WHAT ARE HONEY BEES TO HUMANS?
Bees are very important insects
to you and me. We rely on them to pollinate crops, especially fruit trees such
as oranges, mangoes, avocado, paw paw and don’t forget crops like beans, water
melon and many others. If bees don’t exist to transfer pollen from flower to
flower, we would not be having fruits in plenty or at all!
We also eat honey and use wax from honeycomb to make lotions, lip balms and candles. Bee venom is used to
make medicine to cure arthritis!
Bee pollen
Propolis
Soon human may think of eating
honey bees? Since everything around honey is useful to human beings………
Health Benefits:
1. Prevent cancer and heart disease:
Honey contains flavonoids, antioxidants which help reduce the risk of some
cancers and heart disease.
2. Reduce ulcers and other gastrointestinal disorders.
Recent research shows that honey treatment may help disorders such as ulcers
and bacterial gastroenteritis. This may be related to the 3rd benefit…
3. Anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-fungal:
“All honey is antibacterial, because the bees add an enzyme that makes hydrogen
peroxide,” said Peter Molan, director of the Honey Research Unit at the University of Waikato
in New Zealand .
4. Increase athletic performance.
Ancient Olympic athletes would eat honey and dried figs to enhance their
performance. This has now been verified with modern studies, showing that it is
superior in maintaining glycogen levels and improving recovery time than other
sweeteners.
5. Reduce cough and throat irritation:
Honey helps with coughs, particularly buckwheat honey. In a study of 110
children, a single dose of honey was just as effective as a single dose of
dextromethorphan in relieving nocturnal cough and allowing proper sleep.
6. Balance the 5 elements:
Honey has been used in ayurvedic medicine in India
Honey is referred as “Yogavahi” since it has a
quality of penetrating the deepest tissues of the body. When honey is used with
other herbal preparations, it enhances the medicinal qualities of those
preparations and also helps them to reach the deeper tissues.
7. Blood sugar regulation:
Even though honey contains simple sugars, it is NOT the same as white sugar or
artificial sweeteners. Its exact combination of fructose and glucose actually
helps the body regulate blood sugar levels. Some honeys have a low hypoglycemic
index, so they don’t jolt your blood sugar.
8. Heal wounds and burns:
External application of honey has been shown to be as effective as conventional
treatment with silver sulfadiazene. It is speculated that the drying effect of
the simple sugars and honey’s anti-bacterial nature combine to create this
effect.
9. Probiotic:
Some varieties of honey possess large amounts of friendly bacteria. This
includes up to 6 species of lactobacilli and 4 species of bifidobacteria. This
may explain many of the “mysterious therapeutic properties of honey.”
10. Beautiful skin:
Its anti-bacterial qualities are particularly useful for the skin, and, when
used with the other ingredients, can also be moisturizing and nourishing! For a
powerful home beauty treatment for which you probably have all the ingredients
in your kitchen already, for making Face Masks.
Honey Suggestions:
If you want to get the goodness from your honey, make
sure it is pure and raw.
Raw honey contains vitamins, minerals and enzymes not present in refined honey. (Keep visiting this page for more on identifying pure honey).
Raw honey contains vitamins, minerals and enzymes not present in refined honey. (Keep visiting this page for more on identifying pure honey).
Honey Cautions:
·
Best not to feed to infants. Spores of Clostridium
botulinum have been
found in a small percentage of honey in North America .
This is not dangerous to adults and older children, but infants can have a
serious reaction of illness in the first year. Do not add honey to baby food or
use as a soother to quiet a fussy or colicky baby.
·
Honey is a sugar, so do not eat jars full of it if you value your
good health and want to maintain a healthy weight. It has a high caloric value
and will put you on a sugar high and low.
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