Honey For Health and Nutritional Benefits

What is known as honey?

Honey is a sweet- tasting, palatable, viscous cloudless to dark-brown food substance obtained from honeycomb of bees and some related insects.

Bees produce honey from the nectar it sucks from flowers of plants which it then regurgitates before enzymatic activity and subsequent water evaporation converts the sugary substance into honey.

Bees store honey in wax structures known as honeycombs.

What constitutes honey?

Honey is mainly made up of sugars; glucose and fructose. The scientists call solutions like honey a supersaturated solution.

When you dissolve sugar into a glass of water, some sugar is usually left at the bottom. This is as a result of the water (solvent) not dissolving totally.

Can we refrigerate honey?

The good thing is that honey will never spoil.

The high osmotic concentration make the honey hostile for spoilage microorganisms to survive in it.

As a result of its natural preservative property, it will not be necessary to refrigerate honey in order to keep it fresh, tasty and effective.

How do I recognize a bad honey?

As we know that Honey does not go bad. In fact, it’s well known as the only food that doesn’t get spoil. It only crystallizes (becoming thick and cloudy) as time passes by.

For honey with sweeteners like sugar, a simple test to know them is to place a drop and watch if it attracts ants to it overtime.

Pure unadulterated honey will not attract ants to it but those adulterated with sugar will attract ants.

Is honey the same as sugar?

Honey has a reduced GI value compared to sugar, which means that it does not increase blood sugar levels.

Honey is more palatable than sugar, so you may not need more of it, but it does have a little more calories per teaspoon so it’s nice to keep a close eye on your portion sizes.

Is it healthy to eat honey that has crystallized?

Yes, crystallized honey is healthy to eat.
You can recognize a crystallized honey when it looks very thick and very grainy.

Crystallized honey is readily good to consume and preferred by many people.

Can pure honey freeze in fridge?

After a while, all true pure honey may crystallize or granulate, but it will never spoil.

You will need not to refrigerate honey, because refrigeration will make it crystallize quickly.

Honey can be frozen.

Does honey increases body mass?

Honey has high calories and sugar and may thereby contribute to weight gain over time.

What are the side effects of honey?

Some side effects of honey includes Wheezing and other asthmatic symptoms, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, weakness, excessive perspiration, fainting, irregular heart rhythms (arrhythmias), and many more.

Is honey in hot tea healthy?

As it turns out, adding honey to boiling water can alter the enzymes, causing a reduction in its benefits.

Many people do not know that pasteurized honey has already been treated with heat to kill bacteria.

How much honey can you consume in a day?

You need to know that Honey is still a form of sugar and consumption should be moderate. The American Heart Association(AHA) suggests that women get no more than 100 calories a day from added sugars; and men no more than 150 calories a day.

This is a just over two tablespoons for women and three tablespoons for men.

Does honey make you less fat?

A study proved that replacing sucrose with honey can ensure weight loss. Another study from 2010 revealed that honey can trigger hormones that suppress the appetite.