Whether it’s drizzled over toast, pancakes, yoghurt, oats, muesli, or to sweeten your tea or just consumed straight out of the bottle, honey holds a special place in most of our pantries. Frequently viewed as a “sugar alternative”, honey isn’t just a delicious treat, it’s actually packed full of nutrients and properties that give it therapeutic value over other sweeteners or sugar substitutes we may have in our pantries. So how exactly can honey be so sweet and delicious, yet have a host of benefits for us, despite the fact that most of us associate sweet food with being unhealthy? The answer lies behind bees and the extraordinary process they orchestrate to produce it. 

The origins of the therapeutic use of honey can be dated back to ancient Egypt and Sumeria, from 1900 to 1250 BC and the ancient Greeks were also reported to use honey to treat fatigue and athletes from that era drank a water/honey mixture before competing. To briefly describe how bees produce honey, bees collect nectar from flowers and regurgitate the mixture so other bees in the hive can consume the mixture, process it using enzymes, such as trypsin, chymotrypsin, elastase, and exopeptidase leucine aminopeptidases, and diffuse it into honeycomb, which will evaporate the water. Adding to this process, the fanning of the bee’s wings accelerates the drying process and once this is complete, bees will seal the honeycomb with wax to protect the finished product (Saranraj & Sivasakthi, 2018). 

Honey is primarily comprised of water and carbohydrates, mostly glucose and fructose, as well as proteins, amino acids, enzymes, polyphenols, vitamins, and minerals, including riboflavin (B2), pantothenic acid (B5), niacin (B3), thiamin (B1), pyridoxine (B6), ascorbic acid (vitamin C), potassium, sulphur, chlorine, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, iron, copper, and manganese. Additionally, changes in the composition of honey and other factors, such as colour, taste and viscosity depend on the type of bee that produces the honey, the type of flower, the extraction method, and geographical/environmental conditions (Young & Blundell, 2023). The therapeutic properties found in honey are mainly attributed to its polyphenol content, primarily their flavonoids/non-flavonoids. These compounds (which I have devoted a post to) have antioxidant, anticancer, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and immune-enhancing benefits (Rozman et al, 2022).

For example, in regards to antimicrobial activity, enzymes and compounds besides polyphenols, such as benzoic acid, essential oils, and methylglyoxal have all shown to exert antimicrobial action against a broad range of bacteria and fungi. For example, manuka honey, the prized New Zealand-produced honey, and tualang honey from south-east Asia, have shown activity against Escherichia coli, Enterobacter cloacae, Salmonella typhi, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter baumannii, Proteus mirabilis, Staphylococcus aureus, coagulase-negative Staphylococci and Streptococcus pyogenes.Additionally, manuka honey can also inhibit methicillin-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus. Honey has also shown to be effective against different strains of fungi, such as Candida and Trichophyton (Ratajczak et al, 2021).

How honey exerts its antimicrobial function depends on it’s active compounds and how those compounds target different parts of the microbe. For example, polyphenolic acids found in honey, such as, gallic, ferulic, caffeic, chlorogenic, p-Coumaric, syringic, and vanillic acid, can disrupt cell membranes structure and other polyphenols can disrupt DNA/protein metabolism and increase production of antioxidants that attack microbes, such as apigenin, catechin and luteolin (Young & Blundell, 2023).

In an inflammatory response, arachidonic acid (a polyunsaturated fatty acid) is released and acts as a precursor to eicosanoid compounds, which are produced via cyclooxygenase, lipoxygenase and cytochrome P450 enzymes. The eicosanoid compounds, such as prostaglandins, cysteine, and leukotrienes are pro-inflammatory and flavonoids in honey have been shown to inhibit the enzymes responsible for producing eicosanoids, thus reducing the release and metabolism of arachidonic acid and its inflammatory mediators (Silva et al, 2021). The antioxidant properties of honey may be partly attributed to its ability to enhance a person’s endogenous production of antioxidants, based on research conducted on rats that showed that supplementation with honey can significantly reduce malondialdehyde (a marker of oxidative stress) and restored glutathione, superoxide dismutase and catalase activity in the liver and pancreas. Additionally, honey and its extracts can inhibit the production of nitric oxide and prostaglandin E2 and this anti-inflammatory effect coincided with a reduction in oedema (swelling) and pain in inflamed tissues (Erejuwa et al, 2012).

In addition to honey’s anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant effects, honey has also shown promise as an anti-cancer agent through several mechanisms. For starters, honey has been shown to have an immune-enhancing effect by stimulating neutrophil activity and the subsequent production of reactive oxygen species by these neutrophils exhibit anti-tumour activity. Furthermore, Tualang honey (produced in south-east Asia) has been shown to induce cell death of breast and cervical cancer cells and mitigate proliferation of oral carcinoma and osteosarcoma cells (Fauzi et al, 2011). Honey’s anti-cancerous effects vary depending on the type of cancer involved. For example, honey can induce cell death (apoptosis) in various types of cancers by breaking down the mitochondrial membrane of those cancerous cells. Pro-apoptotic proteins, such as caspase 3, p53 and Bax can be up-regulated by honey, whilst down-regulating anti-apoptotic proteins that would protect cancer cells. By arresting cell cycle, honey can also exert anti-proliferative effects by blocking the cell cycle at G0/G1 (initial part of cell growth) phase of various cancers, such as colon, glioma and melanoma (Ahmed & Othman, 2013). 

All of these effects place honey as a potentially superior alternative to some pharmaceutical treatments, for example, in cases of upper respiratory tract infection, honey was associated with a significant reduction in combined symptom scores, and cough frequency and severity in comparison to usual treatments, such as dextromethorphan (a common cough suppresant) and diphenhydramine (an antihistamine used to treat symptoms of common cold) (Abuelgasim et al, 2020). So next time you’re sprinkling honey on your food or enjoying it straight out of the bottle, there’s no need to feel guilty about your pang for something sweet because the benefits of honey extend far beyond satisfying your sugar craving. 

References

Abuelgasim, H., Albury, C., & Lee, J. (2020). Effectiveness of honey for symptomatic relief in upper respiratory tract infections: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ evidence-based medicine, 26(2), 57-64. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjebm-2020-111336

Ahmed, S., & Othman, N.H. (2013). Honey as a potential natural anticancer agent: a review of its mechanisms. Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine, 2013. https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/829070

Erejuwa, O.O., Sulaiman, S.A., Ab Wahab, M.S. (2012). Honey: a novel antioxidant. Molecules, 17(4), 4400-4423.https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules17044400

Fauzi, A.N., Nor Norazmi, M., & Yaacob, N.S. (2011). Tualang honey induces apoptosis and disrupts the mitochondrial membrane potential of human breast and cervical cancer cell lines. Food and chemical toxicology, 49(4), 871-878.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fct.2010.12.010

Ratajczak, M., Kaminska, D., Matuszewska, E., Hołderna-Kedzia, E., et al. (2021). Promising antimicrobial properties of bioactive compounds from different honeybee products. Molecules, 26(13), 4007.https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules26134007

Rozman, A.S., Hashim, N., Maringgal, B., & Abdan, K. (2022). A comprehensive review of stingless bee products: phytochemical composition and beneficial properties oh honey, propolis, and pollen. Applied sciences, 12(13), 6370.https://doi.org/10.3390/app12136370

Saranraj, P., & Sivasakthi, S. (2018). Comprehensive review on honey: biochemical and medicinal properties. Journal of academia and industrial research, 6(10), 165-181.http://www.jairjp.com/MARCH%202018/01%20SARANRAJ%20REVIEW%20ARTICLE-JAIR.pdf

Silva, B., Biluca, F.C., Gonzaga, L.V., Fett, R., (2021). In vitro anti-inflammatory properties of honey flavonoids: a review. Food research international, 141. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2020.110086

Young, G.Z., & Blundell, R. (2023). A review on the phytochemical composition and health applications of honey. Heliyon, 9(2), e12507. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e12507