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Health Benefit, Traditional, and Modern Uses of Natural Honey

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Non-Timber Forest Products

Abstract

Honey is a sweet gift of nature to mankind. It is a miraculous liquid produced from the nectar of flower by the action of honeybees. Honey provides multiple nutritional and curative benefits owing to its chemical composition and physical properties which in turn depend on floral source, geographical origin, processing, and storage. Chemically, honey is a concentrated carbohydrate solution. In addition to sugars, small amounts of minerals, proteins, vitamins, acids, and antioxidants are also present that impart biological attributes to honey, i.e., antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties. These biological properties are responsible for its health-promoting effects. History of honey is as old as human civilization on this earth. Several Stone Age evidence show that the practice of beekeeping and honey harvesting was performed since ever. During ancient civilization, honey was used as a sweetener in various foods, sacred products for religious offerings, eye cosmetics, ointment to treat wounds and burns as well as medicine to cure disease and disorders of the digestive system and eye ailments. In the modern era, clinical and laboratory studies have scientifically proved the traditionally claimed nutritional and medicinal attributes of honey. Recently, honey is used in various commercially available products as sweetener, wound healing ointment, food preservative, prebiotic, in skincare products, and as medicine to treat cough and eye ailments. The present chapter is intended to provide information on multiple health benefits of honey as well as its utilization in traditional and modern culture.

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Abbreviations

H2O2:

Hydrogen peroxide

HMF:

5-Hydroxymethylfurfural

IL-6:

Interleukin

LDL:

Induced low-density lipoprotein

MRSA:

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus

ROS:

Reactive oxygen species

TNF-α:

Tumor necrosis factor- α

VRE:

Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci

VZV:

Varicella Zoster virus

WHO:

World Health Organization

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Science, School for Environmental Sciences, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow, India

    Swati Sachdev

  2. Department of Sociology, STJM PG College, Kanpur, India

    Anil Kumar

  3. Department of Botany, University of Lucknow, Lucknow, India

    Mohammad Israil Ansari

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  1. Swati Sachdev
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  2. Anil Kumar
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  3. Mohammad Israil Ansari
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Correspondence to Mohammad Israil Ansari .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Wolaita Sodo University, Wolaita, Ethiopia

    Azamal Husen

  2. Department of Industrial Chemistry, College of Applied Sciences, Addis Ababa Science and Technology University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    Rakesh Kumar Bachheti

  3. Department of Environmental Science, Graphic Era University, Dehradun, India

    Archana Bachheti

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Sachdev, S., Kumar, A., Ansari, M.I. (2021). Health Benefit, Traditional, and Modern Uses of Natural Honey. In: Husen, A., Bachheti, R.K., Bachheti, A. (eds) Non-Timber Forest Products. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73077-2_12

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