It offers many health benefits that are much better and more significant than refined artificial sugar or any other synthetic sweetener. Despite this, however, care should be taken when it comes to eating honey since it also contains glucose and fructose just like refined sugar. Both honey and sugar can have negative impacts on blood sugar levels in your blood and should, therefore, be avoided by people struggling with keeping their blood sugar levels within the required healthy range.

Therefore, here are ten facts and benefits about honey that probably you haven’t know:

1. Treatment of the hair and skin

Honey is widely employed during treatment of the skin and is known to work wonders with burns, cuts, and infections on the skin. When mixed with milk and consumed regularly, it controls the aging process by getting rid of wrinkles, skin cells that are dead, etc. It also contains humectant compounds which help in moisturizing your skin. Mixing honey with lemon helps to improve the glow of your skin and for treating acne.

It also contains vital nutrients like minerals and vitamins which are excellent for dealing with hair issues like dandruff, hair fall, broken hair, and unhealthy hair.

2. Utilized for weight loss

It contributes to helping users to lose excess weight naturally by enhancing metabolism processes. When used in combination with lime, green tea, cinnamon, and water, precious bee nectar helps to control unwarranted weight gain.

3. Sound health

Honey is considered a good source of nutrients that are vital for the overall health of the human body. However, caution should be exercised to avoid side effects as a result of excessive use.

4. Energy food

It is an energy booster, thanks to the presence of fructose and glucose. These sugar molecules are not combined – as they are in refined white sugar – but are separated. This makes the glucose to act as an instant energy resource.

5. Digestion aid

It reduces gas, bloating, and constipation. It is also very rich in friendly bacteria which aids digestion and reduces allergies. Your immune system can also be enhanced when you use honey.

6. Helps kids to sleep peacefully

Several studies have shown that honey improves the quality of sleep in kids. As observed by parents during the tests, it reduced coughing spasms in children during the night, thereby helping them to sleep peacefully.

7. Precious since mid age

Honey was considered a high-valued commodity by the Germans as far back as the 11th century. It was so precious that the aristocrats in Germany forced poor peasants to pay them using honey as currency. It was in high demand back then since it was the right ingredient to making beers to taste sweet.

8. Boost your memory

It contains memory-boosting antioxidants.

9. Good for your eyes

Is known to have a relaxing and soothing effect on the eyes.

10. It can kill off some internal parasites

Several parasites always find their way into the human body and cause ill health. When honey is mixed equally with water and vinegar and then consumed, the parasites are killed off immediately.

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Without much ado, let’s dive in:

1. “Honey-carrying”

Honey bees are scientifically known as Apis mellifer, and this stands for ‘honey-carrying, bee.’ They are excellent pollinators of flowers, vegetables, and fruits, thus helping plants to grow and environmentally friendly as well. They do this by transferring fertilizing powder or pollen between the male and female parts of flowers and this transmission helps plants to grow their seeds and fruits at the end of the day.

2. Living in a colony

Honeybees live in colonies or hives and are divided into three types:

• Drones – These are male honeybees whose sole purpose is to mate with the queen. Hundreds live in each colony or hive during spring and summer seasons. But when winter arrives, the hive enters survival mode and the drones are driven out.
• Workers – They are females and their major purpose is to search for nectar and pollen from flowers. They are also responsible for building and protecting the beehive. Workers can also use their wings to circulate and clean the air. They are the ones that most people see outside the hive flying up and down.
• Queen – This is the bee that is in charge of the hive and her only job is to lay eggs. These eggs are the next generation of bees in the hive. The queen is also known to emit chemicals that direct the activities of the other honeybees.

3. Making the new queen

When the queen bee dies, workers create a new queen. They do this by picking out a young larva and feed it with what is referred to as ‘royal jelly’ which is special food. Royal jelly helps the larva to mature into a fertile or productive queen.

4. Magic food – superfood

Honey, that sweet substance produced by those amazing insects contains several nutrients which are vital for sustaining life. These are vitamins, enzymes, minerals, and water. What makes honey unique among other foods is that it is the only food that naturally contains an antioxidant that is known to improve brain function and is known as ‘pinocembrin.’

5. Speedy creatures

They fly at impressive speeds of about 25 kilometers per hour and their wings beat the air approximately 200 times per second, which is quite astounding.

6. The queen bee

The busiest time of the year for the queen is during summer and that is when she lays about 2,500 eggs every day. She can live for about five years.

7. A short life of working bees

The worker honeybee can only live for about five to six weeks during which she produces a small dollop of honey, about one-twelfth of a teaspoon.

8. Excellent sense of smell

The honey bee has a remarkable sense of smell, thanks to the 170 odorant receptors they possess. They use these odorant receptors for communication within the hive as well as to identify or distinguish different types of flowers when foraging for food. They also possess ten receptors for taste.

9. Dangerous “women”

Only female honeybees sting; the males don’t.

10. The royal jelly food

The only difference between queen bees and worker bees is that the latter receives additional rations of ‘royal jelly’ but they share the same genes.

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The honey-making process begins with the bees visiting flowers, especially when spring arrives. Bees sit on flowers and collect nectar – that is the sweet juice that is produced by different blooming flowers. When the need to gather nectar arises, bees tend to remain as close as possible to the hive and are known not to exceed a radius of 4 miles.

Bees gather nectar by making use of their tongue and creating a sucking action. This way, all the nectar in the flower is extracted and mixed with an enzyme that is secreted by glands in the mouth of the bees. After this process, the mixture is stored in the stomach of the honeybee. In case you don’t know, bees have two stomachs; the honey stomach and the food stomach.

As soon as the honey stomach is filled to its brim with the nectar mixture, the bees fly back to the beehive where they transfer the nectar mixture to other bees – i.e. the worker bees – via their mouths.

The worker bees continue the process of making honey by chewing the nectar mixture collected from the foragers for about thirty minutes. At the end of thirty minutes, a worker bee that has already chewed the nectar mixture passes it to another worker bee. So the chewing goes ahead, and the exchange from one worker bee to another continues until the nectar turns into thick and uniform syrup known as honey.

As soon as this transformation is made, the bees turn their attention to storing the honey. Honeycomb cells – which in reality are not cells – are jars created using wax. This is where all the newly produced honey is stored.

The honey is still wet when stored in the honeycomb; the bees get to work drying their cache of honey using their wings. This process also enhances the quality of the honey by making it stickier. Once the honey becomes dry and ready, the honeybees seal off the honeycomb cells or jars using a lid created with wax. Bees do this to protect the honey from contaminants in the air.

This task is tedious, and one would expect that it would produce a considerable amount of honey. But the opposite is the case as about eight honeybees can only provide just one teaspoon of honey throughout their lifetimes.

Bees make honey so that food can be readily accessible by everyone in the colony. The location also has an impact on how much honey is produced; in the southern part of the United States, a hive can survive on about 40 pounds of honey. But in the northern part of the country, honey that weighs up to 90 pounds is needed for the colony to survive in winter.

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These are the benefits of eating raw honeycomb

• Protection of the liver – Honeycombs contains antioxidants that protect the liver. When a study was conducted to find out how active beeswax alcohol is when consumed by people with fatty liver, it was observed that honeycombs helped to improve the symptoms of fatty liver and normalize liver function.
• Glucose metabolism – The body relies heavily on glucose for energy which makes it vital for sound health. The waxy alcohols present in honeycombs promote glucose metabolism and also help to bring down insulin levels. They also reduce the markers for insulin resistance since the latter can lead to type 2 diabetes and other related health issues.
• Good cholesterol – The fatty alcohols found in honeycombs help in lowering bad cholesterol significantly and raising the amounts of good cholesterol in the body.

You can eat raw and natural honeycomb in several ways each of which is outlined below:

• Honeycombs are natural products, and you can eat them using your fingers. Children and adults alike always enjoy licking honey that oozes from their fingers.
• You can eat raw honey by serving it up with seasonal fruits on a platter. You can even consume this delicious natural product with homemade, organic or gourmet cheeses.
• You can also eat raw honey by merely spreading it on an English muffin, fresh bread or warm buttered toast.
• Simply bite in the honeycomb and enjoy chewing it, just like a chewing gum. You can swallow it or simply spit out what stays in our mouth at the end.
• Variety, they say, is the spice of life. There is nothing wrong with topping your fresh salad with several chunks of raw honeycomb along with goat’s cheese.
• You can also stir raw honeycomb into vanilla ice-cream as it makes a tasty dessert.
• Breakfast is considered the most important meal of the day, and you can liven it up by stirring chopped up raw honeycombs into Greek yogurt and blend them.
• Eating fresh, mashed honeycomb with runny brie, and a baguette is also another delicacy you should try.

A lot of people make the mistake of storing raw honeycomb in the refrigerator. But the best way to preserve the taste, as well as its antibiotic properties, is to store it at room temperature. Honeycomb is nearly always one hundred percent edible, though it depends on how long you store it.

In conclusion, if you were averse to eating raw and natural honey, the benefits outlined above, as well as the numerous suggestions about how you can enjoy this nutrient-rich gift of nature, should be more than enough to win you over. You can – and indeed, you should – enjoy the health-giving goodness of raw honeycomb at any time it pleases your fancy.

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Bee pollen is the composition of different substances such as honey, flower pollen, wax, nectar, enzymes, and bee secretions. Honeybees collect this substance from plants and carry it to the beehive, where it is put in storage to be used as food for the honeybee family or colony.

Propolis is a resinous material manufactured by bees from buds of cone-bearing and poplar trees. Honeybees use propolis to construct their hives. There are various commercial applications of propolis such as medicines, health therapies, cosmetics etc.

Royal Jelly is a glutinous or jelly-like substance produced by honeybees. It is used to feed the queen bees. The primary benefit of royal jelly is its usage in dietary supplements, where it is used to treat different chronic diseases and physical ailments.

Let’s now discuss the similarities and differences between these three bee products!

Similarities and Differences

Bee pollen, propolis and royal jelly are all ingredients derived from bees that are often marketed as traditional medicines. While the three come from hives, they are produced and used in different ways by bees. Affirmations about their effects on human health are controversial and research on their effectiveness is inconsistent.

Bee pollen is known as “Food of Life” because it contains eighteen different amino acids and essential vitamins. It also contains copper, calcium, potassium, iron, phosphorous, carbohydrates, fatty acids, and proteins. Likewise, the composition of royal jelly contains an internal membrane protein known as acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that enables the nervous system to transmit important messages from one nerve cell to another. One similarity between bee pollen, royal jelly and propolis is that they all contain a wide variety of essential compounds such as vitamins, proteins, carbohydrates, and proteins.

Royal jelly and propolis have indisputable benefits for a sore throat and cough. The first one produces more of a balsamic function, and the second one is more antibacterial, ensuring that it does not go any further. In the respiratory tract, it is a natural and anti-flu antibiotic thanks to its anti-inflammatory and anesthetic action. While Royal jelly and pollen is best taken in the morning, the propolis can be taken at any time of the day, and several times if necessary.

Bee pollen is promoted as a nutritional supplement that is said to improve athletic endurance. It is also used to treat a variety of conditions, including constipation, aging and wound healing. Propolis is marketed as an anti-inflammatory with anti-tumor and anti-oxidant characteristics. Royal jelly has been studied for many of the same uses as bee pollen and propolis and is also considered capable of effecting lipid profiles and has neurological and estrogen effects.

Claims for nutritional benefits of bee pollen have not been verified by scientific research. Royal jelly has been observed to have some of its purported affects, but it has not been vigorously tested in clinical trials. Propolis has presented antimicrobial and anti-tumor properties in laboratory tests but has not been subjected to large-scale clinical trials.

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Keep reading this article to know the chemical properties, uses, and manufacturing of propolis by bees.

First, let’s talk about the chemical composition of propolis. It contains 50% resins and balsams, 25-35% wax, 10-15% aromatic and essential oils, and 5-10% pollen. It is important to know that the chemical composition of this resinous substance is highly variable due to variation or variability of different plant species that grow around the hive. In addition, the chemical composition of the substance also varies depending on illumination, seasonality, food availability, collector type, and activities developed during propolis exploitation.

In addition, it is rich in the most valuable trace elements (calcium, iron, potassium, silicon, phosphorus, zinc, magnesium, selenium, etc.), essential amino acids, which are the main element for building animal and vegetable proteins. It also contains vitamins (A, E, B1, B2, B6), which in combination with glycosides contribute to the revitalization of all major body systems and restores their proper functioning.

The extraction methods can significantly change the chemical composition of the substance. Various commercial products such as syrups, ampoules, capsules, and tablets are made with ethanol extracts of propolis. Menthol is used in research, experimental, and clinical trial studies. A number of research studies have confirmed the disease-fighting properties of propolis. Propolis has the following beneficial properties:

• Disinfectants
• Antibacterial
• Antitoxic
• Anti-inflammatory
• Antioxidant

Thanks to research conducted in recent years, modern medicine has significantly expanded the boundaries of the use of propolis. As an anesthetic, propolis is 3.5 times as high as cocaine and 5 times as high as novocaine. Therefore, propolis is widely used in dentistry, where it is applied 0.25% alcohol solution of propolis. It has been established that ingestion of propolis improves mood, memory, attention of the elderly. Propolis, therefore, is widely used in gerontology.

How Bees make Propolis?

Usually, a bee family collects 100-150 g of propolis per year. Bees capture resinous substances with their jaws and pull them up as a thread until it breaks. Then, with the claws of the legs, the bee removes a lump of gum from the jaws and places it in pollen baskets.

During the collection, the bee mixes resinous substances with the secretions of the maxillary glands. The collection of propolis lasts a long time, and the bees, the glue pickers, often interrupt it and return to the hive to replenish the honey goat. There is an opinion that in a beehive, a bee is never freed from propolis itself, it provides this work to beehives, sometimes waiting for them for a very long time (from an hour to two days).

The bulk of the propolis is collected from 10 to 15 hours, since at other times of the day, the surfaces from which the bees get resinous substances are too hard, brittle, and probably inaccessible for a mass gathering. The resinous substances that are exuded by plants contain volatile aromatic components (terpenes) that act on the hemo-receptors of the bee antennae.

Bees produce two forms of propolis: more liquid (70% resin of tree buds and bee gland secretions) of high quality and viscous (from pollen and wax) of low quality. Adding to the resin of plant buds the secret of their glands, the bees complicate the chemical composition of propolis, making it unique. Propolis is obtained during the initial digestion of bee pollen by bees.

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