Since ancient times, honey has been used as both a food and a medicine.
It's very high in beneficial plant compounds and offers several health benefits. Honey is particularly healthy when used instead of refined sugar, which is 100% empty calories.
Here are the top 10 health benefits of honey.
Honey is a sweet, thick liquid made by honeybees.
The bees collect sugar — mainly the sugar-rich nectar of flowers — from their environment (1).health benefits of honey
Once inside the beehive, they repeatedly consume, digest and regurgitate the nectar.
The end product is honey, a liquid that serves as stored food for bees. The smell, color and taste depend on the types of flowers visited.
Nutritionally, 1 tablespoon of honey (21 grams) contains 64 calories and 17 grams of sugar, including fructose, glucose, maltose and sucrose.
It contains virtually no fiber, fat or protein (2).
It also contains trace amounts — under 1% of the RDI — of several vitamins and minerals, but you would have to eat many pounds to fulfill your daily requirements.
Where honey shines is in its content of bioactive plant compounds and antioxidants. Darker types tend to be even higher in these compounds than lighter types (3 , 4).
SUMMARYHoney is thick, sweet liquid made by honeybees. It is low in vitamins and minerals but may be high in some plant compounds.
High-quality honey contains many important antioxidants. These include organic acids and phenolic compounds like flavonoids (5 ).
Scientists believe that the combination of these compounds gives honey its antioxidant power (5 ).
Interestingly, two studies have shown that buckwheat honey increases the antioxidant value of your blood (6 , 7 ).
Antioxidants have been linked to reduced risk of heart attacks, strokes and some types of cancer. They may also promote eye health (8 ).
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