Honey to reduce cardio-metabolic risks

A November 2022 study by the University of Toronto said, 

• “These results are surprising, because honey is about 80 per cent sugar,” 

• “But honey is also a complex composition of common and rare sugars, proteins, organic acids and other bioactive compounds that very likely have health benefits.”

• “The word among public health and nutrition experts has long been that ‘a sugar is a sugar,’ … These results show that’s not the case, and they should give pause to the designation of honey as a free or added sugar in dietary guidelines.”

• “We’re not saying you should start having honey if you currently avoid sugar,” 

• “The takeaway is more about replacement — if you’re using table sugar, syrup or another sweetener, switching those sugars for honey might lower cardio-metabolic risks.” 

Tibb: Beverages

Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya in “Prophetic Medicine” said, “The Prophet [pbuh] used to drink honey with cold water, and this is an especially effective method to preserve health.“

Honey and the Choleric (Bilious) Hot/Dry Temperament

In Galen’s “On the Natural Faculties”, he says,

“For the same reason [against pouring boiling water on honey], [honey]is easily transmuted into bile in those people who are naturally warm, or in their prime, since warm when associated with warm becomes readily changed into a disproportionate combination and turns into bile sooner than into blood. Thus we need a cold temperament and a cold period of life if we would have honey brought to the nature of blood.

“Therefore, Hippocrates not improperly advised those who were naturally choleric [bilious][hot/dry] not to take honey, since they were obviously of too warm a temperament. “

“So also, not only Hippocrates, but all physicians say that honey is bad in bilious [hot/dry] diseases but good in old age; some of them having discovered this through the indications afforded by its nature, and others simply through experiment … honey is good for an old man and not for a young one, that it is harmful for those who are naturally bilious [hot/dry], and serviceable for those who are phlegmatic [cold/wet]. “

“In a word, in bodies which are warm either through nature, disease, time of life, season of the year, locality, or occupation, honey is productive of bile, whereas in opposite circumstances it produces blood.”

Avoid Pouring Boiling Water on Honey

In Galen’s “On the Natural Faculties”, he says,

“And if you will boil honey itself, far the sweetest of all things, you can demonstrate that even this becomes quite bitter. For what may occur as a result of boiling in the case of other articles which are not warm by nature, exists naturally in honey; for this reason it does not become sweeter on being boiled, since exactly the same quantity of heat as is needed for the production of sweetness exists from beforehand in the honey.

“Therefore the external heat, which would be useful for insufficiently warm substances, becomes in the honey a source of damage, in fact an excess; and it is for this reason that honey, when boiled, can be demonstrated to become bitter sooner than the others.”

Proteins in Honey

An April 2017 study entitled, “The Unique Protein Composition of Honey Revealed by Comprehensive Proteomic Analysis: Allergens, Venom-like Proteins, Antibacterial Properties, Royal Jelly Proteins, Serine Proteases, and Their Inhibitors” found:

• Hymenoptaecin,

• Defensin-1,

• Glucose dehydrogenase isoforms

• Venom allergens and other venom-like proteins

• Serine proteases

• Aerine protease inhibitors

• A series of royal jelly proteins.

Using Honey in Post-Surgical Mesh

In November 2017 research by Newcastle University, it was found that, “Mesh is implanted inside the body to provide stability while the internal tissues heal but, unfortunately, it also provides the perfect surface for bacteria to grow on. Once the bacteria form a biofilm on the surface, it's very difficult to treat the infection. By sandwiching the [nano-layers of Manuka] honey in a multilayer coating on the mesh surface and slowly releasing it, the aim is to inhibit the growth of the bacteria and stop the infection before it even starts.”

"These results are really very exciting. Honey has been used to treat infected wounds for thousands of years but this is the first time it has been shown to be effective at fighting infection in cells from inside the body."