It can relieve constipation, relieve internal heat, and lower blood pressure. Eating it can cure all diseases.

Honey is one of the most common foods for people. Especially in recent years, the benefits of honey have become popular all over the country. Even honey-based health products such as royal jelly and bee pollen have gradually entered people's lives. Although bees are so small, the honey they collect contains 180 kinds of substances. Eating it can prevent constipation, dryness and inflammation, high blood pressure and many other diseases. It is said that drinking it can cure all diseases. Now, let’s follow the editor to see what other functions honey has.

The process by which bees transform, dehydrate and store nectar and plant secretions in the honeycomb until they mature is the process of making honey. Bees keep part of the honey they make for their own consumption and take out part for human use. Data shows that bees can only collect 50 mg of nectar each time, and this nectar can produce a maximum of 15 mg of honey. In other words, it takes bees at least 70,000 times of nectar collection to produce 1,000 grams of honey for us to eat.

The nutritional composition of honey is extremely complex. Currently, more than 180 substances have been identified, mainly including the following parts.

sugar.

Unlike ordinary white sugar, the glucose and fructose in honey do not need to be digested by the human body and can be directly absorbed and utilized by the intestinal wall cells of the human body. Therefore, it will not increase the burden on the gastrointestinal tract. This is especially important for children, the elderly and those recovering from illness.

Vitamins.

Honey contains many vitamins, especially B vitamins. Every 100 grams of honey contains 300-400 micrograms of B vitamins.

Organic acid.

Honey contains a variety of acids. The main organic acids are gluconic acid, citric acid, lactic acid, acetic acid, butyric acid, formic acid and malic acid; the main inorganic acids are phosphoric acid, hydrochloric acid, etc.

Minerals.

The mineral content in honey is not high, but there are many types, such as potassium which is good for the body and mind, calcium which strengthens the muscles and bones, phosphorus which is good for the brain, magnesium which has a calming effect, iron and copper which replenish the blood, etc.

Enzyme.

The amount of enzymes contained in honey, that is, the enzyme value, is an important indicator for testing the quality of honey, indicating the maturity and nutritional value of honey. It is because honey contains enzymes that it has special functions that other sugar foods do not have. These enzymes are added by bees during the honey-making process and are derived from bee saliva. The main enzyme is sucrase, which can convert sucrose in nectar into glucose and fructose. There are also amylase, glucose oxidase, reductase, invertase, phosphatase, protease-like enzymes, etc.

Therefore, honey is considered one of the best health foods all over the world: "Shennong's Herbal Classic" lists honey as a top-grade product that is beneficial to humans; the ancient Greeks believed that honey was a "gift from God."

However, because the pollen collected is different, the therapeutic effects of honey are also different. Sophora japonica honey is generally drunk in spring. It has high viscosity, fresh fragrance, sweet taste and good quality. It is used for laxative and cooling blood to stop bleeding. Jujube flower honey is suitable for drinking in autumn. It has the effects of tonifying the middle and replenishing qi, nourishing blood and calming the nerves, protecting the spleen and nourishing the stomach. Nephew flower honey has the effect of clearing wind and relieving itching. It will be helpful for some people who are prone to colds. Osmanthus honey is known as the "king of honey" and has a good stomach-nourishing effect. Moreover, mixing it with milk can moisturize the skin and beautify the face.

12 dietary recipes

Honey has been used as medicine in China for thousands of years and has good efficacy. Li Shizhen, a medical scientist in the Ming Dynasty, pointed out: "Honey has five functions as a medicine: clearing away heat; tonifying the middle; moistening dryness; detoxifying; and relieving pain."

When used alone, honey has high nutritional value and good health care effects. It has the effects of tonifying the middle and replenishing qi, calming the five internal organs, harmonizing hundreds of medicines, clearing away heat and detoxifying, moisturizing dryness and nourishing yin, calming the nerves and nourishing the heart. If used in combination with other foods or Chinese medicines, it can play a more therapeutic and medicinal role.

1. Dryness and inflammation.

Steam pears in water and then add about 2 spoons of honey to moisten the lungs and relieve dryness; or stew silver fungus and add appropriate amount of honey to moisten the lungs and relieve cough.

2. Constipation.

Use 50-100 grams of rice, 200 grams of bananas, and an appropriate amount of honey. After cooking the rice porridge, add bananas cut into small pieces, then add honey, and eat it after it cools down. It can moisten the intestines and promote bowel movements.

3. Hypertension.

Use 100-150 grams of fresh celery and an appropriate amount of honey. Wash and mash the celery to extract the juice, then add honey and stew it. Taking it once a day can effectively lower blood pressure.

4. Coronary heart disease.

Take 10 grams of Salvia miltiorrhiza and 10 grams of Polygonum multiflorum, decoct them in water to extract the juice, and take it orally with 1-2 spoons of honey, which is helpful in treating coronary heart disease.

5. Low resistance.

After getting up in the morning and before going to bed at night, adding a small spoonful of honey when drinking milk can help resist fatigue and enhance resistance; or after boiling 10 grams of Ganoderma lucidum in water, take the juice and add honey, which can also enhance resistance. It is especially suitable for cancer patients after surgery; in addition, soak ginseng in water and add 1 spoonful of honey to replenish qi.

6. Dry eyes.

Use 3 grams of chrysanthemum and 10 grams of wolfberry, soak them in water, then add 2 spoons of honey. It can improve eyesight and nourish the liver and kidneys.

7. Sore throat due to cold.

Soak 5 grams of honeysuckle in water and add 2 spoons of honey to clear away heat and relieve sore throat; or soak 10 grams of honeysuckle, 10 grams of platycodon, and 10 grams of ophiopogon in water and add 2 spoons of honey to cure colds.

8. Excessive menstruation.

Cooking porridge with an appropriate amount of red dates and honey can replenish blood and qi.

9. Feeling irritable and upset.

Cook porridge with 100 grams of lily and 100 grams of japonica rice, add honey, and drink it before going to bed at night to nourish the heart and calm the nerves; or soak rose flowers in water, add honey to soothe the liver and replenish qi, and make you feel happy.

10. Chronic pharyngitis.

Soak 10 grams of Ophiopogon japonicus, 10 grams of Platycodon grandiflorum, and 3 grams of licorice in water and then add honey, which can help relieve chronic pharyngitis.

11. Low back pain and kidney deficiency.

Use 5 walnuts and 2 spoons of honey, boil the walnut kernels in water for 15 minutes, and add honey to nourish the kidneys and strengthen the brain; or fry the walnuts with oil until they turn yellow, then add eggs, and then add honey, which can achieve the same effect.

12. Beautify and nourish the skin.

Boiling honey and bird's nest together in water and drinking it can achieve the effect of beautifying and nourishing the skin; in addition, using honey and other foods such as grape juice together to make a facial mask can also achieve good beauty effects.

People who should avoid honey

1. Infants under one year old

Honey is rich in nutrients and is a good food for the general public. Many new mothers also add some honey to their infants' complementary foods to adjust the taste and increase the nutritional value. However, experts point out that honey is not suitable for infants under one year old.

Honey is easily contaminated by botulism during the brewing and transportation process, because bees may bring pollen and honey contaminated with botulism back to the beehive during the pollen collection process. Botulinum spores are highly adaptable and can survive at high temperatures of 100°C.

Because infants have weak gastrointestinal function and poor liver detoxification function, especially infants under 6 months old, botulinum toxin can easily multiply in the intestines and produce toxins, causing poisoning.

Symptoms of poisoning often occur 8 to 36 hours after eating honey or foods containing honey, and often include constipation, fatigue, and loss of appetite. Although the chance of botulism infection in infants is very small, doctors still recommend not giving your child honey or its products before he is one year old.

In addition, experts also remind that infants and young children over one year old should also be cautious when drinking honey, and the amount they consume should be appropriately reduced compared to adults.

2. Diabetics

Every 100 grams of honey carbohydrates contains about 35 grams of glucose, about 40 grams of fructose, about 2 grams of sucrose, and about 1 gram of dextrin.

Glucose and fructose are both monosaccharides. After entering the intestines, they can be directly absorbed into the blood without digestion, thereby increasing blood sugar. Sucrose and dextrin can be absorbed after slight hydrolysis. Therefore, the blood sugar-raising effect of honey is particularly obvious. From this point of view, diabetics cannot take honey.

3. Patients with liver cirrhosis

Generally speaking, it is very suitable for hepatitis B patients to drink honey, because the monosaccharides provided by honey do not need to be broken down and synthesized by the liver, which can reduce the burden on the liver. However, patients with cirrhosis cannot drink honey because it will aggravate liver fibrosis.

4. People who are suffering from cold

Most people with a cold will cough, and honey has a cough-relieving effect, so many people drink honey to relieve cough symptoms when they have a cold.

Sun Guanghong, professor of the Department of Pharmacy at the Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, reminds everyone that it is best not to take cold medicine with honey. Honey has the effect of moistening the lungs and relieving coughs, and is suitable for dry coughs. If you cough with little phlegm, or the phlegm is little and sticky, or it is a dry cough without phlegm, you can drink it with honey. However, if you are taking antipyretics or cold medicines containing antipyretic ingredients, you should not take honey at the same time. Many cold medicines, such as Tylenol, Quick, Ganlike, and Ganmaoqing, contain the antipyretic and analgesic acetaminophen. When it meets honey, it will form a complex, which affects the body's absorption rate and thus weakens the antipyretic effect.