#FOODASMEDICINE: HONEY
/I firmly believe food is our most powerful medicine. When you think of food as medicine, you realize how much healing power there is in your kitchen alone! Of course, some food items pack more punch than others. Honey is one of those foods— you can use it in cooking, you can use it functionally to support your health, you can use it in first aid situations and you can even use it cosmetically as part of your skincare routine!
And the use of honey isn’t new, its medicinal use has actually been documented since earliest civilizations, but modern medicine has finally studied and recognized its value. Some of the benefits of honey: it is a rich source of various phenolic compounds, enzymes, and sugars that are antioxidant, anti-carcinogenic, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial.
Therapeutic uses include:
Mitigates heart disease risk. It has been shown to improve cholesterol. Specifically, lowers LDL and increases HDL. A higher HDL to LDL ratio is more ideal because it decreases your risk for heart disease.
Wound care, particularly burns. It is antibacterial, helping prevent infection without needing to use antibiotics. This is important during these times because we are seeing the overuse of antibiotics leading to antibiotic-resistant infections. It also helps stimulate tissue growth and minimize scar formation (I have personal experience with this and can tell you honey alone healed my second degree burn! And there’s hardly even a scar).
Supports immune health. It’s antimicrobial against bacteria, fungus, and viruses. It promotes an increase in T and B lymphocytes (the white blood cells; aka the immune system’s commanders to fight infection) while regulating production of pro-inflammatory chemicals making it immunomodulatory. This is important because some inflammation is good but too much or disregulated inflammation is where it becomes problematic. The antioxidant content also makes it helpful as immune support because it helps manage any damage from inflammation/infection (neutralizes oxidative stress).
As skincare! It’s anti inflammatory, anti microbial, antioxidant, humectant, emollient AND it doesn’t disrupt the microbiome or pH balance of the skin (which is delicate and when disrupted, leads to more inflammation on the skin.. which then leads to more product consumption. perhaps this is by design of the beauty industry? makes you wonder..)
There are many types of honey out there. When possible, I recommend raw and organic honey. Especially if you will be consuming it. For the more antimicrobial benefits, I recommend manuka honey.
Below are some high quality honey options:
References:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18773594/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21479349/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24305429/