Honey Its Healing And Therapeutic Properties-2

Therapeutics
Honey has many therapeutic properties. It can be used externally due to its antimicrobial and antiseptic properties. So, honey helps heal wounds and prevent infections or superficial burns.

It is also used in cosmetics (creams , masks facial cleansers, toners, etc.) due to its astringent and soothing qualities.

Honey is also used in traditional medicine. It is an excellent natural preservative. Due to its simple sugars, for rapid uptake, honey's high calorie ( about 3.4 kcal / g ) , so that it is useful as an energy source.

Honey does not spoil, it is highly durable, does not expire.

Thanks to its high sugar concentration, it kills bacteria by osmotic lysis.

Airborne yeasts can not thrive in honey because the low moisture content.


The shipments of human bodies in antiquity were immersed in honey , such Alexander the Great was moved from Babylon to Alexandria in Egypt in 323. C. and Agesilaus II , King of Sparta, from Egypt to his native city in 360 BC. C., using honey to prevent decomposition.

The honey preservative effect is due to its low water concenration and is identical to that required for the prolonged preservation of sweets and fruits in syrup where the high sugar content decreases the water content.

Bees also add an enzyme called glucose oxidase. When honey is applied to a wound, this enzyme causes the local release of hydrogen peroxide.


Precautions
Honey ( like other sweeteners ) can also be extremely dangerous for babies. This is because when mixed with no acidic digestive juices of child, it is ideal for the growth of Clostridium botulinum spores, which produce toxins. The botulism spores are of the few bacteria that can survive in honey, but are also widely present in the environment.


Although these spores are harmless to adults, because of their heartburn, thedigestive system of young children is not developed enough to destroy them, so that the spores can potentially cause infant botulism. For this reason it is advisable not feed with honey or other sweetener to the children under 12 months.


Humidity is an essential component for conservation of honey. While the moisture percent remains below 18 % nothing will grow in it. Above this value may appear fermentation processes.


The mineral content is very small. The most common are calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, zinc, phosphorus and potassium. Also present about half of the existing amino acids, organic acids ( acetic acid, citric acid , etc.), and vitamin B complex, vitamin C, D and E. Honey also has a considerable variety of antioxidants (flavonoids and phenolic ).

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Honey Its Healing And Therapeutic Properties-1

Honey Its Healing Properties

Honey is a sweet and viscous fluid produced by bees from the nectar of flowers or from secretions of living parts of plants or excretions of plant sucking insects.

The bees collect it, transform and combine with the enzyme invertase that containing saliva of bees and stored in the honeycombs where it matures.

Also honey is a secretion that was previously consumed by them.


The technique involves extracting honey from the honeycombs is known as beekeeping.

The physical, chemical and organoleptic characteristics of honey are determined by the type of nectar that bees collect.


The botanical origin of honey also defines the degree of ease of these to crystallize. Honey has its recognized qualities and is used by humans since ancient times for food and naturally sweeten, with sweeten power twice that cane sugar.


There are several historical references to it. Many other civilizations, like the ancient Egyptians or the Greeks, for example, referred to honey as a sacred product, coming to serve as a way to pay taxes.

In Egyptian excavations over 2000 years were found perfectly preserved honey samples in slightly clogged vessels. There are also historical records in prehistoric cave paintings about the use of honey.


They are known several varieties of honey depend on the flower used as a source of nectar and the type of bee that produced it, but because the bees manufacture it in quantity about three times higher than they need to survive, it was always possible, first, collect the excess for the human being and later performed the domestication of bees for the specific purpose of getting their honey, technique known as beekeeping.

Uses:
Gastronomics
Honey is primarily used in cooking and baking, to accompany the bread or toast (especially for breakfast and snacks ) and as an additive to various beverages such as tea.

Being rich in sugars such as fructose, honey is hygroscopic ( absorbs moisture from the air), so that adding a small amount of it in breads and cakes makes them harden more slowly.


The virgin honey also contains enzymes that help its digestion , and various vitamins and antioxidants. Therefore usually is recommended the oney consumption at temperatures not exceeding 60 ° C , because at higher temperature starts losing beneficial properties to volatilize some of these elements.

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