HONEY- A SECRET TO BE HEALTHY ALL YEAR ROUND

A very long time before sugar became commonly available in the 16th century, another natural sweetener had been used widely – honey. Producing honey became prosperous in ancient Greece and Sicily, for instance, while animals other than humans – bears, badgers, and more – have long attacked the honeybee hives, risking stings for the sweet reward.

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Honey is a well-known remedy for many types of health conditions.

Honey is actually a remarkable substance that is made even more extraordinary by the process. This blend of sugar, trace enzymes, vitamins, minerals, and amino acids is quite different from other sweeteners on the planet. The followings are some of honey’s best-known benefits for your body; whether confirmed by scientific evidence or passed down through folk tradition, they prove honey to be as efficacious as it is delicious.

Soothes coughs

In 2007, Penn State College of Medicine conducted a study executing on 139 children and found that buckwheat honey outperformed the cough suppressant, dextromethorphan (DM), in calming nighttime coughs in children and making their sleep better. Another study published in Pediatrics involved 270 children aged from one to five with nighttime cough due to simple colds. In this study, after the children had received two teaspoons of honey 30 minutes before bedtime, they coughed less frequently and less severely. Moreover, they seemed to be less likely to lose sleep due to the cough when compared to those who didn't get honey.

Boost Your Energy

A healthy, whole-food diet and proper sleep is the best recipes for boundless energy. Honey can provide you with a quick energy boost before or after a workout. This is particularly true for athletes who want to stay energized over a longer duration.

Boosts memory

In a research reported by Reuters that involved 102 healthy women of menopausal age, those women were assigned to consume 20 grams of honey per day, take hormone-replacement therapy consisting of estrogen and progesterone or do nothing. After four months, they recalled about one extra word out of 15 presented on a short-term memory test.

Treats wounds

Many studies have found that honey is effective in treating wounds. In a Norwegian study, a therapeutic honey called Medihoney- a New Zealand honey that goes through a special purification process- and Norwegian Forest Honey were proved to have the capability of killing all strains of bacteria in wounds. In another study, 59 patients with wounds and leg ulcers – in which patients would have the failure by 80% if they were healed with conventional treatment – were treated with unprocessed honey. All but one of the cases showed remarkable advancement following topical application of honey. Wounds which were sterile at the outset remained sterile until healed, while the infected wounds and ulcers became sterile within a week of using honey.

Reduce Allergy Symptoms

Locally-produced honey, which includes pollen spores picked up by the bees from local plants, gives your system a small amount of allergen. Theoretically, this can activate your immune system and over time can build up your natural immunity to fight against it. Experts recommend that you should take about a teaspoon-full of locally produced honey per day, starting a few months prior to the pollen season, to allow your system to build up immunity. And the key here is local. This approach is surely effective because it has pollen of local plants to which you may be allergic. Honey from other parts of the country simply won’t work. While there still existed many conflicts, one study showed that, in the comparison with the controlled group, the patients using birch pollen honey experienced:

• 60% diminution in symptoms
• Twice as many asymptomatic days
• 70% fewer days with severe symptoms
• 50% reduce in usage of antihistamines

Notes: Honey offers numerous health benefits doesn't mean it's not caloric. One tablespoon provides 64 calories. Also, it's crucial to remember that honey is not appropriate for children younger than 12 months because it can consist of the bacteria which cause infant botulism.