| Contents 1. What is honey 2. The nutritional ingredient and efficacy of honey 3. Can I eat honey while pregnant? 4. Precautions and warnings of honey 5. Conclusion |
What is honey
Honey is a kind of food that bees collect from plant nectar secretions and add them to their own digestive tract secretions, then brew them in the hive and store them for later consumption. Simply speaking, honey is the bees collected from the wild in the beehives, brewed and sealed up as food for the future (winter/long rainy season, etc. when honey is not available).
The honey we come into contact with in real life is also divided into different types according to different situations, let’s talk about it in detail.
Bee species
(1) Italian bee species
At present, many medium-scale or large-scale professional beekeepers in my country are raising bee bees, because this bee species has a strong ability to collect honey on a large scale, coupled with professional beekeepers’ unique beekeeping following the flowering season, resulting in each Large-scale flowering seasons have good yields, which also leads to the fact that many of the honey we come into contact with on the market is actually honey produced by bees. Note: Italian bee can mass produce pollen, royal jelly, propolis and other bee products.
(2) Chinese Bee
Chinese Bee is a native bee species in my country, with strong wild vitality and good at collecting sporadic nectar sources. However, the ability to collect large-scale nectar sources is weaker than that of Italian bees. This has led to many Chinese bee farmers staying in the same place year after year. There is no need to chase the flowering season everywhere, and it is precisely because of this that the output of Chinese bees is far less than that of Italian bees. The honey produced by Chinese Bee is commonly known as soil honey. Authentic soil honey is usually taken once or twice a year. However, many of the “earth honey” we see in the market are not authentic soil honey. Many Chinese bees are cultivated. The author adopted a new living frame beehive, this new breeding method imitates Italian bees, and honey can be taken in every flowering season. Note: China Bee cannot mass produce a series of bee products such as pollen and royal jelly.
(3) Black bee
In Asian countries such as China, black bee is mainly distributed in Heilongjiang and Yili areas in Northeast China, among which the northeast black bee is a nationally protected bee species. There is indeed black honey, but I can say that the so-called “black honey” that you can buy on the market is fake. The ability of black bees to produce honey is similar to that of medium bees, but the population is far less than that of medium bees, and the number is almost a fraction.
(4) Wild bees
This kind of wild honey does exist, but it has almost gone out of production in recent years. Because the process of collecting honey by wild bees is too cruel, it almost destroys the whole family of others to squeeze honey. Behind every bottle of pure wild honey is the destruction of several or even dozens of wild bee colonies. When I was young, I used to see this kind of wild beehive hung on the tree in my hometown. Later, people went to trap the beehive and sell it. I have almost never seen it in recent years.
Nectar
Generally speaking, the source of nectar is what kind of nectar the bees collect. From this perspective, honey can be roughly divided into a hundred nectar species and a single nectar species.
(1) Hundred flower honey
Hundred nectar does not mean that bees must have collected a hundred or hundreds of nectars. Generally speaking, the nectar produced when the nectar source plants are mixed can be called Hundred Nectar. If the bee farm is located in a mountainous area, then at this time The Hundred Flower Honey can also be called Mountain Flower Honey. In fact, it has the same meaning: the bees picked all kinds of messy flowers. (There is no need to worry about what poisonous nectar the bees will gather here. The bees gather nectar as food for themselves. If they can’t tell whether they are poisonous, then their species should have been extinct long ago) In particular, Chinese bees produce hundreds of nectar most of the time, while Italian bees can produce both hundreds of nectar and single nectar species.
(2) Single nectar species
Single nectar species does not mean that the bees have only collected one nectar plant, but most of them are the same nectar plant. For example, you may come into contact with more acacia honey, date nectar, wattle nectar, rape nectar, etc. These nectar plants are prefixed with single nectar species. Of course, it does not mean that acacia honey must be 100% collected from acacia flowers. Bees are not too picky when collecting nectar. As long as there are other nectar plants nearby, they may come back with different honey sources. Most of the single nectar species are produced by Italian bees, because basically only the beekeepers who keep Italian bees can chase up different nectar seasons everywhere. For example, my friend –Andrew Yip’s bee farm is a typical Italian bee transition type bee farm. It’s starting to catch up with the flowering season. In March, Yip’s family will generally drive rapeseed flowers in Sichuan, in April they will drive rapeseed flowers in Shanxi or pick up nectar directly in the mountains. They go to Yan’an or Henan province of China to drive locust flowers in May, and we will drive jujube flowers in Yan’an or Ningxia province in June. Chinese wolfberry flowers, in July, I went to Qinghai province to catch rape flowers, and in August, Yip went to Ningxia to catch alfalfa or buckwheat flowers. Yip would not go back to his hometown to rest until winter.
Processing of honey
(1) Raw honey
Generally speaking, raw honey is the original ecological honey. In fact, after the honey is separated from the honeycomb, it is directly sold to consumers without any processing. This kind of honey is generally only in the hands of beekeepers or second-hand. It’s only available to dealers. I know that there are a lot of these two types of people. Raw honey is also divided into mature honey and water honey according to the sealing conditions of brewing time. Freshly harvested honey will contain moisture. If the moisture is heavy, it is not conducive to long-term storage and will ferment and deteriorate. Therefore, bees will have a process of waving their wings to evaporate the moisture in the honey. The main method of reducing moisture is to strengthen ventilation, reduce the humidity in the box, and promote the evaporation of moisture in the nectar. Repeat this many times until it succeeds. Whenever the part has matured, the bees look for suitable nests to gather them. In order to prevent the honey from absorbing water and spilling, the bees seal a wax cover on the opening of the honey nest. This process is called capping.
Honey after capping is called mature honey in technical terms. In contrast, honey with heavy moisture is called water honey if the brewing time is not enough. So water honey can be understood as honey with high water content, and the water content of mature honey will be lower.
(2) Processing honey
The meaning of processing honey is very simple, that is, middlemen buy raw honey in large quantities from beekeepers, and then through a series of processing processes, artificially reduce the water content, increase the concentration, and then sell it to ordinary consumers. Therefore, the brand honey that everyone encounters in daily life is basically processed honey. The advantage of processed honey over raw honey is its low water content. However, due to the processing process, it is inevitable that there will be blending, adulteration or even direct fraud, and the processing process will destroy certain components of the honey itself, such as raw honey. The active enzyme may disappear completely after processing.
Traditional Chinese medicine perspective
From this perspective, honey is divided into cold honey and hot honey. Cold honey includes coptis honey, wattle nectar, acacia honey, astragalus honey, it is best to use cooling honey for constipation. Hot honey includes jujube nectar. For beauty, choose wild rose honey, motherwort honey; for nourishing lungs, choose wolfberry honey, citrus honey, loquat honey, for stomach nourishing, choose osmanthus honey, sesame honey, schisandra honey; for sleep aid, you can choose longan honey, date nectar, royal jelly.
The nutritional ingredient and efficacy of honey
The ingredients of honey are actually the same, but different honey species will have different tastes, because different honey species will pick different flowers, which leads to some differences in floral fragrance and sweetness. If you drink it in water, choose according to your preference Just choose the taste.
Among the pure natural foods, honey is extremely nutritious, with more than 180 nutrients needed by the human body. The most obvious role and effect of honey is to quickly restore energy and energy (glucose and fructose account for about 70%, which can be directly absorbed without passing through all digestive organs), intestinal moisturizing (famous name: detoxification and beauty), antibacterial Anti-inflammatory (there is a natural antibiotic like propolis), followed by promotion of digestion and growth and development of children (a large amount of organic acids can promote the secretion of digestive juice), hangover and liver protection, anti-fatigue (120~150μg of acetylcholine per 100g of honey, one A refreshing and anti-fatigue substance), protect the cardiovascular system, improve immunity, moisten the lungs and relieve cough.
from: Barton Publishing – Natural Health Reports
Following is the nutrient content ratio function and efficacy of honey.
1. Glucose 50%~65%
① The brain neurons of adults consume about 520 kilocalories and about 130g of glucose every day. The glucose in honey can be absorbed by the body immediately and quickly replenish brain energy. Many nutritionists recommend a cup of honey water in the morning (not on an empty stomach) and a cup of honey water between 3 and 4 in the afternoon to improve the mental state of work throughout the day. After the honey crystallizes, the precipitation part is mainly glucose, and the upper layer part is mainly fructose. ②Eating honey every day can keep your mind sober all day long. Eating big fish and meat will keep the digestive tract busy (1~2 hours for vegetable digestion, 2~4 hours for meat digestion, 10 hours for honey digestion) Within minutes), digestion requires a lot of oxygen and blood to accumulate in the stomach, the brain will be ischemia and hypoxia, and then sleepy. ③Glucose is an oligosaccharide (meaning not high in calories, sucrose is a high in calories). If a person consumes no more than 200g of honey per day, he will not gain weight. If eaten properly, he will lose weight. The role of.
2. Fructose 5%~8%
① Hangover and protect liver. The fructose in honey is a good anti-alcohol and liver-protecting substance for men who drink frequently. Studies have found that after drinking a lot of alcohol, the liver needs a lot of alcohol dehydrogenase to metabolize alcohol, and the fructose in honey can be directly absorbed into the body, which greatly increases the alcohol dehydrogenase activity in the liver and accelerates the metabolism of alcohol in the blood. At least 7%, and the time of alcoholism can be shortened by about 30.7%. ② The fructose in honey has the effect of sugar alcohol, which can be understood as xylitol. If you eat honey directly, it will clean your gums and prevent tooth decay. ③Fructose is also a simple sugar with very low calories and will not cause weight gain. On the contrary, it can eliminate hunger and lose weight.
3. Protein active enzyme <1%
① Enzyme is a special kind of protein with strong biological activity. The enzyme content in honey is a very important indicator of the level of honey quality. This is a unique feature of natural honey. Our country stipulates that the active enzyme value in honey is at least 7, and the true pure plateau honey can reach 18. In honey, there are mainly invertase, amylase, glucose oxygenase, catalase, reductase, invertase, phosphatase, protease-like enzyme, esterase, etc.
② Active enzymes can be digested and broken down into essential amino acids: lysine, histidine, arginine, aspartic acid, threonine, glutamic acid, proline, glycine, alanine, cystine 16 kinds of amino acids including acid, valine, methionine, leucine, isoleucine, tyrosine, and nicotine acid.
4. Bio-organic acid <1%
① Honey contains a variety of organic acids, mainly gluconic acid and citric acid, as well as acetic acid, butyric acid, succinic acid, malic acid and formic acid, etc. The sweetness of the high concentration of sugar in honey masks the sour taste, and some people with sensitive taste buds Can taste the sourness.
② Smooth and smooth stool. A little bit of organic acid can promote the normal secretion of gastric acid, and it can also enhance bowel movement, which can significantly shorten the time of defecation. Honey has a good effect on colitis and habitual constipation without any side effects.
③ Beautify skin and skin. Organic acids mainly prevent honey from being oxidized. After eating, it can remove free radicals in the human body (anti-oxidation, anti-aging of the skin), and maintain the acid-base balance of the human body.
④ It has a certain effect in treating anemia. Regular consumption of honey, organic acids can promote the content of hemoglobin in the blood, which requires a process.
⑤Prevent vascular sclerosis. A variety of organic acids in honey can prevent and delay blood vessel hardening. It is generally recommended that honey should be consumed for at least 15 days every 3 months.
5. Vitamin <0.1%
Honey contains a variety of vitamins, especially the most B vitamins. Each 100g of honey contains 300~400μg B vitamins. Currently known honey contains: vitamin A, vitamin B1 (thiamine), vitamin B2 (riboflavin), vitamin B3 (pantothenic acid), vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), vitamin C (ascorbic acid), vitamin D (calcification) Alcohol), vitamin H (biotin), vitamin K (thrombin), vitamin P (folic acid), etc. Needless to say, the role of vitamins, lack of vitamin B will affect the skin and eyes vision, lack of vitamin C will cause blood diseases, people who often eat honey + lemonade, can soften blood vessels and increase life expectancy.
6.Minerals <0.1%
Mainly magnesium, calcium, potassium, sodium, phosphorus and trace elements iron, copper, manganese, zinc and so on. These trace elements have a great effect on the development of organs and the maintenance of normal body functions and are indispensable. The various enzymes, vitamins and minerals contained in honey can improve human immunity after synergistic effects, and are very important nutrients for children and adolescents.
7. Aromatic substances 1%~2%
Different nectars have different aromas and tastes, mainly because they have different aromatic components. Generally speaking, the fragrance of honey is consistent with the fragrance of flowers. 6. Propolis is about 0.5% Propolis is a natural antibiotic, which is commonly found in natural honey. This is also the secret of why honey can be preserved for a long time in the natural environment. How long can it be stored? If it is sealed well, it can last for thousands of years!
①Anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory, promote tissue regeneration. Experiments have confirmed that honey has a strong inhibitory effect on Gram-positive bacteria such as Streptococcus, Staphylococcus and Diphtheria bacillus. Usage: When treating wounds, apply honey to the affected area to reduce exudation, relieve pain, promote wound healing and prevent infection.
②Treatment of pharyngitis. Almost 100% of men who smoke have pharyngitis. Swallowing honey directly 3 to 5 times can significantly improve the pharyngitis.
③Soft skin. The main effect of honey masks actually comes from propolis, but the honey masks on the market are basically false propaganda. To separate pure propolis from honey, it needs “ultrafiltration” equipment to do it. A set of such equipment At least 5 million yuan, it is better to apply honey directly on the face instead of using a honey mask. Propolis can be absorbed through the skin to eliminate all kinds of harmful bacteria in the skin pores, the dirty particles are washed away by water, and it has the function of shrinking pores and moisturizing, showing the condition of supple skin.
7. Moisture 16%~23%
Under normal circumstances, the moisture content is less than 23% is mature honey, the moisture content is less than 20% is the first-class high-quality mature honey, the Baume degree is 42+. There are rich material content in mature honey. Generally speaking, honey has the best effect in promoting longevity. Scholars in the former Soviet Union have investigated more than 200 elderly people over a hundred years old, of which 143 are beekeepers, confirming that their longevity is related to eating honey. The mechanism that honey promotes longevity is more complicated. It is a comprehensive regulation of the human body, rather than simply acting on an organ.
Can I eat honey while pregnant
In fact, honey is only one of the many products of bees. In addition to honey, the honeycomb also has additional products such as pollen, royal jelly, and propolis. The only thing that contains estrogen-like substances is royal jelly. Whether or not royal jelly’s estrogen can cause precocious puberty, although there is no complete medical institution to study this issue, it is difficult to predict the magnitude and long-term effects of hormones on the human body, so pregnant moms are still recommended It is better to avoid eating royal jelly as much as possible during pregnancy.
After all, honey is made by bees collecting nectar, and traces of pollen will inevitably remain during the collection process. In order to prevent pregnant women from increasing the possibility of allergies due to consumption and contact with pollen, which may cause discomfort during pregnancy, it is recommended that when selecting and buying honey, it is best not to buy unpurified and refined honey products that may contain pollen, which is more secure .
The reason why there is a saying in the medical profession that honey is not suitable for children under one year old is mainly because the gastrointestinal digestive system of infants and young children has not been fully developed, and the secretion of digestive enzymes and gastric acid is worse than that of adults. It cannot effectively destroy honey due to incomplete disinfection. The remaining botulinum bacillus is born from the suspicion of botulism. However, pregnant women themselves are already adults, and the digestive function of the gastrointestinal tract is sound. Therefore, even if you really eat honey containing traces of botulinum, it will not be poisoned by the destruction of digestive enzymes, so there is no need to worry too much.
◆Pregnant women are not suitable for the honey of flowers that can be sprayed with pesticides, such as rape honey, jujube honey, lychee honey, etc. Secondly, jujube honey is the only honey that does not relieve constipation, but increases constipation. Motherwort honey has the effect of invigorating blood circulation and regulating menstruation. It has a good effect on irregular menstruation, excessive menstruation, dysmenorrhea and amenorrhea in gynecology, but it is not suitable for pregnant women.
◆It is worth noting that even if honey is rich in nutritional value, it is recommended that pregnant women do not need to supplement honey if they do not have constipation, morning sickness, poor appetite, and cause loss of appetite and insufficient nutritional intake.
◆The amount of honey water you drink every day should also be controlled at about 1 cup, that is, about 250ml to 300ml, so that it will not cause a rapid rise in blood sugar and increase the risk of gestational diabetes during pregnancy.
Precautions and warnings of honey
Avoid children under 1 year old who are allergic to honey or bee products
Foreign scientists have discovered that soil and dust around the world often contain a kind of bacteria called “botulinum”, and bees often bring the pollen and honey with the bacteria back to the beehive during the process of taking pollen to make honey. Contaminated by botulinum bacteria, infants are not able to stabilize the balance of intestinal microbes and have poor disease resistance. It is easy for the ingested botulinum bacteria to multiply in the intestines and produce toxins, and the liver has poor detoxification. Botulism food poisoning. Therefore, babies under one year old should not eat honey. Fresh and mature honey can be eaten directly, or it can be formulated into an aqueous solution, because the aqueous solution is easier to absorb than pure honey. But remember not to use boiling water or steaming honey at high temperature, because unreasonable heating will seriously damage the nutrients and active enzymes in the honey, make the color of the honey darker, volatile aroma, taste changes, and unpleasant sour taste.
Avoid drinking honey water often on an empty stomach
Honey is “acidic”. Drinking honey water on an empty stomach can easily increase the acidity in the body and induce ulcers. Therefore, it is best to drink honey water between 1 and a half hours to 2 hours after breakfast. Or between 3-4 o’clock in the afternoon, used to relieve the fatigue of the day.
Avoid soaking honey water temperature is too high
The active enzymes in honey nutrition will be destroyed when the water temperature exceeds 60 degrees, and there will be no nutrition at all. So this is also the reason why Xiang Omun does not use concentrated honey. The concentrated honey requires high temperature. Although it can reach the so-called Pomeranian 42 degrees, it does not have any nutritional value. So I suggest you use warm water to soak the honey. , And choose natural mature honey from Xiang Om to ensure the nutritional value.
Avoid eating with the following foods
Foods that cannot be eaten with honey are: tofu, rice, onions, spring onions, leeks, soy milk, carp, garlic, lettuce, and ginger. Isn’t it shocking that honey can’t be eaten with so many foods?
Other precautions
For those with weak or cold constitution or with gastrointestinal discomfort, use hot water at around 30 degrees for brewing; for those with strong constitution, use cold water for brewing honey.
Conclusion
Benefits of honey
1. Recover from fatigue, especially after staying up late. Among all natural foods, the energy required by brain neurons is the highest in honey. The fructose and glucose in honey can be quickly absorbed by the body to improve the nutritional status of the blood.
2. Promote digestion. Studies have shown that honey has a regulatory effect on gastrointestinal function and can normalize gastric acid secretion. Animal experiments have confirmed that honey has the effect of enhancing intestinal peristalsis and can significantly shorten the time of defecation. Honey has a good effect on colitis and habitual constipation without side effects.
3. Improve immunity. The various enzymes and minerals contained in honey can improve human immunity after synergistic effect. Honey is commonly used abroad to treat colds and pharyngitis by adding 2 spoons of honey and 1/4 spoons of fresh lemon juice to a glass of water, taking 3-4 cups a day.
4. Promote longevity. Scholars in the former Soviet Union have investigated more than 200 elderly people over a hundred years old, of which 143 are beekeepers, confirming that their longevity is related to eating honey. The mechanism that honey promotes longevity is more complicated. It is a comprehensive regulation of the human body, rather than simply acting on an organ.
5. Improve sleep. Honey can relieve nervous tension, promote sleep, and has a certain pain relief effect. The glucose, vitamins, magnesium, phosphorus, calcium in honey can regulate the nervous system and promote sleep. For neurasthenia, a spoonful of honey before going to bed every night can improve sleep. The calming function of apple honey collected from apple flowers is more prominent.
Disadvantages of honey
1. Honey should be brewed with water at about 35 degrees. Honey is a natural nutrient with complex ingredients. It contains a lot of protein and acidic components. After exposure to high temperature, a large amount of these substances will be lost. Although the taste will not change greatly, after people eat it, It loses its due role and cannot absorb the original nutrients of honey. There are a lot of enzymes in honey, but the activity of enzyme substances will be greatly weakened after being exposed to high temperature, and they will not be able to play their original role after entering the human body. People will not have the original effect after eating honey.
2. Honey water should not be consumed on an empty stomach It is easy to increase the acidity in the body. After a long time, there will be too much stomach acid and gastric ulcer or duodenal ulcer. It is recommended to drink honey water 1.5-2 hours after a meal. Or eat something before drinking. The so-called drinking honey on an empty stomach can also be drunk like this. Drink half a cup of warm water before drinking honey. This will not stimulate the stomach and absorb it. Also very good. You can also put honey on steamed buns or bread, and avoid drinking honey on an empty stomach.
3. Babies under one year old should not drink honey water Honey is susceptible to botulinum contamination during brewing, transportation and storage. Due to the weak resistance of babies, after taking botulinum toxin, they will multiply in the intestines and produce toxins, and the liver’s detoxification function is poor, which can easily cause botulinum food poisoning.
Hope you like this article and share this information to your family and friends!
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From Barton Publishing – Natural Health Reports
