Medicinal Uses of Honey
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Sweet wonderful honey! It is the nectar of life! A little in my tea, coffee, desserts, and even main dishes makes our life so wonderful. It is even good in lip balms and lotions. To top it off, honey could be the solution to many ordinary health concerns.
Honey has been used by humans for thousands of years. The ancient civilizations such as Greece and Egypt were very familiar with the benefits of honey including the medicinal properties. How it worked, they did not know, but they knew it worked!
We all know that honey comes from bees. The kind we eat is only made by honeybees and can vary in taste based on the flowers they honey take the nectar from. The purpose of honey is not to sweeten our lives, but to feed the bees during the winter or other lean times. Beekeepers encourage extra honey money so that we can take the excess and enjoy our day.
Honey is largely carbohydrates and water. That much might be obvious because of its sweetness. But it also contains zinc, iron, potassium, calcium, riboflavin, phosphorus, and magnesium. All of these are needed by our bodies and can be useful in fighting diseases and keeping ourselves healthy. But lately, researchers have discovered that honey is full of antioxidants. These are important to fight cancer, the common cold, and other diseases and viruses. They help fight these out of our bodies. Honey is full of these wonderful antioxidants. In fact, the darker the honey the more antioxidants you will probably find.
It has only been with the rise in the use of antibiotics that honey began to take a back seat. Now, research is showing that antibiotics could be overused and will therefore make us immune to their effects. Honey has not shown any sign of immunity in human bodies. In fact, honey is a great way to kill off infection. When used in tending to a wound, you will find less chances of infection, the elimination of infection, and quicker healing. It does not have to be just a scratch. Deep wounds can also be treated well with honey.
There is extensive documentation on the healing effects of honey. Doctors around the world understand it and sometimes apply it in their practice. Throughout history it has also been used in preventative medicine. At this time, there has not been enough documented research shown to support any of these, but at the same time researchers are dismissing it either. Honey is very powerful and reports keep coming in to support that.
Of all these medicinal uses for honey, only the wound healing has been formally researched and documented with enough evidence to support it. Most of the others are from people who down through the generations have used honey for many more purposes. Here are few that you can try in your life. Some people also mix in cinnamon since it also has shown some help in these areas.
Wounds – If you have a wound which could be a scratch, cut, scrape, or resulting from surgery, try using honey under the dressing to work on killing any bacteria and help speed up the process of healing. Like treating any wound, make sure that it has been cleaned out thoroughly before apply the dressing. Do this on a regular basis and you will results.
Heart Disease – Replacing your morning jelly for honey could help you decrease you chances of heart disease. Honey could be effective in cleaning out the arteries and preventing heart attacks and future surgeries. It has been noted that those that take in a regular amount of honey each day has a decrease in cholesterol.
Oral Health – You would think that because of its sweetness that honey would be dangerous for your teeth. Quite the opposite is proving true. Have a tooth ache? Apply honey. Want to fight gingivitis? Honey can help you in that war. It works to help chronic bad breath, also.
Arthritis – Rubbing honey deep into the areas being affected by arthritis is a great way to help ease the pain. Taking a spoonful of honey each day also has shown results in keeping the pain at bay.
In fact, a daily intake of honey works great for all of these things:
Cough
Colds
Weight loss
Acne
Upset Stomach
Immune System
Honey is wonderful and the benefits of it are just being fully recognized. As time goes on, more and more conditions are being treated with honey. Begin taking a serious look at honey in your life and how you can use it. Make it a part of your daily life and feel the benefits of this sweet nectar.
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Excellent expounding on something so sweet and good for us, RGraf! Thanks for teaching us so much about it and well done!
Honey is amazing. I have known about some of its uses. I use it mixed with warm water to rinse my eyes if I ever have an eye infection. It happens once in a while since I have contacts. It works so much faster than the steroid drops my doctor once prescribed. I have also used it for conjunctivitis. I often use it to replace some sugar in various recipes.
Thanks. I had information on this sometime back and we buy honey by the big jugs. A couple of tablespoons of honey and cinnamon are my regime. Yum! And the health benefits are an added blessing. Thanks for the reminder. I never had heard jim10's recommendation. I'll have to add that one.
This hub is excellent and very useful for people who do not know the benefits of honey, especially for preventing heart disease.
His daughter is correct, if taken daily it can be very beneficial but most people wait until they get sick to use something.
Anyway, I have been taking a tablespoon of honey anytime I begin getting a sore throat. It is truly a miracle cure, after a couple of days I am well.
Great Hub!
Honey is one of the best natural remedies.
Your Hub is excellent, thank you.
Super hub - honey really is one of Nature's incredible gifts, isn't it? I haven't heard that one about it being used for arthritis. We're fortunate to live quite close to the government beekeeping institute so we're never short of fresh honey - from different flowers each season.
Great info!
Thanks,I feel great after i read this because I gave my one year old daughter a honey everyday.
"But lately, researchers have discovered that honey is full of antioxidants. These are important to fight cancer." This is new information I learned from this hub. Thank u for answering my question by explaning reality of honey.
Great hub. Great information. Some I knew, Some was new. I am always anxious to learn something new regarding natural cures and home remedies. Good job. Keep'em coming.
Very good hub. Lovely honey. I know it's very, very healthy, too, and those videos are fascinating! Thanks!
nice hub,aside from honey's numerous health benefits, its also a healthier way to sweeten our food.
very nice hub! Thanks for all the information here. eating honey is great and healthy indeed.
Nice hub!I never realized that honey had so many health benefits. I thought it was crazy that honey actually is good for your teeth and even fight gingivitis.
Great Hub RGraf, I really enjoyed taking in all the information, but I wonder if you can substandicate this information I was told a few years back. That its best to get honey farmed locally, than that which was gatherered by bee in other areas, because the flowering in one area may be different than the one we live in. Ten Hugs to you. Ed PS Videps were nice.
Well informative.. great hub and usefull video.. thanks for share
I use honey to make lemon juice for my kids. Healthier and keeps off the cold during the winter season. They say it also helps people with asthma, so I give it to my son who has it. Great informative hub.
This was a sweet hub; praise be the product of nature's nectar...
Be careful in giving very young children honey!!
Great Hub. Honey is must for every home.
Manuka honey - It's the future!
Great hub. I second what tradingxyz stated above, it's not safe to give honey to children under the age of 1. It has more to do with the nature of the product being raw, so even dissolving it in juice or water should not be done. I've also heard that if you use honey for allergies, the honey should be produced locally for the most benefit.
Oh I didn't know any of these things about honey. Thanks for the sweet information.
What are the concerns about "raw" honey?
Lots to absorb...
Very informative hub. Nicely written. Liked your other hubs too. Joining your fanclub and would like to invite you to join mine. :)
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Wow I knew that honey was good for you, but I had no idea there were so many things it could do for your body. Good job, RGraf!
Wonderful hub. Thanks for all the useful information!!
Thumbs up. Truly a wonderful hub. Indeed there are actually lots of medicinal uses of honey which your hub has explained very well.
great hub! I love Honey... and now more than before! Thanks
thanks, I love honey too.. and have written a hub on how you can use honey and lemon for your daily skincare routine and it costs you next to nothing.
My mother and grandmother both had arthritis to the extent it was listed as a cause of death on their death certificates. My grandmother was only 40. I also have arthritis, more of a stiffness than pain. I ordered a jar of raw honey just for a treat, It's so good I can spread it on whole wheat bread and not even need butter for toast. I noticed the days I eat it my stiffness is GONE.
I have read that if you use it for allergies to buy it locally so your immunity builds up. But for arthritis I don't guess it matters
What an excellent hub! I knew previously some good effects of the honey, I have always used propolis and the royal jelly, everytime I felt a bit' tired...what a good remedy!
Thanks for the hub!
Thank you for writing a "honey of an article." My family has been using honey as a cold and flu preventative for the last few years. I knew about the antibiotic properties, but you also shared some other benefits that I wasn't even aware of.
Good job. 2 Thumbs up!
Never realized all of this. Great hub, very informative and useful.
Thanks for a great hub on honey. One of my favorite honey's is Manuka. This honey has been shown to kill all know bacteria. Definitely a great food to have around the house.
I didn't realize that honey can do so much.
Good tips well written and informative. I advocate the use of honey as well and firmly believe that it has helped me, particularly as far as catching colds. Thanks.
And in our part of the country our bee population is suffering and its unthinkable we may find it difficult to get local honey soon.
I thought the videos to go along with this subject were very interesting. Thanks for such useful information.
Good hub. Honey is an amazing substance. Who would think that the humble honeybee was capable of producing such a miracle food.
I knew honey was good. I never would have thought it had so many useful medical-type uses. Thanks for the info!
I always have a jar of honey in my kitchen, not just for food but also for medicinal purposes. I just posted my first hub, featuring lovely honey! http://hubpages.com/hub/The-Most-Effective-Home-Re
Excellent article. Anything that is natural that can be used to replace conventional medication gets my vote. Medicines can be very harmful and should be avoided where possible.
This is a very informative hub on the medicinal uses of honey. Thanks for sharing.
I am giving a link to this hub in my hub --- 'honey health benefits'.
RevLady Level 3 Commenter 2 years ago
This is a great and very useful hub. Honey is medicinal is so many ways as you have presented here. Few things I was unaware of and appreciate the knowledge. Thanks so much!!
Forever His,