Honey as a Home Cure
Nature Has Provided a Remedy High in Antioxidants.
December 1, 2008
-
Email This Post
Print this article!
Digg
del.icio.us
Mahalo
StumbleUpon
YahooMyWeb
If a nagging cough is keeping you awake and cough syrup doesn’t help, there’s something in your kitchen cupboard that might: honey. It’s been a favored home remedy for sore throats for decades, and now new research shows it’s more than wishful thinking.
A Little Does a Lot
It may not take much honey to do the trick. In a study of kids, a small dose of buckwheat honey — 1/2 to 2 teaspoons, depending on age — was enough. (Caution: Never give honey to a child who’s not yet a year old, because there’s a risk of botulism.) And many doctors recommend a bit of honey for adult patients, too. Try it with tea and lemon for extra throat lubrication. Bonus: Honey is a great source of antioxidants.
It Might Help Sinuses, Too
Scientists have only just begun to tap into honey’s medical uses. Early research shows it may have a strong antibacterial edge and might fight sinus infections, too. Research is ongoing.
Do It With Honeydew
If you’re looking for the best choice, consider darker-colored “honeydew” varieties from bees that collect the sugary secretions that insects leave on plants, otherwise known as honeydew. According to a new study of Spanish varieties, honeydew honey, though relatively rare in the United States, has even higher levels of disease-fighting antioxidants than the honey that bees make from nectar.
But all honey, regardless of its origins, is good for you, the experts said. “Besides its value as a great sweetening agent, honey has proved that it also has effective antioxidant and antibacterial activities,” said study co-author Rosa Ana Perez, a researcher with the Instituto Madrileno de Investigacion y Desarrollo Rural, Agrario y Alimentario in Madrid.
In 2004, U.S. researchers found that antioxidant levels rose in people who ate between four and 10 tablespoons of honey per day, depending on their weight.
Should people eat a lot more honey? “An adequate diet rich in natural antioxidants: fruit, vegetables, olive oil, wine, honey, among others, could prevent some disease,” according to Perez.
But she added that consumers should be careful, because honey is also full of carbohydrates — it’s about 80 percent sugar — and it “must be incorporated into diet in a balanced manner, both quantitatively and in relation to the other foodstuffs.”
As reported on RealAge, Inc., a consumer-health media company and provider of personalized health information.
