Healing honey a great anti aging food

Only fairly recently has science caught up with common practice – at least as far as the benefits of honey are concerned.

For centuries – and in many cultures – healing honey has been used in folk medicine as treatments for wounds. But there was no scientific proof.

Then scientists at the University of Bonn in Germany proved that honey applied topically can cure wounds infected with resistant bacteria in weeks. Even more importantly they showed us why this happened.

The Bonn study revealed that the wound healing qualities of honey were due to hydrogen peroxide – otherwise known as common old bleach. If you are surprised to find something like bleach associated with honey – well who knew?

Hydrogen peroxide is constantly formed from the sugar in honey because of a special enzyme present in all honeys. Bleach of course is known to destroy bugs and bacteria and hence the reason honey heals wounds so effectively.

But the wonder of honey doesn’t stop there – healing honey is also an amazing anti aging food.

Nutrionists at the University of Illonois completed a study published in April 2006 suggesting that honey should replace sugar as the everyday sweetener of choice.

Studying a range of different colored honeys – all American produced – the researchers established that the antioxidant power of honey is equivalent to many fruit and veggies.

Darker honeys were show to have the greatest antioxidant effect and the strongest antioxidant tested was buckwheat honey.

Equivalent honeys from other parts of the world include manuka honey from New Zealand. That came as no surprise to the people of New Zealand where manuka has long been known as a great healing honey.

With refined white sugar consumption in America sky high and currently averaging over three pounds per week each for every man, woman and child, it is easy to see how replacing white sugar with honey would benefit everyone.

Honey is made up of nearly equal proportions of fructose and glucose, plus other sugars and water.

But honey isn’t just a simple sugar – it contains over 180 different substances including minerals, amino acids, enzymes, bioflavinoids, aroma compounds and vitamins. In other words – unlike refined sugar – honey is a food and a fantastic anti aging food at that.

This unique combination gives honey its amazing health benefits. Honey increases levels of antioxidants in your blood and improves your immune system.

As a sweetener it is one of the best – calorie for calorie honey tastes much sweeter than any other sugar including refined cane sugar. Although it tastes so sweet – it does not cause the spikes in blood sugar levels which white sugar does. Honey stabilizes blood sugar levels and is actually recommended for diabetics for this reason.

If you’re trying to cut down on sugar and lose weight – honey is much better than an artifical sweetener and can actually help with weight loss. Artificial sweeteners trigger an immediate release of insulin and so promote fat production, fat storage, and weight gain.

Cut down on sugar by all means but use healing honey as your antiaging antioxidant sweetener of choice!