The Honeybees - "You need us" | Amy "Jett" Jennings
5.51K subscribers | 29,834 views | July 30, 2010
Posted on 01/03/2023 12:20:20 PM PST by Red Badger
Honey is a sweet, thick liquid made by bees using the nectar of flowers. It is commonly used as a natural sweetener in foods and beverages and has been valued for its medicinal properties for centuries.
According to a new study from researchers at the University of Toronto, consuming raw honey from a single floral source may have significant benefits for cardiometabolic health.
In a systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials, the researchers found that honey consumption was associated with lower fasting blood glucose, total and LDL (‘bad’) cholesterol, triglycerides, and a marker of fatty liver disease. Additionally, honey consumption was linked to higher levels of HDL (‘good’) cholesterol and some markers of inflammation.
“These results are surprising because honey is about 80 percent sugar,” said Tauseef Khan, a senior researcher on the study and a research associate in nutritional sciences at U of T’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine. “But honey is also a complex composition of common and rare sugars, proteins, organic acids, and other bioactive compounds that very likely have health benefits.”
Previous research has shown that honey can improve cardiometabolic health, especially in vitro and animal studies. The current study is the most comprehensive review to date of clinical trials, and it includes the most detailed data on processing and floral source.
The results were recently published in the journal Nutrition Reviews.
“The word among public health and nutrition experts has long been that ‘a sugar is a sugar,’ said John Sievenpiper, principal investigator and an associate professor of nutritional sciences and medicine at U of T, who is also a clinician-scientist at Unity Health Toronto. “These results show that’s not the case, and they should give pause to the designation of honey as a free or added sugar in dietary guidelines.”
Sievenpiper and Khan emphasized that the context of the findings was critical: clinical trials in which participants followed healthy dietary patterns, with added sugars accounting for 10 percent or less of daily caloric intake.
“We’re not saying you should start having honey if you currently avoid sugar,” said Khan. “The takeaway is more about replacement — if you’re using table sugar, syrup, or another sweetener, switching those sugars for honey might lower cardiometabolic risks.”
The researchers included 18 controlled trials and over 1,100 participants in their analysis. They assessed the quality of those trials using the GRADE system and found there was a low certainty of evidence for most of the studies, but that honey consistently produced either neutral or beneficial effects, depending on processing, floral source, and quantity.
The median daily dose of honey in the trials was 40 grams or about two tablespoons. The median length of trial was eight weeks. Raw honey drove many of the beneficial effects in the studies, as did honey from monofloral sources such as Robinia (also marketed as acacia honey) — a honey from False Acacia or Black Locust Trees — and clover, which is common in North America.
Khan said that while processed honey clearly loses many of its health effects after pasteurization — typically 65 degrees Celsius for at least 10 minutes — the effect of a hot drink on raw honey depends on several factors, and likely would not destroy all its beneficial properties.
He also noted other ways to consume unheated honey, such as with yogurt, as a spread, and in salad dressings.
Future studies should focus on unprocessed honey, Khan said, and from a single floral source. The goal would be higher quality evidence and a better understanding of the many compounds in honey that can work wonders for health. “We need a consistent product that can deliver consistent health benefits,” said Khan. “Then the market will follow.”
Reference:
“Effect of honey on cardiometabolic risk factors: a systematic review and meta-analysis” by Amna Ahmed, Zujaja Tul-Noor, Danielle Lee, Shamaila Bajwah, Zara Ahmed, Shanza Zafar, Maliha Syeda, Fakeha Jamil, Faizaan Qureshi, Fatima Zia, Rumsha Baig, Saniya Ahmed, Mobushra Tayyiba, Suleman Ahmad, Dan Ramdath, Rong Tsao, Steve Cui, Cyril W C Kendall, Russell J de Souza, Tauseef A Khan and John L Sievenpiper, 16 November 2022, Nutrition Reviews.
DOI: 10.1093/nutrit/nuac086
The study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation, and Diabetes Canada.
Nuts and Honey!..................
Grew up in a time when doctors made housecalls, Old Doc Iden prescribed honey to me and siblings for this basic reason.
META-ANALYSIS
Junk science
Honey has long been known for its health and healing properties. Decades ago, it was put on wounds to promote healing.
...”consuming raw honey from a single floral source may have significant benefits for cardiometabolic health.”
There is no such thing as honey from a single floral source.
No matter where you are, the bees are going to mix it up a bit and forage any nectar available.
When I was in high school our football coach told us to eat raw honey, straight from the comb if possible.
Good advice! Pure energy!.............
Sausage and honey? I’ll stick to maple syrup
Manuka honey 👍.........a little funky however
imho honey & maple syrup are good for the young who can handle the sugar in honey & maple syrup. That is, they can burn it off
Old metabolism don’t do well with sugar.
I read a study that showed honey works as well as or better than cough medicine in suppressing coughs.
This should have been posted in a “1940s era” category...
This paper is a classic example of the depths-of-innocuousness to which fundamental research has fallen over the past 60 years...
Everything old is new again...................Except me...............🤷♂️
Doing fine at 80
And we always need “that” honey for cardiac health.
I started replacing sugar in black tea with honey. It needs a sweetener. I initially made the switch to see if some allergies would be helped. I no longer get those allergies.
I have a couple of cups of tea per day with 1 teaspoon of honey each.
Some other daily intakes; Turmeric & Cayenne Pepper on a meal, almonds, walnuts, green tea, 2 cups of coffee (no sweetener), EVOO, limited starchy carbs. I never get hunger pains.
It must be the bee spit mixed with sugar which transforms honey as something beneficial.
What I always heard is that you want honey from your region i.e., maybe your own state or even county, as it is from local plants...and in addition to cardiac help it might help with allergies/inflammation/local immunity. Who knows?
The Honeybees - "You need us" | Amy "Jett" Jennings
5.51K subscribers | 29,834 views | July 30, 2010
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