Honey

Scientific Name(S): Honey, clarified a strained honey, mel

Common Name(S): Honey, purified honey, miel blanc (French), honig (German)

Honey is a sweet and viscous fluid produced by honeybees and other insects from the nectar of flowers .

Botany: Honey is a bee-concentrated and processed product of the nectar of flowers of numerous plants. This saccharine secretion is deposited in honeycombs by bees (Apis mellifera L., Fam. Apidae). Most desired and flavorful honeys come from the nectar of the white clover blossom, raspberry blossom, basswood flower and many others. Purified honey is prepared by melting honey at a moderate temperature, skimming off any impurities and diluting with water to a weight per milliliter of 1.35 - 1.36 g at 20°C.

History: The common and once official honey of the National Formulary used for flavoring medicinals was first known historically as a flavored sweeting agent. Its use dates back to ancient times, with Egyptian medical texts (circa between 2600 and 2200 Be) mentioning honey in at least 900 remedies. Almost all early cultures universally hailed honey for its sweetening and nutritive qualities, as well as its topical healing properties for sores, wounds and skin ulcers. During wartime it was used on wounds as an antiseptic by the ancient Egyptians, Asyrians, Greeks, Romans, Chinese and even by the Germans as late as World War I.

Uses of Honey

Honey has been used as remedy for hundreds of ills, including as a gargle and as topical treatment for sores and wounds. Modern research lends support for this use, both in statistical findings and in isolation of antimicrobial and antifungal elements. There has been successful use of honey treating Helicobacter pylori, burns, wound disruption in C-section patients, senile cataracts and corneal opacities, and tumors in rats and mice.

Honey is used in traditional folk medicine and apitherapy , and is an excellent natural preservative .

Side Effects of Honey

Contaminated honey containing botulism spores can poison infants. Some may have allergic reactions to pollen in honey. Honey from poisonous plants can be poisonous.

Toxicology: Generally, honey is considered very safe as a sweet food product, a gargle and cough soothing agent, and a topical product for minor sores and wounds. However, the medical reports still show that honey can be a problem when fed to infants because some batches contain spores of Clostridium botulinum which can multiply in the intestines and result in botulism poisoning. Infant botulism is seen most commonly in 2- to 3-month old infants after ingestion of botulinal spores which colonize in the gastrointestinal tract and toxin production in vivo. Infant botulism is not produced by ingestion of preformed toxin, as is the case in foodborne botulism. Clinical symptoms include constipation followed by neuromuscular paralysis (starting with the cranial nerves, then proceeding to the peripheral and respiratory musculature). Cases are frequently related to ingestion of contaminated honey, house dust and soil. Intense management under hospital emergency conditions and trivalent antitoxin are available, although use of the latter in infant botulism has not been adequately investigated.

Summary: Honey is widely used as a nutritive agent for its flavor and caloric value. Its topical use for various wounds and skin ulcers is very old and has been recently verified as to its efficacy. Ongoing standardization and double-blind clinical trials should continue to prove its usefulness as an antibacterial and healing agent. Care should be taken in its use in infant formulations, since botulism may result from Clostridium botulinum spores present in contaminated samples. Pollen in honey may also cause allergic reactions in some individuals. Recent studies on antibacterial peptides (apidaecins and abaecin) from the honeybee itself, may help explain its pharmacological activity.