Raw Honey vs ‘natural’ processed or pasteurized Honey
Raw honey has been harvested and used as a tonic and medicine for at least 8,000 years.
Honey comprises roughly 200 substances including amino acids, flavonoids, minerals, and enzymes, all of which make it an incredible nutritious food.
But is there a difference between the cheaper off the shelf honeys and Raw Honey straight from the comb? Is off the shelf honey just a bottle of gooey sugar instead of a healthy and nutritious super food?
Most off the off the shelf honey labeled as ‘natural’ is processed and/or pasteurized, that is, it is heated to the point where no microorganisms (good or bad) can survive.
The reason for this is that in modern living, most food is over processed to be over-safe and super cheap, but that’s done by removing just about everything worthwhile in the food. Everything our ancestors got in the way of many necessary nutrients are no longer in our food.
This has resulted in a host of knock on effects like reduced immunity, gut health deficiencies and overall poor health in society.
That’s ok of course, because stores can then sell you a host of processed medicinal ‘cures’ to ‘fix the problem’ by replacing the natural nutrients you would get from whole foods anyway. Those supplements then often have a host of their own negative knock on effects.
This is the prime reason for the ‘whole food’ movement, away from over processed foods filled with additives.
Raw honey is one of the natural staples of our diet before processed foods came along, it’s a super food and quite possibly one of the purest paleo foods.
But unfortunately pasteurizing and processing removes all the beneficial nutrients from honey, turning it into nothing more than a sugar filled syrup and no longer the medicinal food it has been used as throughout the centuries.
Here are some of the prime reasons to buy raw honey:
Raw Honey Is Antiviral, Antifungal and Antibacterial
Throughout history cultures have used honey on wounds to assist with healing. They might not have understood the function of microbes and the antibacterial properties of Honey, but nevertheless, they knew it kept the wound from getting infected and helped it heal faster.
Research has found that raw untreated honey does act as an antibacterial, anti-fungal, and antiviral agent, even for superbugs like staph (MRSA) infections (source). Research has found that raw honey acts as a broad-spectrum antibacterial against 60 species of bacteria (source).
Glucose oxidase combined with water, produces hydrogen peroxide, and it’s one of the compounds responsible for honey’s sanitizing effect. But glucose oxidase is a heat-sensitive enzyme, meaning pasteurization can inhibit the process of it turning into hydrogen peroxide (source).
Honey has even been shown to heal already infected wounds that show resistance to more conventional antibiotics (source).
According to recent research Raw honey may also act as an anticarcinogenic where “, … injection of 6 and 12% honey as well as oral ingestion of honey significantly inhibited tumor growth” (source).
Raw Honey Exhibits Anti-Cancer Activity
According to recent research raw honey may also act as an anticarcinogenic where “, … injection of 6 and 12% honey as well as oral ingestion of honey significantly inhibited tumor growth” (source).
Laboratory studies show that propolis has anticancer properties. And one set of research found that “Bee product peptides induce apoptotic cell death in vitro in several transformed (cancer) human cell lines, including those derived from renal, lung, liver, prostate, bladder and lymphoid cancers. These bioactive natural products may, therefore, prove to be useful as part of a novel targeted therapy for some types of cancer, such as prostate and breast cancer.” (source).
Raw Honey Promotes Digestive Health as it’s rich in enzymes
Researchers have found over 3000 enzymes involved in every major biological function of the body. So it’s not an understatement to say that enzymes are extremely important to the healthy functioning of our bodies such as transporting nutrients into cells, absorbing oxygen, breaking down carbohydrates and fats, creating energy, and regulating our hormones (source).
No surprise then that a host of these beneficial enzymes found in honey are really good for our digestive health and even help against stomach ulcers and repair the damaged lining of the intestinal tract (source), but pasteurization lowers these levels of enzymes considerably.
Additionally, raw honey also contains between 4% and 5% fructooligosaccharides , which act as probiotics. Studies have shown that fructooligosaccharides increase the levels of beneficial bifidobacteria and lactobacilli in the colon (source).
Raw Honey Is Anti-Inflammatory
Honey has been shown to reduce inflammation in various scenarios including topical wounds and intestinal inflammation and studies have shown it is effective for eczema, psoriasis and colitis (source).
Raw Honey Boosts Immunity
From studies of raw honeys effect on cancer (see the article on propolis for more on the positive effects on cancer from honey products), it has been found that honey acts as a natural immune booster and even a natural “cancer vaccine”. Honey boosts the body’s production of antibodies, which help combat disease, and it also supports the immune system by way of antioxidants which are found in raw honey (source).
Raw Honey Lowers Cholesterol
The antioxidants mentioned earlier have been associated with protective effects against cardiovascular disease (source) and honey as been shown to reduce total cholesterol levels (source).
Raw honey Stabilizes blood sugar
Surprisingly, even though honey is high in natural sugars, it has been found to have a positive effect on blood sugar levels (source). Raw honey has even been found to have a stabilizing effect on sugar metabolism in diabetics, decrease serum glucose levels and increase serum insulin levels in the Journal of Diabetes & Metabolic Disorders.
The list of benefits of raw honey and raw honey products like beeswax and propolis, from reputable research findings goes on and on, in addition to the above it has also been shown to be effective against respiratory ailments, measles, chest pain, male impotence, cardiac disorders, high blood pressure and more.
As with any medicine or natural remedy though, one should always take due diligence and care to make sure you don’t have negative reactions to the new medicine or natural remedy.
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