Do you think of honey as just a sweetener? Perhaps a healthier alternative to white sugar? Well, it is a good healthy sweetener, but it’s actually much more than just that. Even our pediatrician recommends we give the girls at least three teaspoons of honey a day when they are sick. Honey has many helpful properties, both when digested and when applied topically. You may be very surprised at these 5 Health Benefits of Honey!
5 Health Benefits of Honey
Reduces Allergy Symptoms
Because honey is anti-inflammatory it can help reduce allergy symptoms. It can also help you to become less allergic to seasonal allergens! One of the many benefits of honey is that it contains some pollen. When you ingest it, your body is able to produce antibodies in response to that pollen. Over time, all those antibodies build up and you don’t get as sick from your usual seasonal allergens. This is something we are hoping will help AB who seems to have some outdoor allergies. This is even more likely if you use locally sourced honey, because the pollen will be from local plants. Stop by your local farmers market to stock up on honey – and even try new flavors. The girls love Orange Blossom honey.
Good for Your Brain
Honey is also great for your brain! One of the best benefits of honey is that its antioxidants can help repair damage to brain cells. It also aids your body in absorbing calcium, which is critical to brain function. The result of the help of honey’s antioxidants and calcium assistance is better cognitive functioning, even in old age. Eat a little honey every day and you should see better memory and decision-making over time.
Anti-cancer
You wouldn’t think that something sweet like honey could have anti-cancer properties, but it does. Honey gains this property from the number of flavonoids it includes. While all high quality honey has helpful anti-cancer fighting abilities, one of the best may be Tualang honey. This kind of honey has been seen to kill cancer cells while leaving healthy cells behind.
Good for Your Skin and Hair
One of the benefits of honey is that it’s great for your skin and hair! Besides using it in food dishes, you can make honey into a face mask, face wash, or even a DIY spot-treatment acne ointment. It helps to clean your skin and make it soft and smooth. You can also make your own honey hair conditioner to get smooth, shiny hair. To get the best results, use a high quality variety of honey.
Heals Wounds
Did you know that before penicillin, many people used honey to help heal their wounds? It is now believed that honey may be just as powerful as antibiotics, if not more so! The only catch is that you have to use high quality raw honey, not the inexpensive sugary stuff you usually find in the grocery store. Cheap honey can actually be more detrimental than helpful, so make sure to double-check which kind you have before rubbing it over a wound. Raw Manuka honey is possibly one of the best kinds to use for wound healing.
Em always asks for “honey-water” (I add about a teaspoon of honey to water) before bed. I wanted her to drink more water, and adding the honey helped. Much like many super foods, honey provides great health benefits. Do you use honey often?
Want to see more super food health benefits? Learn about these 5 Health Benefits of Garlic!
Comments (22)
This is good info. I didn’t realize it helped with so much!
Honey has so many great attributes. It is so good for our bodies. I love giving my grandchildren every day in their diet. Thank you so much for sharing
I love all the uses for honey but my favorite ones are as a sweetener and put it on your face to reduce pores.
I don’t use Honey very often. I am glad to know some of these facts!
Thanks for the Post, and the information!
I have heard of all of these great health benefits before, which is why I always have honey on hand for my family! It doesn’t hurt that it tastes absolutely amazing as well. 😉 My kids favorite is peanut butter and honey sandwiches!
I love drinking warm honey water. It helps me when my stomach is upset plus it’s so good!
I love honey for it’s benefits, but I always find out something else while doing research. Amazing.
I love honey, it’s been used for hundreds of years for its healing properties!!!
I am going to give eating honey every day a try. Sounds more than worth my while.
Interesting post. I had no idea about a few of the benefits, especially around cognition. My mother has a few cognition issues related to a brain aneurysm she had several years ago. I wonder if honey would help?
Very interesting information, I did not know that it could help with allergies, one thing you did not mention is honey has no expiration date, I like using honey to sweeten my tea and it is good with honey lemon juice combination for a sore throat
I’ve wanted to try honey for health benefits for a while but I always forget. I had never heard of it healing wounds though. That’s really interesting.
This is very good! I love eating honey! Thanks for sharing!
My grandmother always used honey straight from the honeycomb on cuts & scrapes but I never have it in our house as I don’t like the taste!
I used to drink honey in my tea all the time when I was a child, but then I stopped. I like honey but I can take it or leave it. Now that I have heard all the health benefits of using honey, I will be taking it a lot more! 🙂
I love honey. I haven’t bought sugar b/c the only store I can get to charges over $4 for a 4 lb. bag! But I didn’t realize all these health benefits of honey – good to know, as that is pretty much what I have been using instead of sugar!
Using honey as an alternative to sugar is a superb idea, and so much better than the refined sugar we buy in stores!
I use honey often, but not a large quantity – mostly to sweeten yogurt, or add a little to homemade biscuits, etc. I didn’t realize honey has all these health benefits – I must have more of it!
That sounds like a delicious addition to homemade biscuits! Yum.
I knew honey is healthy, but your article confirms why it is so good for you. I thank you so much for sharing with us today.
My awareness of the benefits of honey, raw, manuka and by extension, propolis, has been a fairly recent development. So I like to see how others use it. Thanks for sharing!
I love using honey on biscuits and in coffee with cream. Those bees know what they’re doing!