Monday, November 23, 2015

Honey: Health Benefits, Uses and Risks

Medical News Today, 11/16/2015

Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. Bees first convert the nectar into honey by a process of regurgitation and evaporation, then store it as a primary food source in wax honeycombs inside the beehive. Honey can then be harvested from the hives for human consumption.

Honey is graded by color, with the clear, golden amber honey often at a higher retail price than darker varieties. Honey flavor will vary based on the types of flower from which the nectar was harvested.

Both raw and pasteurized forms of honey are available. Raw honey is removed from the hive and bottled directly, and as such will contain trace amounts of yeast, wax and pollen. Consuming local raw honey is believed to help with seasonal allergies due to repeated exposure to the pollen in the area. Pasteurized honey has been heated and processed to remove impurities.

This MNT Knowledge Center feature is part of a collection of articles on the health benefits of popular foods. It provides a nutritional breakdown of honey and an in-depth look at its possible health benefits, how to incorporate more honey into your diet and any potential health risks of consuming honey.

Contents of this article:

1.Nutritional breakdown of honey
2.Possible health benefits of consuming honey
3.How to incorporate more honey into your diet
4.Potential health risks of consuming honey

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