DIET is either beneficial or detrimental to health, studies have associated the intake of sugar-sweetened beverages with elevated blood pressure but, interestingly, honey has been documented to have several medicinal benefits.
Traditionally, honey is used in the treatment of various ailments, thus; as cough, sore throat, ulcers in the mouth, wound healing and burns, and also taken daily to maintain good health.
Honey, though constituted by mainly sugar has been reported to be a healthier replacement for sugar already being consumed or an additional sweetener. In fact, in a new study, researchers at the University of Toronto, Canada, said replacing sugar with honey, particularly the raw one, had a positive effect, especially in bringing blood sugar and cholesterol levels down.
They found that when people are on a healthy diet in which no more than 10 percent of daily calories come from sugar, honey actually provides cardiometabolic protective benefits, including improving glucose response, reducing insulin resistance and promoting the growth of bacteria associated with a healthy gut.
The 2023 study, a review and meta-analysis of the effects of honey in 18 controlled feeding trials involving 1,105 predominantly healthy individuals appeared in the journal, Nutrition Reviews.
Taken together, the trials showed that honey lowered fasting blood glucose (blood sugar levels on an empty stomach), total and ‘bad’ (LDL) cholesterol, as well as a marker of fatty liver disease. They also found that honey increased markers of inflammation.
According to the study, intake of honey at a median dose of 40g, which equates to roughly two tablespoons over a period of 8 weeks, resulted in beneficial reductions in fasting glucose, total cholesterol, fasting triglycerides and a significant increase in good cholesterol (HDL-C) levels.
There were significant differences by honey floral source and raw honey for the effect on cholesterol and blood sugar. Honey, especially robinia, clover and unprocessed raw honey, improve blood sugar control and cholesterol levels better when consumed within a healthy dietary pattern.
Raw honey also contains probiotic bacteria, including lactobacilli which are reduced when the honey is processed. Basically, conventional processing of honey involves several steps: straining and filtering for suspended and fine particles at 40°C; heating at 60°C to 65°C for a short period to reduce moisture and yeast, which is responsible for the fermentation and then rapidly cooling to maintain flavour, colour and enzyme content.
Although sugars of all kinds are associated with cardiometabolic issues and honey is 80 percent sugar, the study’s authors suggest that honey may be in a category of its own, since it comes exclusively from common sugars such as fructose and glucose, and so worthy of special consideration as a healthy food unlike most sweeteners.
Likewise, another review of 34 original articles addressing brain health from the consumption of honey also suggested its four main brain health benefits, which are cognition, emotion, psychology and behaviours memory booster
In addition, a cross-sectional analysis of the Tianjin Chronic Low-Grade Systemic Inflammation and Health cohort study of 18,000 people in China showed that those who consumed honey regularly had lower odds of pre-diabetes.
In that study, the authors also demonstrated a dose-response relationship between honey intake and pre-diabetes, with more regular consumption of honey associated with a lower prevalence of pre-diabetes.
Still, researchers in Egypt showed in animal studies also that with a propolis, royal jelly, and bee venom combination (PRV) therapy may be used as a potential treatment for a variety of cardiovascular diseases, including hyypertension.
In a study to evaluate the antihypertensive effects of combinations of natural apitherapy compounds used in the medical sector to treat a variety of diseases, the researchers reported that the PRV combination at all doses decreased arterial blood pressure below the suboptimal value, and PRV combination treatment improved heart function. The same treatment improves blood flow in hypertensive rats.
It was in the 2022 edition of the journal, Scientific Reports.
Additionally, results of a study in the Frontiers in Science showed that short-term honey consumption has the ability to reduce blood pressure and heart rate in healthy male subjects.
The researcher at the University of Uyo suggested that honey might have the ability to decrease the risk of developing elevated blood pressure associated with males but called for further study to evaluate the long-term effect of honey in healthy males.
Previously, honey was termed a promising brain booster. Researchers analysed a total of 34 original articles addressing brain health from the consumption of honey and identified four main brain health benefits, which are memory booster, neuroprotective effect, anti-stress and anti-nociceptive potentials
They suggested that honey’s many constituents such as gallic, benzoic and kaempferol work as antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent to enhance cognition, improve memory and eventually works as a brain booster.
Similarly, a review of the effects of honey, particularly Tualang honey, on learning and memory in human as well as animal models showed that it improves brain structures and the brain’s system that regulates various aspects of brain function, including sensory processing, attention, sleep and arousal. It was in the journal, Medical Science.
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