How old is honey? No one knows, but cave paintings in Spain dating back to 7000BC depict humans raising bees, and bees are raised for only one thing. The paintings showed beekeeping.
Archeologists’ also had found bee fossils dating back 150 million years. They were making honey 150 million years ago, so bees have had millions of years to perfect their art (The Honey Association, n.d.).
The Egyptians’ symbolized bees. They realized the special powers of bees and their nectar. It was used as a sweetener by the common person during this time. Greek physicians of this period however prescribed it for various ailments. The Greeks had an uncanny ability when it came to healing the body, and the medicinal purposes of many of nature’s wonders and bees were at the top of the list when it came to natural wonders that also contained healing powers.
Not All Honey Is created Equal However
Manuka Honey is considered by many to be the ultimate honey. Manuka honey is made by bees in New Zealand, which pollinate the native Manuka bush. Advocates say it is better at treating wound infections and other conditions. They say this because of its greater antibacterial properties as compared to most other honey.
What gives this honey greater power is methylglyoxal (MG). MG is a compound found in most types of honey, but usually only in small quantities. Obviously, the Manuka bush is the key, which gives it more oomph or MG.
Where the pollen is gathered is the key to all honey. Bees gather pollen from many sources but honeybees tend to stick with what works best for them and assumedly what is in higher quantities in the area.
People and countries take their honey seriously and to be considered Manuka honey and to be considered therapeutic or potent enough to treat wounds and other ailments it must rate as “UMF Manuka honey”. The minimum rating is 10 on the UMF scale. UMF stands for Unique Manuka Factor.
Honey according to experts is used to treat the following. Honey can be used to treat any number of ailments and/or diseases, but the most common are listed below.
- Preventing and treating cancer
- Reducing high cholesterol
- Reducing systemic inflammation
- Treating diabetes
- Treating eye, ear, and sinus infections
- Treating gastrointestinal problems
Honey has been known to reduce plaque on teeth, and heal wounds that otherwise won’t heal when applied with a dressing, but has limited if any at all affect when it comes to healing stomach ulcers as many believe to be the case.
Honey’s antibacterial property, unlike man-made antibiotics, does not cause “bugs” to become resistant to the honey’s properties.
It is easy to see that much of honey’s healing powers come from the pollen. If you have a herb garden, for example, and let the sage, parsley, and basil flower and then bees gather the pollen from the plants it makes sense that the healing powers of those plants will also be in the honey. The process of making the honey regardless of the plant creates some of the honey’s specials powers, however. The bees have something to do with this as well, so keep that in mind.
Testing in labs has shown that various types of honey have varying levels of healing compounds. This variety of nutrients and so-called healing compounds are directly related to the plants the bees visit.
You can essentially produce your own supercharged honey by growing the types of plants that are known to have healing powers, but of course, you need to start raising your own bees as well. You can raise bees and plants and create your own wellness bee farm.
Refs:
The Honey Association. (n.d.). Retrieved 2016, from http://www.honeyassociation.com/index.asp?pid=9
http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/manuka-honey-medicinal-uses?page=3