Benefits of raw honey

Raw honey has a wide range of benefits. It is used as a food, medicine, nutritional supplement, beauty enhancer, skin cleanser, and natural sweetener.

In this blog we look at the different benefits of raw honey. We want to serve you only authentic and reliable information, so everything this blog covers comes from trusted scientific sources. A list of additional sources has been mentioned at the end of this blog.

1. Raw honey is rich in antioxidants

During regular metabolism, our body creates free radicals as byproducts. These free radicals have an electron missing, which makes them unstable and highly reactive.

Consequently, they ‘steal’ electrons from other molecules, causing those molecules to become unstable. It causes something called oxidative stress. This stress leads to further damage of our proteins, cell walls, and other units. 

Antioxidants willingly donate electrons to the free radicals. As a result, free radicals do not need to steal electrons from elsewhere. This breaks the chain reaction of further damage to our cells. Antioxidants are called so, because they arrest oxidation - the very process that produces and propagates free radicals.

Raw, unprocessed honey is rich in antioxidants like phenolic acids and flavonoids like quercetin and chrysin. Antioxidants prevent premature aging and help maintain overall health.

2. Honey is a natural energy booster

Honey contains natural sugar. This natural sugar provides an instant energy spike to your body. This will keep you from feeling tired or exhausted after or during exercise. 

The combination of glucose and fructose in honey produce a unique effect. The human body can swiftly absorb glucose and it is carried in the blood throughout the body. This gives an immediate boost to your energy. Fructose, on the other hand, is absorbed by your blood over a longer time. As a result, it provides you energy for a longer time. 

3. Honey improves memory

The effects of honey on human memory are positive. More than one study found that consumption of honey improved memory, especially the spatial memory. 

The positive effect on memory is also indirect. Honey helps you calm down and prevent stress, which, in turn, improves retention. Finally, it strengthens those areas of your brain (technically called the cholinergic system) that regulate sensory processing, attention and sleep.

4. Honey helps in weight loss

One of the benefits of honey that is of particular interest for the current generation is the effect honey has on diet intake and weight management.

A study says eating honey can help keep in check your desire to eat. Popularly, honey mixed in lemon and warm water in the morning helps burn fat.

5. Honey speeds up wounds and burns healing

Topical use of honey is among the most widely known benefits of honey. 

Research says the anti-bacterial and tissue-regenerative properties make honey highly effective in curing wounds and burns. There are at least three reasons why.application of honey superficial wounds helps heal wounds faster. 

The first reason is the low pH: Most unprocessed honey has a low acidic pH - between 3 and 4.5. This strongly inhibits bacterial growth. Secondly, honey contains some specific potent ingredients that actively kill bacteria. 

And finally, the low moisture content. When you get raw, unprocessed honey from a trusted honey aggregator, you can be sure that the moisture content in that honey is naturally low. Raw honey produces an osmotic effect on the bacteria of the wound. In other words, raw honey pulls out the moisture of the bacterial cells, leading to dehydration and killing of those cells.

Honey application is also found very beneficial for treating second-degree burns (also known as partial-thickness burns). This is because raw honey speeds up skin regrowth and assists in formation of new tissues. It is also noted to reduce de-coloration of skin caused by burns.

It is important to note, however, that wounds and burns can pose serious risks when not attended to properly. Hence, when it comes to using honey to heal wounds, we highly recommend you do it under medical supervision.

6. Honey soothes your sore throat

In a way, inflammation is our body’s defense mechanism. Upon certain injuries, our immune cells dilate so that helpful chemicals can reach the site of injury faster. This dilation can cause inflammation.

When you have a sore throat, the benefits of raw honey work at three levels. One, because honey is thick, it will create a layer of shield over the sensitive area of the throat. Owing to its sticky nature, this layer will not easily disappear, giving you the advantage of long-time protection and comfort.

Two, honey has natural anti-inflammatory contents. This relieves the stress you feel due to sore throats. And finally, it has clear anti-bacterial qualities. Using honey with hot water or even tea can soothe your throat and prevent discomfort for a long time.

Peter Molan, one of the world’s leading experts on the benefits of honey, developed solidified honey in the form of lozenges to help with gum disease and sore throat.

7. Honey alleviates dandruff issues

As you probably know, dandruff is associated with dry scalp. 

The natural sugar in pure honey is a natural humectant. Humectants are substances or ingredients that are great at preserving moisture. Raw honey, because of this property, can prevent loss of moisture from your hair and thus ensure you don’t have an unduly dry scalp. 

8. Raw honey helps control triglyceride

When you consume more calories than what you burn, the surplus is stored in the form of fat. This fat is called triglyceride. Triglycerides will be used as energy when you are otherwise low on energy - between meals, for instance.

Although triglycerides are important because they supply your body with energy during shortages, they are essentially fats. Hence, their excess can pose serious risks of heart diseases, stroke, and Type 2 diabetes.

You can possibly control triglyceride levels formed due to sugar by choosing honey as a sugar substitute. Scientists are yet not sure what ingredient gives honey the power to control triglyceride levels. However, it is generally believed that niacin in honey is the secret. 

Studies have reported that in addition to bringing fasting triglyceride to healthy levels, honey can also lower LDL-C and raise HDL-C.

9. Unprocessed honey can regulate cholesterol levels

Propoplis in honey helps regulate cholesterol levels. Propolis literally means the entrance to a city (pro = toward or entrance to; polis = community or city). This propolis is a ‘sealant’ that honeybees use to fill any unwanted gaps in the beehive. 

Raw honey contains propolis, which comes from beehives. Propolis has the ability to help fight against parasites, bacteria, viruses, and fungi. More importantly, propolis can help control cholesterol levels (National Library of Medicine). The same propolis might also have anti-inflammatory properties and speed up skin healing. (WebMD).

The website Heart, dedicated to spreading accurate information about what’s good for your heart and health, also favorably mentions moderate usage of honey and its use for controlling cholesterol levels.

10. Honey helps in digestion

While there is still some research pending as to how exactly honey helps digestion, the relationship is believed to be positive.

Pure, unadulterated, and unprocessed honey has prebiotic content. Prebiotics are compounds that contribute to the growth as well as functioning of helpful microorganisms in your body. These helpful, friendly microorganisms are commonly known as probiotics. (Source)

11. Honey improves your immunity

A study by Michigan State University found that the honey builds a strong immunity system.  Immunity is your body’s ability that stops you from falling ill.

This immunity in raw honey comes from its antioxidants that have been mentioned elsewhere in this article too. Particularly, the sugar nigerooligosaccharides present in honey strengthen your immunity system.

12. Honey has important antibacterial and antifungal properties

Just like harmful bacteria, fungi also can cause various illnesses and health issues in your body. For instance, ailments like allergic and asthamtic problems, itching, athlete’s foot are caused by fungal infection. 

Unprocessed, raw honey of certain types possess strong antibacterial and antifungal properties.

13. Unprocessed honey may be of use in diabetes

The glycemic index (GI) of raw honey is around 45, while that of your regular table sugar could be as high as 80. For context, the GI of many fruits is around 50, which means the GI of raw, unprocessed honey is pretty much the same as those fruits. 

Remember, higher the GI of a good, faster will your sugar levels spike after eating that food. So your regular table sugar will spike blood sugar levels much faster than raw honey will. Another tangential benefit of honey vs sugar is that honey has antioxidants. 

As mentioned earlier, these antioxidants help combat oxidative stress, which is often associated with diabetes. All this suggests that when used in moderation and under medical supervision, raw honey might be a good substitute to your regular sugar.

14. Raw honey might help you sleep better

In addition to its medicinal uses, honey is a potential aid for improving your sleep quality.

This could be due to two reasons. The first reason is sugar levels. Stability of sugar levels can lead to fewer sleep interruptions and better sleep quality. Raw honey, when used right, can help with controlling sugar levels, so it can indirectly help improve sleep quality. 

The second reason why honey might help with sleep quality requires a more detailed explanation. Honey contains an amino acid called tryptophan. This amino acid is used to synthesize the hormone melatonin, the principal hormone for sleep. When the brain receives signals that it is night time, it instructs the pineal gland to start secreting melatonin.

Following a series of sophisticated steps, melatonin helps the body systems to get into sleep mode on different fronts. For instance, it lowers the body’s temperature and blood pressure. All this aids you to fall asleep.

15. Honey is good for your skin

Honey, as mentioned earlier, helps retain moisture. As a result, you can apply it on dry patches of skin, say elbows, to restore the normal moisture of your skin. A healthy moisture in skin adds a natural glow to your skin.

Besides, honey is also used as an exfoliator. What’s more, face masks prepared with honey are quite popular too.

Here is an infographic showing the benefits of honey for your face and skin.

16. Honey is good for respiratory infections

Oxford University researchers compared the effect of honey on upper respiratory tract infections (URI) with the effect of common OTC drugs and found that honey achieved better results in intensity and frequency of coughing.

Summary

Apart from the benefits mentioned above, raw and pure honey is known to have many more benefits. That includes bad breath, acidity, stress, gums, sinus, arthritis and so on.

All this is not surprising, considering the various antioxidants, antioxidants and antibacterial ingredients of pure honey as also its special characteristics. From helping sleep to good skin, from fighting dandruff to cough, from improving your immunity to providing instant energy, the benefits of eating pure honey are truly unique.

Before we end, it’s important to remember two things with respects to these benefits. 

One, always make sure you contact an expert before you make any major changes in your food habits by including honey. And two, remember that only pure, unprocessed raw honey can give you these benefits. Adulterated or processed honey is often nothing more than sugary solution and can bring you no real benefits. 

A small word of caution: do not give honey to kids under the age of 12 months. Infants’ intestines aren’t matured to digest clostridium botulinum, the bacteria often found in honey. Even a small spoon of honey can be risky and potentially fatal, so never give honey (or foods that contain honey) to kids under the age of 1 year.

So be sure to always buy honey from a trusted source, enjoy your delicious honey, and stay healthy!

Honey benefits FAQs

Do all types of honey have the same benefits?

No. The flora from where the honeybees collect the nectar influences the benefits of honey. There are about 320 types of honey, and each type of honey has its own unique benefits. 

How to best eat honey in order to draw the maximum benefits of honey?

You can eat honey in pretty much any way you want. You can dip a spoon into the jar of honey and eat it just like that. You can add it to lemon water or a glass of milk. You can also pour it over ice-cream and relish the taste. Just remember one thing: do not heat honey. Heating robs honey of nearly all its nutritional content.

Why is raw honey so popular?

High nutritional value, natural origins, the variety of ways in which you can use honey, and great taste make honey popular. Besides, honey is one of those extremely rare foods with practically no expiry, so preserving honey is never a challenge. Finally, honey is also popular because it is effective for topical and medicinal uses as well.

How much honey should I eat daily?

There’s no way of generalising the quantity of honey one should eat on a daily basis. Of course, you will get the maximum benefits of honey when you eat honey the right way and exercise regularly. Make sure you buy raw honey from a reliable source only. Consult a medical practitioner for any specific questions you might have.

Other references: 

1. ResearchGate: Honey and antioxidants
2. National Center for Biotechnology Information, USA: Honey and Memory
3. Taylor & Francis, UK Honey and weightloss
4. National Center for Biotechnology Information, USA Honey and dandruff
5. National Center for Biotechnology Information, USA Honey and cholesterol
6. Michigan State University College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, USA Honey and immunity
7. Hindawi Journals and Articles, UK Honey and antibacterial properties
8. Evidence Based Medicine, UK Honey and respiratory infections
9. Public Medicine, National Center for Biotechnology Information, USA Honey and triglycerides
10. Penn Medicine, Pennsylvania Hospital, USA Honey and sore throat
11. Vice Media Group, USA Honey and dandruff