Hello lucyfur,
Good question. Thanks for asking.
Some people tend to think that it does. 1st Holistic, for example:
http://1stholistic.com/Reading/health/health-honey-and-cinnamon.htm
"...[Note: None of the medicinal claims given in this article could be
independently verified. However, it is known that honey and cinnamon
are important herbs used in Ayurveda and oriental system of medicine.
- Editor, Holisticonline.com]
It is found that mixture of Honey and Cinnamon cures most of the
diseases. Honey is produced in most of the countries of the world.
Ayurvedic as well as Yunani medicine have been using honey as a vital
medicine for centuries. Scientists of today also accept honey as a
"Ram Ban" (very effective) medicine for all kinds of diseases. Honey
can be used without any side effects for any kind of diseases.
Today's science says that even though honey is sweet, if taken in the
right dosage as a medicine, it does not harm diabetic patients. Weekly
World News, a magazine in Canada, on its issue dated 17 January, 95
has given the following list of diseases that can be cured by Honey
and Cinnamon as researched by western scientists..."
They continue on with recommendations for treating heart disease,
arthritis, hair loss, toothache and a number of other ailments.
Kraljev Med says the following:
http://www.kraljevmed.hr/medicinal.html
"...Using honey and its active substances in prevention and treating
diseases is based on the tradition and experience that was gathered
for centuries.
The contemporary medical science gives more and more attention to the
use of honey and its products for healing. Such treatments are called
apitherapy.
They are especially interested in medicinal characteristics of the
following honey bee products: honey, bee wax, propolis, royal jelly
and bee acid.
There are many ways of using the honey and honey preparations in
medical treatmant of humans. Honey has prooved to be efficient in
treatment of wounds and burns; it relieves pain, it acts (as an)
antibacterial, removes free radicals and is used for alleviation of
inflammation processes..."
They led me to investigate apitherapy and as one might expect, there
is an organization devoted to this study:
http://www.apitherapy.org/
"...Welcome to The American Apitherapy Society. We are a non-profit
membership organization devoted to advancing the investigation and
promoting the use of honey bee products to further good health and to
treat a variety of conditions and diseases.
As one of our members said: "My own doctor 'complains' that because of
my knowledge and practice of apitherapy, he hardly ever gets to see me
in his office. I cannot ask for much better proof than that."
It seems they concentrate on bee venom rather than honey, however - at
least on their answers page. You can find their Frequently Asked
Questions here:
http://www.apitherapy.org/aapsfaq.htm
And yet under their history, they state:
http://www.apitherapy.org/aapshistory.htm
"...Apitherapy is as old as beekeeping itself. It was written about by
Hippocrates, and there are many mentions of it in Chinese texts that
are 2,000 years old. Apitherapy began as part of folk medicine and
continues to be used today to treat a range of conditions and diseases
as well as to promote overall health and well-being. In some southern
European countries, apitherapy is a medically recognized treatment.
Apitherapy includes the use of honey, pollen, propolis, royal jelly,
and bee venom..."
You might also want to browse the pages at http://www.apitherapy.com/
and the apitherapy database at http://www.sci.fi/~apither/.
Beelief Apitherapy also has a good deal of information:
http://www.beelief.com/
"...The honeybee, in common with many species, requires not only a
source of energy, but also protein, vitamins, minerals and trace
elements. All of these are provided by a huge variety of plants and
trees. Nectar is collected by the honeybee and converted from Sucrose
to Glucose and Fructose by the addition of enzymes. Honey is
anti-bacterial in nature. It is slightly acidic and hygroscopic
causing bacteria to dehydrate. Honey has been found in Egyptian tombs,
perfectly preserved and edible! Pollen is also collected, often at the
same time, and is used in the hive for rearing the young bees. It is
rich in protein and contains a wide range of vitamins, minerals and
trace elements...
...Throughout history civilizations have revered the little honey bee.
The ancient Egyptians were probably the first to realise the ability
of Honey, Pollen, Propolis and Royal Jelly to cure many ailments. The
Greeks and Romans used bee products frequently for medicinal purposes
and were the first to use bee venom as a therapy. Galen (130-200 AD)
used honey and venom to cure baldness!
Once simply regarded as folklore, the art of Apitherapy is now widely
accepted. Science can at last confirm what has been known for
thousands of years... that there are real health benefits to us from
using the natural products of the honeybee..."
If this area interests you, a Google search for apitherapy will
uncover thousands of pages that discuss these treatments:
://www.google.com/search?q=apitherapy
Searching a bit further, Iowa Stae University mentions:
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~azenor/ent2.html
"Honey used for Medicinal Purposes
Honey is one of the oldest known medicines, but is still becoming
accepted as a highly regarded and effective therapeutic substance by
both doctors and the general public.Even professionals in the singing
or media profession have turned to honey to soothe an irritated
throat. The history of honey being used for healing dates back to the
ancientEgyptians using honey for embalming cuts and burns, Romans
using it for cleaning wounds, even Hippocrates, the famous Greek
physician, used it as a cure for skin disorders. Careful studies have
recognized fantastic medicinal value in honey.
It is mostly effective for dressing wounds. This is because of its
high sugar content. It gives a rapid clearance of infection, is good
for burns and ulcers, inflammation, honey even promotes the growth of
new skin tissue. Other traditional therapeutic uses of honey connect
to diarrhea, eye infections, and throat infections. I am sure your
mother has used it for an upset stomach you had as a little kid. It
has now been proven that honey is used to prevent the growth of
Helicobacter pylori in the stomach, which is the organism responsible
for many ulcers. Honey also has been proven to decrease many
cancer-producing effects. Honey also lessens pain for some wounds, and
scarring..."
4 Nutritional Supplements has good descriptions of uses for honey in a
variety or ailments and diseases. They also say:
http://4nutritionalsupplements.com/products/honey.htm
"...According to scientific evidence it would be better to consider
honey as a food, rather than a medicine. Most of the benefits
described above, at least for internal use, can most likely be
ascribed to nutritional effects of some kind. On the other hand, our
scientific understanding of cause and effect, typically only confirmed
if a single compound measurably affects a well defined symptom, is far
too limited to explain possibly more complex and subtle, particularly
synergistic interactions..."
You might enjoy their thorough benfits and analysis of honey.
DoctorYourself.com says the following regarding honey:
http://www.doctoryourself.com/honey.html
"Honey and cider vinegar as a remedy has been made well known and
somewhat well respected by D.C. Jarvis, a Vermont medical doctor of
considerable experience. His book, Folk Medicine (1958), fully
discusses why and how to prepare and use this obviously harmless
self-treatment. Essentially, a tablespoon or two of each is dissolved
in a glass of water and taken several times daily as needed. White
(distilled) vinegar is not recommended, by the way. Dr. Jarvis states
that numerous common ailments, including colds, infections, rheumatism
and arthritis may be relieved, and even cured with this simple
treatment...
...Honey added to the vinegar naturally makes the mixture more
drinkable for people. Honey also contains subtle amounts of energies
and minerals just beginning to be noticed, let alone fully understood.
Curative powers of honey were known about in ancient civilizations,
and naturopathic doctors recommend it still. It is what is not known
about honey that is probably of greatest medicinal value..."
As you can see, there are numerous sites that claim honey has
medicinal benefits. Simply repeat my searches below if you would like
to delve deeper.
I'll leave you with one more set of excerpts - these from Honey New Zealand:
http://www2.wave.co.nz/~whp/publicat2.htm
"HONEY IS NOT A GENERIC MEDICINE
P. C. Molan
Honey Research Unit, Department of Biological Sciences, University of
Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand.
Honey is one of the oldest known medicines that has continued to be
used up to present times in folk-medicine. Its use has also been
"rediscovered" in later times by the medical profession, especially
for dressing wounds: the numerous reports of successful usage of honey
in wound management, including several randomised controlled trials,
have recently been reviewed, rapid clearance of infection from the
treated wounds being a commonly recorded observation.
In almost all of these reports honey is referred to generically, there
being no indication given of any awareness of the variability that
generally is found in natural products. Yet the ancient physicians
were aware of differences in the therapeutic value of the honeys
available to them: Aristotle (384-322 BC), discussing differences in
honeys, referred to pale honey being "good as a salve for sore eyes
and wounds" ; and Dioscorides (c.50 AD) stated that a pale yellow
honey from Attica was the best, being "good for all rotten and hollow
ulcers" .
Any honey can be expected to suppress infection in wounds because of
its high sugar content, but dressings of sugar on a wound have to be
changed more frequently than honey dressings do to maintain an
osmolarity that is inhibitory to bacteria, as honey has additional
antibacterial components. Since microbiological studies have shown
more than one hundred-fold differences in the potency of the
antibacterial activity of various honeys, best results would be
expected if a honey with a high level of antibacterial activity were
used in the management of infected wounds..."
You will find numerous references listed at the bottom of the page.
Search Strategy:
honey +medicinal
apitherapy
medicinal value of honey
I trust my research has provided you with food for thought regarding
the medicinal benefits of honey. If a link above should fail to work
or anything require further explanation or research, please do post a
Request for Clarification prior to rating the answer and closing the
question and I will be pleased to assist further.
Regards,
-=clouseau=- |
