Have you ever heard the term "nutritionist"?
Its idea is that food is nothing more than its own nutrient.
However, the fact that food does not only contain their nutrients but also contains many other superior things.
They contain many different substances that may or may not have been found. These substances can directly affect your health without your knowledge or have not been proven by scientists.
Honey Is Not Only Sugar Fructose Liquid
Fruit is not just water bags filled with fructose, but its grains are also rich in Omega-6 fatty acids.
Although Omega-6 and fructose, if separate, can lead to many health problems, but they co-exist in the same healthy food, it has many other useful uses.
Such as honey. Honey is considered an unhealthy food because it contains too much sugar, especially fructose. But the naturally harvested honey is different.
Honey is a food that is approached by humans during the course of evolutionary history, and can still be maintained in a natural state.
Good Honey Or Bad?
Honey bees move in the surroundings to collect nectar - a kind of sugar-rich vegetable liquid.
The production of honey from nectar is carried out in honeycomb. It is a repetitive group of actions that involves repeated digestion, release and swallowing. These movements will be repeated many times until they feel more sweet and smelling, then stop.
When the cycle ends, we will get honey. However, the composition and nutritional value of honey also depend on the origin of nectar.
According to nutrition data, a typical amount of honey will give nutrition data as follows:
- 82% of sugar, calculated by weight.
- Half the sugar (40% of the total sugar) is fructose.
- Contains only a small amount of vitamins and minerals.
- Honey contains various antioxidants.
- The amount of glucose and fructose varies greatly, and its glycemic index ranges from low to high.
Studies Of Honey And Risk Of Disease
When blood tests, a number of factors have very high index, this is a warning for the risk of disease in the future. Among them, cholesterol, neutral fat and blood sugar are the most important.
Diabetic patients often experience major health problems.
In a randomized trial of 48 diabetics, these patients all ate honey for 8 weeks. After 8 weeks, indicators such as body weight, neutral fat and cholesterol decreased, while their HDL cholesterol increased.
However, the HbA1c index (a sign of blood sugar) is also increased. And this is a bad sign.
A study in healthy people, diabetes and fatty blood disease has announced that:
- Honey increases blood sugar lower than dextrose (glucose) and sucrose (glucose and fructose). It still increases blood sugar but not much.
- Honey helps reduce C-Reactive Protein (CRP) - a sign of inflammatory symptoms.
- Honey reduces LDL cholesterol, blood fat and increases HDL cholesterol.
- Honey also reduces levels of Homocysteine, a sign of blood related to disease.
Antioxidants In Honey
Unrefined honey contains many different antioxidants, which have many positive effects on human health. It can be said that the addition of antioxidants in the daily diet will help improve optimal health and reduce the risk of disease.
Two human studies have shown that consumption of buckwheat honey increases the value of blood antioxidants.
Some Studies in Mice
In rats, honey reduced oxidation, triglycerides were lower, and fat was lower than those using pure sugar or fructose.
Some Uses Of Honey
Honey may have some medicinal properties when applied to the skin, kill bacteria and speed up wound healing.
Choose Dark Honey
As I mentioned above, the composition of honey depends on the environment in which the bee harvests honey.
The antioxidants of different types of honey can change up to 20 times. In general, dark honey such as buckwheat honey is better than lighter ones.
Should you eat honey? This depends on your decision and all aspects related to nutrition.
If you are healthy, active and do not need to lose weight, eating a small amount of honey will not harm your health. And it seems that honey has less harmful effects than sugar.
However, when you are overweight and obese, have diabetes, you need to avoid a high-fructose and high-carb diet. So you should avoid or minimize honey as best.
In some recipes, honey is a great substitute for sugar.
I hope through this article, you will know how to choose the best quality honey and know how to use honey appropriately to get the most health benefits.
