Everything Will Be Honeyful: The Light and Dark Sides of Honey
What is honey composed of?
If you evaporate all the moisture from honey, 95-97% of the dry matter will be carbohydrates. They are mainly simple sugars — fructose and glucose. Their ratio varies from 0.4 to 1.6 and depends on the type of honey. In addition to them, there are various disaccharides, trisaccharides, and oligosaccharides, albeit in much smaller quantities.
The protein component of honey is primarily represented by enzymes and some amino acids, the most abundant of which is proline.
Contrary to popular belief, honey contains very few vitamins and cannot be considered a valuable source of vitamins itself. Among the vitamins present in honey, vitamin C is the most abundant.
Honey contains a wide variety of minerals. The most abundant is potassium. However, there are also significant amounts of heavy metals if the apiary is located in a region that is not environmentally friendly.
Honey also contains many various components with dull names but powerful properties: flavonoids, polyphenols, alkaloids, organic acids, and so on.
It is these components that largely determine all those "antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiproliferative, and antimetastatic" properties of honey.
By the way, the antioxidant properties of honey are mainly due to polyphenols. The darker the honey, the more pronounced its antioxidant properties.
On the light sides of honey
Antimicrobial properties of honey are mainly due to the enzymatic component, namely the presence of glucose oxidase. Other antimicrobial factors are various phytocomponents, which are represented in honey in a broad variety.
However, the main reason your jar of honey doesn’t get moldy or form a slippery film is not the enzymes or phytocomponents, but the high osmotic pressure, low pH, and low protein content. Therefore, microorganisms may enter honey, but they do not easily multiply there.
The spectrum of antimicrobial activity of honey heavily depends on the region, the plants from which the honey is collected, the season, and storage conditions.
There are many studies that indicate wound healing properties of honey; there is also evidence to consider this product as a substance with antitumor and immunomodulatory properties.
Although honey contains many sugars, a large portion of honey consists of fructose, and studies indeed point to the usefulness of this product for patients with diabetes.
Some studies show a reduction in stress hormone levels in women when consuming honey. It is fair to add that the subjects consumed quite a bit of honey — about 60 g daily for two weeks.
In one pediatric study for treating inflammatory manifestations in the oral cavity, honey showed better results than chlorhexidine. (We cannot resist adding our comment: this is, undoubtedly, more humane toward young patients.)
Honey is also truly effective for colds and sore throat.
Consumption of honey exerts an antioxidant effect on blood markers.
In one study, daily consumption of honey at 1.2 mg per kg of body weight during the second half of the menstrual cycle demonstrated analgesic properties not worse than taking mefenamic acid for dysmenorrhea.
On the dark sides of honey
- Do not forget that honey is, first and foremost, a combination of simple carbohydrates and a source of added sugars. Therefore, excessive consumption will lead to overweight and promote glycation processes in our body, including aging processes; Recall that recommended daily intake of added sugars is no more than 50 g per day, ideally 25 g.
- According to some studies — up to 10% of tested honey samples contain Clostridium botulinum spores. They do not harm adults, but can cause botulism in infants. That is why it is strongly not recommended to give honey to children under one year.
- As mentioned, if the apiary is closer than about four kilometers (which is roughly the distance bees fly) from a highway or some polluting production, such honey will have an increased content of heavy metals and its usefulness will be doubtful.
- In rare cases, honey can be toxic. This happens when some poisonous plants bloom in large quantities near the hives. In such cases bees may collect nectar and pollen and you can obtain honey with toxic or narcotic properties. This kind of biologically-chemical weapon has been used several times in historical-political games of past millennia. For example, when Roman troops invaded Turkey, their enemies deliberately left in the camp honey collected from the flowers of rhododendron trees. After consuming the find, the Romans lost the battle because they were poisoned and could not even hold their weapons.
Myths and PubMed on Hydroxymethylfurfural
A lot of discussions revolve around this component. For example, there is the idea that you cannot add honey to hot tea because it acquires carcinogenic properties. In reality, it does not, but its antibacterial properties decrease because enzymes are destroyed. As for hydroxymethylfurfural, it has indeed established itself as a not-so-helpful compound with genotoxic properties. However there are a few "buts". The first one is that measuring the content of hydroxymethylfurfural in honey is not so much about its potential harm when consumed, but about using that information as a marker of adherence to honey storage rules and quality. After all, young honey almost lacks hydroxymethylfurfural, while over time and under storage under high humidity, temperature, light exposure (and in metal containers) its content increases. According to EU requirements, the permissible hydroxymethylfurfural content is 40 mg per kg of honey and 80 — for tropical honey.
The second "but" — we consume hydroxymethylfurfural with other foods and in much higher amounts. It is abundant in cereals, baking, and dried fruits. The portion we consume from honey is minuscule. Therefore, in terms of the amount of hydroxymethylfurfural consumed, old honey or honey cake will not be any worse than baking in general.
So, as they say, all things in moderation. And yes, choosing honey is a responsible matter!
