MEDICAL AND OTHER USES OF HONEY

MEDICAL AND OTHER USES OF HONEY

Despite all the crazy misinformation about honey, the natural product has a very wild variety of use, even from ancient times. For about 2000 years now, honey has been used to treat a variety of ailment through skin application until modern times when the cause of infection was identified. Modern research into the use of honey as a microbial agent has revealed potential treatment for a variety of ailments. Honey is known to have an osmotic effect on bacterial.

Experts say the hydrogen peroxide in honey is activated by dilution. However, unlike medical hydrogen peroxide commonly 3% by volume it is present in concentration of only 1 ml/litre in honey. Iron oxidizes the oxygen free radicals released by the hydrogen peroxide. When honey is hence used topically as wound dressing, hydrogen peroxide is released slowly and acts as an antiseptic. Unlike 3% medical hydrogen peroxide, this slow release does not cause damage to surrounding tissue. Honey has an acidic pH, commonly between 3.2 and 4.5 and this relative acidic pH level prevents the growth of many bacterial responsible for infection.

In all, the most common medical use of honey is as an anti-microbial agent used for dressing wounds, burns and skin ulcers. The application has a long history in traditional medicine. Additionally, the use of honey reduces odors, swelling and scarring. It also prevents the dressing from sticking to healing wounds.

There are also claims that one drop of honey directly on the eye can treat mild forms of conjunctives. Honey is believed to alleviate allergies. Apart from antiseptic/antibacterial properties, other uses of honey include cooking, baking, spreading on bread or toast and as an addition to various beverages such as tea.

Because honey is hygroscopic (drawing moisture from the air), a small quantity of honey added to a pastry recipe will retard staling. Raw honey also contains enzymes that help in its digestion; it also contains several vitamins and anti-oxidants. Honey is the main ingredients in honey wines called Mead or Honey Beer. It is also used adjunct in beer.

Honey is an excellent present preservative. In ancient history, the Ancient Egyptians and middle Eastern-peoples also used honey for embalming the dead. However, only rich and powerful people had the luxury of this type of funeral.

In the midst of all this commercially oriented misinformation about honey, the scientific truth about the substance must be told. Honey has a higher concentration than an equal measure of sugar. People whose meal plans are targeted to eating low sugar meals cannot achieve that by using honey as a substance for table sugar. Worse still is when one consumes honey that has been contaminated with high sugar syrup by profit minded traders, just to increase the quantity and make more profit.

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