The Sweet Healing Benefits of Honey

Most people know a little about the health benefits of honey, especially that most famous, Manuka Honey. With growing popularity, wider availability and so much supporting evidence, we thought it was time to summarise some key benefits of raw honey and its many applications for your health. The following is taken from a review article published in 2017 by the journal of Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity (Pasupuleti et., al. 2017).

You’ll be surprised something so tasty is so good for you!

Wound Management:

Honey has been traditionally used to treat wounds, insect bites, burns, skin disorders, sores and boils. In wounds, honey’s antibacterial and enzyme activity helps both reduce and prevent infection as well as clearing dead tissue and boosting tissue regeneration. Honey has been used therapeutically to clean wounds, clear infections, reduce inflammation and speed healing.

Digestive and gut support:

Raw honey is rich in minerals, phytochemicals and enzymes that assist food digestion. It can help reduce digestive issues including reflux, by reducing upward flow of gastric juices and soothing the oesophageal lining.

Raw honey is active against bacteria like e.coli, salmonella and shigella, which cause acute gut infections or food poisoning. Pure honey is also effective against H.pylori, another gut pathogen, commonly undetected and highly associated with gastric ulcers.

While actively working against harmful bacteria, honey’s natural anti-inflammatory and tissue healing properties sooth and repair affected areas in the GI tract.

At the same time, prebiotic compounds in raw honey increase growth of 'good' gut microbes like bifidobacteria, lactobacillus acidophilus and L.plantarum.

All together, this helps maintain a healthier, stronger digestive tract with less inflammation, making raw honey potentially useful for people with ongoing bloating, cramps, diarrhoea and constipation.

Interestingly, and not surprisingly, many traditional cultures have used honey for treating gut disturbances from cramps to constipation, diarrhoea and even stomach ulcers.

Oral Health:

The wound healing, tissue reparative and antibacterial properties of raw honey make it useful in the mouth too. Here, it helps reduce and prevent bacterial overgrowth, heal tissue and reduce inflammation. This can be useful for problems like gingivitis and mouth ulcers and bad breath associated with those too.

Coughs and sore throats:

Raw honey can help relieve sore throats, irritation, inflammation and dryness. It can helpful to relieve bacterial throat infections, while its ability to line the throat tissue and promote anti-inflammatory action there helps soothe irritation and ease coughing.

Heart health:

The polyphenols and flavanols in wild raw honey are cardio protective. They contain compounds that help dilate arteries for smoother blood flow, improve arterial tissue health and have a favourable impact on cholesterol. The anti-clotting enzyme activity in raw honey is also heart supportive, while free-radical scavenging and anti-inflammatory activity is cardio protective and great for general healt.

It should be clearly noted that only 100% pure, unheated, untreated raw honeys possess these health qualities.

For therapeutic purposes, Manuka Honey is the most widely used because its enzyme, antibacterial activity and polyphenol content is highest.

Commercial honey that has been heated or treated and sometimes includes added sugars and syrups, does not contain the same active enzymes, beneficial health compounds or health benefits.

So where do you get the good stuff?

These days, you can buy pure raw honey at most weekend farmers markets. Keeping bees has become so popular that quick online search might deliver some backyard honey producers in your area.

Of course, we recommend our Manuka Honey, sourced from wild beehives in the Tasmanian wilderness.

How to use it:

You can use raw and manuka honey in place of regular honey, although the taste will be different. High strength Manuka Honey is darker, stronger and not as sweet as other types of honey.

For oral health, put a spoonful in your mouth and swish it around for 2-3 mins then spit out.

For throat and gut support, again, use a teaspoon, swish quickly in the mouth and swallow.

Tasmanian Manuka Honey 250g - 2 pack

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REF:

Pasupuleti VR, Sammugam L, Ramesh N, Gan SH. Honey, Propolis, and Royal Jelly: A Comprehensive Review of Their Biological Actions and Health Benefits. Oxid Med Cell Longev. 2017;2017:1259510. doi: 10.1155/2017/1259510. Epub 2017 Jul 26. PMID: 28814983; PMCID: PMC5549483.