Honey, undoubtedly, has many beauty uses. But, that is not all honey has for us. It is abundant with health benefits. For one, we all know, that consuming honey eases sore throats and cold. It also is great antiseptic for wounds and helps healing the mouth ulcers. It helps with obesity, high cholesterol and blood pressure, arthritis, asthma, nauseous feeling, vomiting and indigestion, fever, abdominal pains and helps in proper blood circulation in the body. Over and above all these benefits comes the feather in its cap. It helps reducing the cravings for smokes or cigarettes. So, all those looking out for quitting smoking, honey can be of a lot of help.
But, there is one hitch in all this. It is said that raw honey is extremely good for body but the commercial honey is a slow poison. This is because of the refinement process honey undergoes for packaging. The heat strips it of all its nutrients and rather changes its molecular structure. And, this change in the molecular structure makes it stick to the arteries and clog them instead of being absorbed by the body easily. Cooked honey is equally bad for the body due to the same reasons. So, if you are a fan of honey, hunt out for a beekeeper or check the bottles of honey in supermarkets for the specification of “raw”.
Update: Read this article from TOI which states the usage of antibiotics and other impurities in Honey which are extremely harmful for us. This is indeed a sad state for India.
Raw honey, i.e unpasteurized honey, undoubtedly is better than the pasteurized one. Just like any other processed food, one cannot expect to get the maximum health benefits from processed honey (which is unfortunately the case with many commercial honey today). I think it’s important to educate people about the importance of eating raw honey since some people simply grab any type of honey from the shelf of a health store (hoping to reap all the health benefits of honey) without knowing whether it is raw or processed.
WHICH BRAND OF HONEY ONE SHOULD GO FOR??
hi..I would suggest organic brands but if not available, local brands would also do.