate and womb cancers.
Food Chemistry, 2009
Chronic metabolic stress (see page 64) can encourage cancer.
Honey’s oligosaccharides aid the growth and activity of probiotic gut bacteria, which may help prevent colon cancer.
Honey can aid wound healing in people on chemotherapy or radiotherapy; reduce mouth soreness from head or neck radiotherapy; destroy Helicobacter pylori bacteria (which encourage stomach cancer); help prevent infection and odour in cancer involving skin; and reduce febrile neutropenia (fever, plus a low white-cell count: a serious side effect of chemotherapy).
Raw honey may be particularly helpful as it’s an alkali-producing food (see page 22).
Action: Until we know more, consume one teaspoon of raw honey three times a day, including a teaspoon within the hour before bedtime.
Honey helps by excluding air, thus reducing pain, and providing antiviral and anti-inflammatory agents.
Researchers in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, compared honey with acyclovir cream for 8 volunteers with cold sores and 8 with genital herpes. Honey was up to 43 per cent better at reducing pain from cold sores and helping them heal. A similar benefit was found with genital herpes.
Medical Science Monitor, 2004
Action: Apply raw honey three times a day. Or apply manuka-honey cream.
Honey’s soothing, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties may help, as may honey’s oligosaccharides, which aid the growth and activity of probiotic gut bacteria.
Action: Consume one to two teaspoons of raw honey three times a day.
Or chew some honeycomb for 15 minutes every few hours.
Also, gargle with one teaspoon of honey in half a glass of warm water.
Honey attracts water, making stools softer and easier to pass. Also, its acetylcholine stimulates bowel movement.
Action: Consume one teaspoon of honey three times a day.
Honey’s antimicrobials, anti-inflammatories and antioxidants can help. Honey is said to loosen phlegm. Also, honey is safe, whereas certain cough medications can have adverse effects.
In a study at Penn State College of Medicine, 105 children aged 2–18 with an upper respiratory infection and nighttime cough had buckwheat honey, honey-flavoured dextromethorphan or no treatment 30 minutes before bedtime. Honey had the best results.
Archives of Pediatric Adolescent Medicine, 2007
Action: Take one to two teaspoons of raw honey three times a day.
If honey helps, as reputed, this is probably thanks to its anti-inflammatories and antimicrobials. Raw honey may be particularly useful as it’s an alkalinizing food.
Action: Consume one teaspoon of raw honey three times a day.
This results from repeated episodes of high blood sugar and insulin leading first to insulin resistance, then to reduced insulin production. Insulin resistance encourages fat-storage cells to produce oxidants, which, among other things, encourage diabetes.
The amount of carbohydrate we consume is the most important predictor of diabetes, so it’s wise to limit its amount. It’s also sensible to choose low-glycaemic-index carbohydrates (ones with a low blood-sugarraising effect) when possible.
Most honeys raise blood glucose less than sugar does. Most importantly, we tend to use less honey than we would sugar, producing an even smaller rise in blood glucose.
Also, honey’s:
• antioxidants have a bigger than predicted effect and may, for example, reduce diabetes-related inflammation in blood vessels. In addition, honey is proven to reduce inflammatory prostaglandins.
• flavonoids aid cell communication. For example, eating honey with a starchy food such as bread slows the release of amylase (the enzyme that converts starch to sugar), making blood glucose lower than after starchy food alone.
• trace elements and other minerals may be useful. For example, chromium, magnesium and manganese and zinc are vital for healthy blood-sugar control; vanadium decreases the need for insulin; and potassium improves insulin-sensitivity.
In a study in Karachi, Pakistan, 26 volunteers consumed 1g per kg bodyweight of honey, artificial-honey-flavoured sugar syrup, or glucose. After 1 hour, blood glucose had increased by 20 per cent in the honey group, 47 per cent in the simulated-honey group, and 52 per cent in the glucose group.
Journal of Food Science, 2009
In a study at Mashhad University of Medical Science, Iran, 55 overweight volunteers ate 70g of honey or sugar daily for 30 days. The honey group had lower fasting-blood-glucose.
Scientific World Journal, 2008
In people with pre-diabetes, blood glucose 60 and 90 minutes after eating honey was lower than after eating sugar.
Journal of Medicinal Food, 2007
Eating honey before bedtime may help by preventing chronic metabolic stress (see page 64).
While high homocysteine (an amino acid) encourages diabetes, honey can reduce it.
Lastly, raw honey may help because it’s alkali-producing (see page 22).
Action: Use low-glycaemic-index and preferably raw honey instead of sugar in your diet.
Consume one teaspoon of honey within the hour before bedtime.
Anecdotal evidence suggests honey can help. If so, this could be because of its anti-inflammatories.
Action: Apply medical-grade honey cream.
Consume one teaspoon of raw honey three times a day.
Topical honey reputedly helps blepharitis (inflamed eyelid margins), cataracts, conjunctivitis, keratitis (inflamed cornea) and corneal injury. If it does, this is probably thanks to its antimicrobials and anti-inflammatories.
It’s also suggested that consuming raw honey can help cataracts because it’s an alkali-producing food (see page 22).
High blood glucose can encourage eye diseases such as cataracts and age-related macular degeneration by damaging (‘glycating’) proteins in the eye. Honey triggers lower blood-sugar spikes than sugar.
Action: With an eye-dropper or straw, put one honey eye-drop into the outer corner of the affected eye three times a day.
To make the drops, mix half a teaspoon of runny honey and one tablespoon of warm water in a small container. Make a fresh mixture each day.
To combat infection, use medical-grade manuka (or jellybush) honey. For other eye inflammation, use antioxidant-rich honey.
To help prevent or treat cataracts and age-related macular degeneration, eat one teaspoon of raw honey three times a day.
Honey boosts energy. Consuming it before bedtime can help prevent early-morning fatigue from overnight metabolic stress (see page 64).
Consuming honey before, during and after aerobic exercise reduces post-exertion fatigue as its carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins aid recovery.
Studies suggest honey reduces cortisol during resistance exercise, which would reduce fatigue.
Honey mixed with water is a good alternative to commercial sports drinks. And honey is a good alternative to commercial sports gels.
In a study at the University of Memphis, 39 athletes ate protein, plus sugar, maltodextrin or honey after weight-lifting. Only honey maintained optimal blood-glucose for 2 hours (which would aid muscle recovery, glycogen restoration and energy repletion). Blood tests indicated good muscle recovery.
Presented at the annual meeting of the National Strength and Conditioning Association, Orlando, 2000
Raw honey may be particularly helpful as it’s an alkali-producing food (see page 22).
Action: Consume one teaspoon of honey three times a day, including a teaspoon within the hour before bedtime.
Many experts blame this on low-grade metabolic acidosis depositing acidic ions in muscles and connective tissue.
Raw honey may help as it’s an alkali-producing food (see page 22).
Action: Eat one teaspoon of raw honey three times a day.
Honey is reputed to help clear fungal skin infections and research offers some backing.
A test-tube study at Erciyes University, Turkey, tested the effects of various honeys on yeasts such as Candida albicans, Trichosporon and certain strains resistant to fluconazole. Honey inhibited their growth, the degree of inhibition depending on the type and concentration of honey and type of yeast. Rhododendron and multifloral honeys had more effect than eucalyptus and orange honeys.
Medical Mycology, 2008
Manuka honey with a UMF of 10–15 is reportedly effective.
Action: Apply raw honey twice a day, covering with a dressing if necessary.
Honey’s antimicrobials and anti-inflammatories make it useful for bacterial gastroenteritis. Its simple sugars make it easier to digest if gastroenteritis provokes a lack of the digestive enzymes that break down complex sugars. Its oligosaccharides aid the growth and activity of probiotic gut bacteria, which may also help.
Researchers at the University of Natal, South Africa, treated 36 children with bacterial gastroenteritis. Those given oral rehydration solution containing honey recovered in 58 hours on average; those given oral rehydration solution containing sugar recovered in 93 hours.
British Medical Journal, 1985
Action: Consume two teaspoons of antimicrobial-rich honey three times a day.
If unable to keep food down, drink at least 3l/5¼ pints a day of a honey-containing oral rehydration solution made by mixing:
• 1l/35fl oz/5 cups water (boiled if necessary)
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
• 2 tablespoons runny honey
Honey’s antimicrobials and anti-inflammatories help prevent gingivitis (inflamed gums). Honey can also reduce tartar deposition. Although certain honeys, like sugar, encourage tooth decay, others inactivate the plaque bacteria responsible for tooth decay. This stops them producing acid from sugar. This, in turn, prevents the production of dextrans, gummy polysaccharides that stick plaque to teeth, and reduces demineralization of tooth enamel.
Honeys rich in methylglyoxal are particularly helpful as they act against biofilms such as plaque.
In a study at the University of Otago, New Zealand, 30 volunteers chewed a piece of manuka-honey-impregnated leather or of sugarless chewing gum, for 10 minutes 3 times a day, after eating, for 21 days. The honey group had highly significant reductions in plaque. While gingivitis was reduced by 48 per cent in the honey group, the others had only a 17 per cent reduction.
Journal of the International Academy of Periodontology, 2004
Action: Rub highly antioxidant honey into inflamed gums three times a day.
Eat one teaspoon of antimicrobial-rich honey three times a day.
Honey reputedly slows hair loss.
Action: Once or twice a week, massage two tablespoons of warmed runny honey into the scalp. Wait 30 minutes, then shampoo.
Honey’s fructose speeds the liver’s breakdown of alcohol. Honey also aids recovery by providing sodium, potassium and vitamin B6.
Action: Consume one tablespoon of honey after drinking alcohol.
Consuming locally produced honey for several months before an individual’s hay-fever season reputedly helps. Local pollens in honey are reputedly desensitizing. But one study suggests any honey can help:
In a Finnish study, 44 volunteers with birch-pollen allergy consumed honey with added birch pollen, or regular honey, daily from November, and 17 had no honey. In April and May, those taking either honey had fewer and milder symptoms. Those taking honey with added birch pollen used less medication than the regular-honey group and only half that of the non-honey group.
International Archives of Allergy and Immunology, 2011
Wind-spread pollens are much more likely to provoke hay fever as they are easily inhaled. Pollens collected by bees are larger and stickier, so don’t hang in the air.
However, nectar is sticky, so may attract wind-blown pollens. Also, bees mix pollen with anti-inflammatory-containing saliva and nectar, and some of this gets into honey. Honey contains vitamin B5, a natural antihistamine.
This may explain why any honey may discourage hay fever. However, locally produced honey is likely to be better, as it not only contains anti-inflammatory-rich pollens and a natural antihistamine but also local wind-borne pollens.
However, another study questions the efficacy of any honey, so the picture isn’t clear.
Researchers at the University of Connecticut worked with 36 volunteers with hay fever. One group took 1 tablespoon a day of locally produced unfiltered, unpasteurized honey. The second took non-local filtered pasteurized honey. The third took corn syrup flavoured with artificial honey. Symptoms were similar in each group.
Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, 2002
Action: Try consuming one to two teaspoons of locally produced raw multifloral honey three times a day, starting three months before you expect hay fever.
Honey’s antioxidants discourage artery disease; its acetylcholine dilates blood vessels; and its oligosaccharides may help by aiding the growth and activity of probiotic gut bacteria. Honey also helps prevent stress-hormone release (see page 63–4).
High blood glucose can encourage high blood pressure by damaging (‘glycating’) collagen in artery walls and thus stiffening the arteries. Honey triggers lower blood-sugar spikes than sugar.
Raw honey may be particularly useful as it’s an alkali-producing food (see page 22).
All 4,810 volunteers aged 32–86 had normal blood pressure at the outset of a study at Columbia University, but in 647, blood pressure was high 8–10 years later. It affected 24 per cent of those aged 32–59 who slept 5 or fewer hours a night, but only 12 per cent of those who slept 7–8 hours. Affected people were more likely to be overweight and have diabetes and depression.
Hypertension, 2006
Action: Consume honey, in particular, raw honey, instead of sugar. Have a teaspoon of honey within the hour before bedtime.
A high level of low-density-lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, a lifestyle encouraging oxidation of LDL-cholesterol and, perhaps, a low level of high-density-lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol raise the risk of artery disease, heart attacks and strokes.
Honey raises HDL-cholesterol. Its vitamin B3 can reduce LDL-cholesterol, and its antioxidants help protect LDL-cholesterol from oxidation.
80 obese and 80 other volunteers took 80g honey a day; equal numbers of obese and normal-weight volunteers did not. After 4 weeks, the honey group had lower total cholesterol and higher HDL-cholesterol. Obese honey-eaters also had lower LDL-cholesterol.
Pakistan Journal of Zoology, 2011
Scientists at the National Research Center Dokki in Egypt found honey highly effective at preventing oxidation of LDL-cholesterol.
Evidence Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2009
Action: Eat one teaspoon three times a day.
Honey contains immunity boosters.
When 10 volunteers in Dubai consumed a daily 1.2g of honey per 1kg bodyweight, blood tests revealed a 50 per cent increase in white cells called monocytes and a slight increase in white cells called lymphocytes and eosinophils.
Journal of Medicinal Food, 2003
Action: Substitute honey for sugar in your diet.
Honey is said to discourage indigestion.
Raw honey may be particularly useful as it’s an alkali-producing food (see page 22).
Action: Consume honey in place of sugar.
Honey kills many disease-causing bacteria, viruses and fungi. Honey’s antimicrobials help counter wound infections. Its prebiotic sugars and probiotic bacteria help prevent intestinal infections and reduce the severity and length of colds.
Honey’s immunity-boosters, anti-inflammatories and antioxidants also help.
Raw honey may be particularly useful as it’s an alkali-producing food (see page 22).
A Saudi Arabian team that tested 6 supermarket honeys found all retained antibacterial activity even after refrigeration for 6 months or boiling for 15 minutes.
Medical Sciences, 2000
Action: Eat one to two teaspoons of raw or antimicrobial-rich honey three times a day.
Honey reputedly increases fertility. Raw honey may be particularly helpful as it’s an alkali-producing food (see page 22).
Action: Eat one teaspoon of honey three times a day.
Inflammation is involved in many diseases.
Honey contains anti-inflammatories. Raw honey reduces certain inflammatory prostaglandins. Honey’s oligosaccharides aid the growth and activity of probiotic gut bacteria, which may discourage inflammation. Consuming a little honey before bedtime helps prevent inflammation by discouraging chronic metabolic stress.
Inflammation can be triggered by repeated high blood glucose. This is because high blood glucose encourages oxidation in blood vessels and damage (‘glycation’) to proteins. Honey triggers lower blood-sugar spikes than sugar.
Raw honey may be especially helpful as it’s an alkali-producing food (see page 22).
Eating a daily 70g of natural honey for 30 days reduced the inflammation marker C-reactive protein.
Scientific World Journal, 2008
In a study in Dubai, 12 adults had a blood test before and after a 12-hour fast, then consumed 1.2g per 1kg bodyweight (about 1 tablespoon) of raw honey daily for 15 days before another test. Honey lowered the inflammatory prostaglandins thromboxane B(2), PGE(2) and PGE (2alpha) by 48, 63 and 50 percent respectively.
Journal of Medicinal Food, 2003
Action: Consume raw honey instead of sugar. Consume a teaspoon of honey within the hour before bedtime.
Research increasingly backs honey’s reputation for aiding sleep. The proposed reasons include:
• Honey boosts serotonin, partly because sweetness stimulates its production, and partly because its tryptophan is readily converted into serotonin. Serotonin calms brain activity and enables production of the ‘sleep hormone’ melatonin.
• Honey gives a gentle boost to insulin, which also encourages sleep.
• Consuming honey before bedtime promotes sleep by keeping the brain well fuelled.
• Honey can reduce anxiety.
Action: Have one to three teaspoons of honey within the hour before bedtime.
Honey may help because of its prebiotic sugars, probiotic bacteria and anti-inflammatories.
Action: Eat one teaspoon of honey three times a day.
Honey is reputed to help. Jasmine, marjoram and orchid honeys are especially favoured.
Action: Consume one teaspoon of honey three times a day.
Honey is said to help. If so, this might be because it:
• Contains vitamin B and acetylcholine.
• Promotes the production of melatonin (a hormone that helps record long-term memories). People who have honey before bedtime report increased dream intensity and recall.
• Discourages low blood glucose and therefore the production of cortisol which can diminish short-term memory.
In a study at Waikato University, New Zealand, 45 rats consumed a sugar-free diet or a diet containing sugar or honey. After 1 year, the honey group had better spatial-recognition memory.
Journal of Food Science, 2008
Action: Substitute honey for sugar. Consume a teaspoon of honey within the hour before bedtime.
Also called pre-diabetes, this encourages diabetes, heart disease and strokes and can be associated with polycystic ovaries. It affects up to one in four adults and means having three or more of these factors:
• High fasting blood glucose
• Central obesity
• High blood pressure
• High blood fats
• Low HDL-cholesterol
Eating a low-glycaemic-index honey instead of sugar can help by preventing ‘spikes’ of blood glucose and insulin and discouraging chronic metabolic stress (see page 64).
Action: Consume low-glycaemic-index honey instead of sugar, including 1 teaspoon within the hour before bedtime.
Honey reputedly helps.
Action: Coat an ulcer with honey every two hours.
Honey may help because it contains substances that improve glucose uptake and burning in muscles, which reduces lactic-acid production. These include certain acids, flavonoids, glucose-metabolizing principles, minerals and vitamins, as well as hydrogen peroxide and nitric oxide.
Action: Take one teaspoon of honey before, during and after exercise.
Honey’s reputed help may stem from its easily digested sugars, minerals or circulation-boosting effects.
Chronic metabolic stress (see page 64) can encourage night cramp.
Action: Take one to three teaspoons of honey before retiring to bed.
It’s a good idea to substitute honey for some or all of the sugar in your diet. This is because honey is sweeter and more characterful than sugar, so we use less.
During sleep most cells burn more fat than glucose. But chronic metabolic stress (see page 64) reduces night-time fat-burning. It also discourages sleep, thus reducing the ‘sleep’ hormone melatonin that encourages fat-burning. And it encourages blood glucose and blood fats to be laid down as fat around the waist. Honey before bedtime helps prevent metabolic stress, optimizing the burning of fat to provide energy at night.
Raw honey may be particularly useful as it’s an alkali-producing food (see page 22).
In a study at Waikato University, New Zealand, 45 rats were fed a sugar-free diet or a sugar- or honey-containing diet. After 1 year, the honey group had gained less weight.
Journal of Food Science, 2008
In a study at the Mashhad University of Medical Science, Iran, volunteers who consumed 70g of honey daily for 4 weeks had a 1.3 per cent weight reduction compared with those who consumed sucrose.
Scientific World Journal, 2008
Action: Substitute honey for some or all of the added sugar in your diet. Consume one teaspoon of honey within the hour before bedtime.
Anecdotal reports suggest honey eases pain. If so, it may be because:
• Its sweetness encourages the pituitary gland to release soothing morphine-like endorphins.
• Its sweetness stimulates production of the nerve-message carrier serotonin, which can reduce pain.
• It contains tryptophan and also aids the passage of tryptophan into the brain for conversion into serotonin.
• Its acidity discourages pain related to low-grade metabolic acidosis (see page 22) or high homocysteine.
• Certain honeys contain quinoline alkaloids thought to have a pain-relieving effect.
• Raw honey is alkali-producing (see page 22).
Action: Consume one teaspoon of raw honey three times a day.
Massage honey into the skin over painful muscles and joints.
Methylglyoxal in medical-grade manuka honey kills the Helicobacter pylori bacteria responsible for most peptic ulcers.
Helicobacter pylori is 5–10 times more sensitive to manuka than other honey; a 5 per cent solution completely inhibits its growth.
Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 1994
Action: Consume two teaspoons of manuka or jellybush honey, UMF or ULF 20, two to three times daily for several weeks.
Anecdotal evidence suggests honey can help. If so, this could be because of its anti-inflammatories.
Action: Include honey in your daily diet.
Add two tablespoons of raw honey to bathwater, then soak in the honeyed water for 30 minutes.
Apply medical-grade honey cream three times a day.
People have anointed these with honey since ancient times. Honey:
• Provides a physical barrier against infection.
• Attracts water, which flushes out dirt; prevents waterlogging of tissue; activates hydrogen-peroxide release; draws out pus; enables moist wound healing; and discourages thick scarring (keloid).
• Contains antimicrobials.
• Contains anti-inflammatories that reduce swelling. This reduces pressure on tiny blood vessels, increasing the blood flow and thus increasing the cells’ oxygen and nutrient supply.
• Stimulates skin-cell multiplication and gives new cells energy to migrate across the wound.
• Reduces odour within 24 hours, thanks to any remaining bacteria feeding on its glucose. Bacteria in non-honey-treated wounds create foul smells by feeding on amino acids.
• Prevents blood and wound secretions adhering to dressings, so these can be changed without damage and pain.
• Digests dead cells.
Yemeni researchers treated 50 women with a wound infection after a Caesar or a hysterectomy with raw honey or an antiseptic twice daily. The honey-treated ones were infection-free sooner (6 days on average, compared with 15), needed antibiotics for less time (7 days instead of 15) and had faster wound healing (11 days instead of 22). The average scar was only 3mm long instead of 7. None of the 26 in the honey group needed re-stitching, compared with 4 of the 24 in the other group. Their average hospital stay was 9 days instead of 20.
European Journal of Medical Research, 1999
Action: Apply a homemade honey dressing. Any honey helps, but certain honeys are preferable: for infected skin, use raw honey or, even better, medical-grade manuka or jellybush honey with a UMF or ULF of 10–15 or more; for inflamed skin, choose antioxidant-rich honey.
1. Select a sterile cotton dressing. It need not be non-adherent as honey helps prevent the dressing sticking.
2. Put honey on one side of the dressing.
3. Apply honey-side down.
4. Secure with tape.
5. A larger wound should have a secondary dressing – ideally, an occlusive one (meaning its wound-side surface is made of plastic film, hydrogel or hydrocolloid to prevent it absorbing honey).
6. Change the dressing at least once daily.
7. Or use a commercially produced honey dressing.