Throughout history honey has been considered a food with unparalleled nutritional and physical benefits. For over 10,000 years (and maybe more) honey has been used as a staple food and as a medicine. This deliciously sweet substance is one of the few foods that can actually sustain human life all by itself. If you’re not already storing honey as part of your survival strategy, learning about all the surprising benefits of honey ought to convince you to start.
Storage
Honey lasts forever; if stored properly you will never need to worry about your honey going bad, forget about FIFO with honey. There was actually edible honey discovered in the pharaoh’s tomb in Egypt. It is also a healthy substitute for sugar that contains no fats or cholesterol.
My honey is hard and crystallized!
Not to worry, if your honey has become crystallized all you need to do is heat it to return it back to normal. Or if you like, turn it into mead!
Health
Skin
Honey is great for overall skin health and can even help to reduce wrinkles and nourish the skin.
Antibacterial
Honey has been used as an antiseptic for years, it was even one of the most popular treatments for wounds in the First World War. Recent science has explained to us why honey is such an effective antibacterial agent.
“One New Zealand researcher says a particular type of honey may be useful in treating MRSA infections. Antibacterial properties of honey are the result of the low water activity causing osmosis, hydrogen peroxide effect, and high acidity. “
Wounds
Honey has also been shown to reduce odor, swelling and scarring when used to treat wounds, aside from its antibacterial effects.
Stomach Ache
Got a stomach ache? No problem, mix one teaspoon of honey with a hot glass of water, squeeze in about half a lemon and your stomach ache should go away.
Pink Eye
While it has only been proven in rats, honey was considered an effective treatment for conjunctivitis.
Allergies
Folk medicine suggests that taking local honey will help your allergies because you gain a tolerance to local pollens. Recent studies suggest that while it doesn’t help by eliminating allergies it helps reduce allergies.
“a recent study has shown pollen collected by bees to exert an anti allergenic effect, mediated by an inhibition of IgE immunoglobulin binding to mast cells. This inhibited mast cell degranulation and thus reduced allergic reaction.”
Coughs
Honey coats the throat, making it great for a sore throat. To cure your sore throat simply take about 1 teaspoon of honey and let it slowly trickle down your throat.
Burns
Honey is also great for burns since it removes the pain and helps aid in the healing process.
Colitis
Honey is shown to reduce the damage done to the colon in Colitis.
Insomnia
Some studies suggest that honey can also help with various nervous disorders such as insomnia. If you can’t sleep, mix 1 teaspoon of honey into a warm glass of water and enjoy a good night’s sleep.
**Because of the spores contained in honey, infants under the age of 1 year cannot consume it. While it’s fine for older children and adults, infants under 1 year can contract botulism from honey
Some Great Books about the Benefits of Honey:
The Honey Prescription: The Amazing Power of Honey as Medicine
Honey: Nature’s wonder ingredient: 100 amazing and unexpected uses from natural healing to beauty.
References
Wolfram Alfa – Computational Knowledge Engine
Leaf Lady
Excellent post, We have used honey ALOT for cuts & burns….
How about honey as a substitute for sugar in Type II diabetics?
I do not believe that honey will work as a substitute for diabetics, but I believe that a natural sweetener called stevia from the plant Stevia Rebaudiana Bertoni will work as a sweetener that does not affect diabetics.
What an excellent article, thank you for all this useful information. I advise my clients to store honey over sugar — it will certainly last longer, as we've seen with the pharoah's example.
Please post some support for your claim that honey can support human life by itself. This sounds absolutely rediculous.
when pt. are admitted to the hospital and can't eat for some reason we pump liquid sugar (dextrose) in to their veins. people can last on dextrose for a long time…they get skinny as hell but they are alive…I'de imagine its the same for huoney taken p.o.(eaten).
HONEY….
Honey contains a significant amount of protein, carbohydrates, sugar, sodium and dietary fiber. It does also contain trace amounts of many vitamins but it's not a significant source. I'm not sure how long you could survive off honey but the basic human needs (protein for muscles, carbohydrates for energy and sodium for many things) are met.
http://www44.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=honey
I have to share my recent experience with honey as a wound healer. My cat recently made his way outside and decided to get into a cat fight with one of the other local cats. He came back with a huge gash in his nose and was having trouble breathing, sneezing a lot. It seemed obvious that the wound had actually punctured his nostril and I considered taking him to the emergency vet. Knowing how much that would end up costing me I decided to just clean it really well and see how it healed on it's own. After a couple days the wound had begun to scab over but it wasn't looking much better and the cat was still wheezing. I had heard about using honey before so I decided to give it a whirl. I cleaned the wound again and applied the honey. I noticed immediate improvement in his breathing as the honey seemed to form a type of seal over the hole that was there. I reapplied the honey a couple more times over the next few days and his wound is now clean and healing nicely. Where there was a gaping hole before there is now a nice line where the tissue has grown back properly. This stuff is amazing!
Great post! Just wanted to let you know you have a new subscriber- me!
You should also be aware that honey should not be given in any form to babies. It can harbor a bacteria that can cause botulism in infants. So consider that when stocking up also.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/infant-botulism/…
http://amos.indiana.edu/library/scripts/honey.htm…
Interestingly enough most honey does not contain botulism spores. You are far more likely to find it in canned goods, and corn syrup. When they actually went looking for it in honey it was actually quite rare to find. You see, the anti-bacterial properties of honey take care of that kind of thing. It was only found in honey that was heated (destroying the good bacteria) and filtered. And even then only in about a tenth of those kinds of honey.
Of course if you want a really healthy baby, it should live mostly on breast milk for the first year anyway.
I recently moved to a new area and as soon as grass season hit I had terrible allergies which I'd never experienced in my native area. I took a friends advice to try local honey with much success. My sinus pain went down almost immediately. The trick is not to take too much because you're essentially giving yourself small doses of what it is that you're allergic to. Just like a vaccine.
Quoting “they” (“When they actually went looking . . . .”)as a source makes your entire comment suspect and, therefore, useless. Botulism is quite serious and “they” does not treat the subject with respect, or even reliably. Be specific if you want to be taken seriously, or, if you don’t, don’t leave any comment at all.
By the way, according to Wikipedia's info, in order to get the 60g of protein a human male needs per day you would have to eat 5.46 GALLONS of honey PER DAY.
(60g protein divded by 0.3g protein = 200 x 3.5oz (0.3g protein per 3.5oz honey) = 700oz divided by 128oz per gallon = 5.46 GALLONS.
I'd like to see you try to consume that much honey in one day.
By my math, taking into consideration 8 hours for sleep, 700 oz a day comes down to .6481 oz per minute, or 38.8889 oz per hour. As stated prior that honey contains little water, if this honey is taken with water, I don't see it being that far fetched to consume that much honey a day if that's all you have to subsist on. The more likely restriction is having that much honey available to you for any prolonged period of time. Just playing devil's advocate.
Honey has so much property for the benefit health. In fact, honey is also often used to maintain the beauty of the skin.
I know that the spartans used to make their youth live on honey exclusively for a month as a part of agoge training.
I'd rather be a moron than an @ssh0le.
I tried honey for reducing my allergy symptoms, but it didn't seem to have much effect either way.
It has to be local honey, which most honey you find in your stores will not be.
Also, ideally the honey should be unheated and unfiltered. You don't see much of that in your stores either.
I suggest you try to find a local bee keeper.
Also the biggest cause of allergies is leaky gut syndrome. So, you have to heal your leaky gut if you really want allergies to go away.
You can learn all about leaky gut at http://garnerhealth.blogspot.com/2009/06/lets-get…
I love that blog! Thanks for your insights. And thanks to the author of this blog for the honey info. I find honey to be a versatile and amazing product. If I weren't so terrified of bees, I might consider raising it myself. :-)
Not only honey is greatly beneficial to beautifying people with its by-products, it also gives an alternative to people who don't want to consume sugar and use honey as an alternative. But for a honey lover like me, I buy creamed honey to spread on my toasted bread; and let me tell you this for starters, it is the most heavenly food (coupled with bread) you'll ever eat.
If only more people would read this..
While this article is good there is a lot that has been left out! Contrary to popular belief honey does contain sugar. It is sugar! However, its molecular composition makes it easier for our bodies to absorb and process. For diabetics it can be an OPTION, if used in moderation, for a sugar substitute since the glycemic index is lower than many sugar alternatives and more than table sugar.
There are varieties of honey and as such each variety has its own flavor, color AND in some cases health benefits. All honey is not created equal when it comes to antibacterial properties. There is a special kind of honey that is used for burns, cuts, and antibacterial treaments.
I'm a beekeeper and I discuss all this and more about the health benefits of honey and other bee products in by blog. If you are interested you might consider checking it out for more detailed information on what the author has already discussed. http://www.besthoneysite.com/honey-blog.html
Honey is one of the perfect sources for any skin care activities. Honey has the ability to absorb and retain moisture in skin and it is one of the ideal cosmetic variety that helps skin from getting dried.
Thanks for the comment BeeKeeper Tim and great blog – with the bee shortage we've been experiencing recently it makes the job you do all the more important. I'm hoping to start my own hive in the near future and become part of the solution. :)
According to Dr. David Baer of the USDA Agriculture Research Service, our body tolerates honey better compared table sugar. Eating honey is better for people with diabetic conditions as it is less likely to cause blood sugar spike.
Thanks for the input – very useful information.
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Honey has really proved one of the best natural medicine for healthy body and skin.It helps in digestive system as well.skin tag
In a simple word honey is one of the god gifted natural medicine.can not we realize by it that how much beloved to God?
So many qualities honey has like it can be use against bacteria,stomach ache,allergies,cough, insomnia etc.its usefulness can not be inscribe in a sentence.
Really a very helpful post. Honey Really works…..Thanks for sharing
Thank you for sharing the benefits of honey. I'm often surprised on how many people think crystallized honey has gone bad and prefer to buy the processed artificial honey.
Crystallized honey is normal for real honey.
thank you
My wife and I consume honey produced locally at a farm down the road, it seems to really help my allergies, it’s great in Oatmeal and peanut butter and honey can’t be beat! Great Post!