Registered User posts: 8 (10/24/00 11:22:34 pm) 208.63.245.98 Reply | Edit | Del All

Honey, a spoonful a day is good for you -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- How long can honey be stored and still safely eaten?

Apparently, honey can last forever, if stored well. The ancient Egyptians left honey, among other assorted luxuries, in burial chambers to make the dead happy. Some of it, unearthed in modern times, is still edible! (Though one wonders how they determine this. Are archeologists eating the stuff?)

The preceding was brought to my attention by "Fact of the Day" a newsletter from www.twistedhumor.com

Fro more honey info try, www.honey.com

marsh2 Registered User posts: 5 (10/25/00 12:39:01 am) 207.135.213.45 Reply | Edit | Del

Re: Honey, a spoonful a day is good for you -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I had heard that honey from your particular area is a good way to desensitize yourself to local pollen allergens.

I was taking honey on English muffins every day untill I developed a "tickle"in my throat from it. Apparently, I have a mild alergy to honey, itself.

sam mcgee Registered User posts: 10 (10/26/00 12:42:44 am) 63.83.214.137 Reply | Edit | Del

Re: Honey, a spoonful a day is good for you -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- www.nzherald.co.nz/storyd...yID=155461

NZ's healing honey under microscope

16.10.2000

A New Zealand scientist leading world research into the healing powers of some types of manuka honey is setting up a clinical trial to compare its effectiveness with other honeys.

In tests, some strains of manuka honey have outperformed conventional antibiotics in treating infected caesarean sections, stomach ulcers and burns, New Scientist magazine reports.

They have also proven effective against some antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria, such as methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus and vancomycin resistant enterococcus.

Biochemist Peter Molan was among researchers who made presentations to the First World Wound Healing Congress in Melbourne on the capability of some honey strains to battle a range of bacteria, including E. coli, salmonella and helicobacter, as well as actively promote wound healing.

The director of Waikato University's honey research unit, Professor Molan has built nearly two decades of research on the knowledge that hydrogen peroxide molecules found in most honey inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria.

At the minuscule levels in honey, hydrogen peroxide stimulates the growth of blood vessels, which deliver oxygen and nutrients, as well as connective tissue-creating cells known as fibroblasts.

Although the antibacterial properties of ordinary honey - thanks to hydrogen peroxide - have been known to Northern Hemisphere traditional healers for centuries, Professor Molan has also identified other "bio-active" compounds in some strains of manuka honey found only in New Zealand and Australia.

The compounds occur at high levels in the honeys, apparently because of a naturally occurring compound that exists only in some tree nectars in some seasons.

Tests have now been developed to measure the potency of these honeys, and New Zealand manuka honey producers have registered a trademark, UMF, to indicate the antibacterial potency rating. The higher the UMF rating, the more potent that honey's activity against ulcers, wounds and infections.

"Most research has entirely ignored the huge variation in the antibacterial potency of different honeys," Professor Molan told New Scientist.

Some honeys are so potent that they will stop bacteria growing on agar at a concentration of just 0.4 per cent, while others fail below a strength of 50 per cent.

The potency of a honey depends on the type of flower to which bees take a liking. The nectar of some flowers contains high levels of catalase, an enzyme that destroys hydrogen peroxide.

Other nectars somehow make glucose oxidase particularly susceptible to degradation by heat and light, so these honeys require delicate treatment after harvesting. A hot lemon and honey drink will be without that active enzyme because glucose oxidase cannot stand the heat.

But Professor Molan was surprised to discover that even boiling did not destroy the antibacterial activity of some manuka honeys.

He also found that honey from the manuka - a leptospermum species also found in Australia - retains a whopping half of its antibacterial activity after being bombarded with catalase.

Professor Molan has also spent 18 years trying to identify a mystery manuka ingredient, which he refers to as a phytochemical agent. "We still haven't got it isolated in a pure enough form to work out its chemical structure," he said.

But when it comes to fighting the most common bacteria that infect wounds, the manuka phytochemical agent outperforms pure hydrogen peroxide on an agar plate.

And the honey researchers suspect it might positively excel in the wounds of real patients.

Ironically, the factors that make the phytochemical impossible to isolate also make it ideal for wounds. Water-loving and tiny, it can penetrate flesh much more deeply than hydrogen peroxide.

It can get through at least 1cm of pork skin, fat and muscle overnight, Professor Molan found. The phytochemical also works at any pH level, even in the acidity of full-strength honey.

Its other beauty is that because it does not rely on an enzyme to catalyse its production, it is robust.

A jar of "active" manuka honey can sit on a sunny window sill for months and still remain active. Glucose oxidase needs oxygen, but the phytochemical can withstand being smothered by a wound dressing. And the catalase in human plasma, which degrades hydrogen peroxide, does not faze the phytochemical.

Professor Molan is concerned that this degradation could undermine the ability of most "ordinary" honeys to kill bacteria in wounds.

The phytochemical's superiority in real wounds will be tested in a comparison of the effectiveness of catalase-treated manuka honey, where all the hydrogen peroxide has been broken down, with honey that owes most of its healing power to hydrogen peroxide.

Although ordinary honey has been used on wounds since Egyptian times, bacteria do not seem to be able to defend themselves against its hydrogen peroxide.

Some species of bacteria, including Staphylococcus aureus (the resistant strain is MRSA), do produce catalase. Yet not only is S. aureus one of the species most sensitive to honey, no relationship has been found between the catalase activity of its various strains and their sensitivity to hydrogen peroxide, suggesting the bacteria cannot break it down.

Honey also has a huge advantage over antibacterial drugs because it promotes healing in a moist environment, which is perfect for tissue growth, while controlling bacteria that would otherwise fester in the damp.

- NZPA

Herald Online Health

Edited by: sam mcgee at: 10/26/00 12:45:25 am

A T Hagan Registered User posts: 10 (10/26/00 12:42:49 pm) 209.149.60.38 Reply | Edit | Del

Re: Honey, a spoonful a day is good for you -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Honey can be stored for many years but plain old granulated white sugar can be stored even longer. If you buy locally produced honey the pollen content can help with some allergy problems but you have to try it on a case by case basis. I've got two hives and they keep us well supplied.

Although the risk is remote it is still recommended not to feed honey or honey containing products to children under one year of age due to the botulism risk.

............Alan.

The Prudent Food Storage FAQ, v3.5 http://www.providenceco-op.com and other preparedness & survival FAQs

14Tolerance Registered User posts: 25 (10/27/00 7:30:18 am) 208.63.238.118 Reply | Edit | Del

Making link hot -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- www.honey.com

DBitchiestDespot Co-Despot posts: 11 (10/29/00 6:36:33 pm) 205.188.195.32 Reply | Edit | Del

Re: Making link hot -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And make a great glaze for freshly steamed carrots by mixing honey, butter, and a little cardamom. . .heat til bubbly, then pour over carrots.

Mmmmmm!

DenaughtyDespot Despotty Mouth posts: 123 (10/30/00 12:08:18 pm) 208.63.245.86 Reply | Edit | Del

Re: Making link hot -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Oh, I haven't had that in ages! Thanks, DBD.

SAR01 Roamer posts: 274 (11/2/00 11:48:16 pm) 209.143.35.112 Reply | Edit | Del

Re: Making link hot -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When I was pregnant with my daughter, I CRAVED dill pickles dipped in honey.....m-m-m-m... (I also drank ketchup out of the bottle! think I must of had a vinegar thing going...!

-- Anonymous, March 14, 2001