The Miracle Itself: Honey

Looking at the remains of the Stone Age, it is possible to say that the use of honey in the supportive care of diseases dates back to 8000 years ago. Sumerian clay tablets (6200 BC), Egyptian papyri (1900-1250 BC), Vedic texts (Hindu scriptures 3000 BC), Koran, Bible and Hippocrates (460-357 BC) show that honey was widely used as a botanical ingredient.

In traditional botanical ingredient, honey was used for various ailments such as eye diseases, asthma, throat infections, tuberculosis, thirst, hiccups, fatigue, dizziness, hepatitis, constipation, haemorrhoids, eczema, ulcers and wounds. Biochemical analyses carried out in scientific research also show the benefits of this food, and in this context it is possible to access many scientific articles on honey. (1)

The results of these studies also show that the components of honey have antioxidant, antimicrobial, comfort supporting, antiproliferative, anti-cancer and anti-metastatic effects… Flavonoids and polyphenols, which act as antioxidants, are the two main bioactive molecules found in honey.

There is much evidence that honey is used in the control and supportive care of wounds, diabetes, cancer, asthma, as well as cardiovascular, neurological and gastrointestinal diseases. With these properties, honey is said to have a potential therapeutic role in the supportive care of disease. (1)

300 Types of Honey and Ingredients

Today it is recognised that there are about 300 types of honey. This diversity is related to the different types of nectar collected by honeybees. The main components of honey are carbohydrates, which account for 95-97% of its dry weight (2). Honey also contains proteins, vitamins, amino acids, minerals and organic acids (3). Pure honey also contains flavonoids, polyphenols, reducing compounds, alkaloids, glycosides, cardiac glycosides and anthraquinone (4).

Monosaccharides (fructose and glucose) are the main sugars in honey and can contribute to most of the nutritional and physical effects of honey. Gluconic acid, a product of glucose oxidation, is the main organic acid found in honey (5).

Honey also contains some important amino acids, such as all nine essential amino acids and all non-essential amino acids except asparagine and glutamine. Proline has been reported as the primary amino acid in honey, followed by other types of amino acids (6).

Enzymes (diastase, invertase, glucose oxidase, catalase and acid phosphatase) are the major protein components of honey (7).

Mineral-rich honey is said to contain about 31 variable minerals, including all the major minerals such as phosphorus, sodium, calcium, potassium, sulphur, magnesium and chlorine (1).

Various studies have identified about 600 volatile compounds that contribute to the potential biomedical effects of honey (8). Flavonoids and polyphenols, which act as antioxidants, are the two main bioactive molecules found in honey, and recent evidence shows that about thirty types of polyphenols are present in honey (9, 10).

The presence and levels of these polyphenols vary depending on the floral source, climatic and geographical conditions. Some bioactive compounds such as galangin, quercetin, kaempferol, luteolin and isorhamnetin are found in all honey types, while naringenin and hesperetin are found only in certain varieties.

To summarise, the components of honey have been reported to exhibit antioxidant, antimicrobial, comfort supporting, antiproliferative, anticancer and antimetastatic effects (1). According to the scientific literature, honey, used alone or in combination with conventional therapy, “may be a new antioxidant in the control of diseases commonly associated with oxidative stress.” (10).

Some experimental studies have found support for the use of honey in wound traditional botanical due to its bioactivities, including antibacterial, antiviral, comfort supporting and antioxidant activities (11).

Honey initiates tissue repair by stimulating leukocytes to secrete cytokines. It also activates the immune response to infection (12) and triggers the production of antibodies. There is much evidence to support the use of honey in the control and supportive care of acute wounds, mild to moderate superficial / partial thickness burns. Although some studies have shown the efficacy of honey in the supportive care of wounds and leg ulcers, more studies are needed to support the available evidence (13).

There is strong evidence for the beneficial effects of honey in the supportive care of diabetes mellitus. These results point to the therapeutic prospects of using honey or other potent antioxidants in addition to standard antidiabetic natural components in the control of diabetes mellitus (14). Furthermore, the therapeutic effects of honey in the supportive care of diabetes may not be limited to the control of glycaemia, but may also extend to the improvement of associated metabolic complications (15).

In conclusion, studies and research show that the medicinal effects of honey may be due to its antibacterial, comfort supporting, apoptotic and antioxidant properties.