Honey contains a treasure of nutrition and medicine values for centuries. Sweet golden liquid is popular kitchen staple as well as loaded with antibacterial and antifungal properties that makes it a home remedy for different diseases.
Honey’s scientific super powers contribute to its vastly touted health benefits for the whole body. The healthy natural sweetener offers many nutritional benefits depending on its variety. Raw honey is the unpasteurized version of commonly used honey and only differs in its filtration, which helps extend its shelf life. A tablespoon of raw honey contains 64 calories, is fat-free, cholesterol-free, and sodium-free, says the National Honey Board. Its composition is roughly 80 percent carbohydrates, 18 percent water, and two percent vitamins, minerals, and amino acids.
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Natural Energy Drink
Honey is a sweet, viscous liquid produce through honeybees. To produce honey, bees need two different kinds of food. One is the sugary juice that comes from nectars. Nectar collects in the heart of the flower. Other part is pollen that comes from colored flowers. Nectar is delivered to one of the indoor bees and is then passed mouth to mouth until moisture content is reduced from 70% to 20%. This transforms nectar into honey.
Nutritionally, 1 table spoon of honey has 64 calories and 17 gram of sugar including fructose, sucrose, glucose and maltose. Honey contains no fiber, fat, cholesterol or protein. A minor amount of minerals like sodium, potassium are present there too.
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Honey Promotes Heart Health
Honey carries many important antioxidants including organic acids and phenolic compounds like flavonoids. They help body cells from damage caused by harmful substances known as free radicals. Abundance of free radicals can produce an oxidative stress which may lead to damaging of DNA or other important structures in cells.
Being nature of oxidative, Honey can reduce risk of heart attack, strokes and cancer. Honey may also protect eye molecules.
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Honey is best alternative to sugar for Diabetics
Honey is better than Sugar. It can minimize many risk factors for heart disease patients with type 2 diabetes because it lowers the “bad” LDL cholesterol, triglycerides and inflammation while promoting “good” HDL cholesterol. For diabetes patients, honey is much better than sugar. The best thing about honey is, it has no carbs. In fact, people with diabetes are advised to consume food with low carbs.
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Honey helps in lowering blood pressure
Honey carries antioxidants compounds and these compounds are directly linked in lowering blood pressure. For heart patients, one of the important factors is blood pressure. So after diabetic patients, honey is also recommended diet to heart patients and it has been prove scientifically.
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Honey Promotes Wound Healing
Honey has been used to heal wounds and burns since Egypt times and still in practice today. Honey healing power comes from its antibacterial and anti-inflammatory nature as well as its ability to nourish damage tissues. It is a helpful resource in treating skin from psoriasis and herpes lesions. There is a special type of honey called Manuka, which is especially effective for treating burn wounds.