The Merits of Honey
Based on Russian Research " And your Lord revealed to the bee, Make hives in the mountains and in the trees and in what they build. Then eat of all the fruits and walk in the ways of your Lord submissively. There comes forth from their bellies a beverage of many colours, in which there is healing for mankind. Verily in this is a sign for those who give thought " [Al-Nahal:68,69]
We all know that bees produce honey. In addition to this information our God Almighty has informed us that there is a special ability in honey to heal and cure diseases. The following hadeeth is a good example to understand:
" Abu Sa'id Al-Khudri, may Allah be pleased with him, reported: A person came to Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) and told him that his brother's bowels were loose. Thereupon Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) said: Give him honey. So he gave him that and then came and said: I gave him honey but it has only made his bowels more loose. He said this three times; and then he came the fourth time, and he (the Holy Prophet) said: Give him honey. He said: I did give him, but it has only made his bowels more loose, whereupon Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) said: Allah has spoken the truth and your brother's bowels are in the wrong. So he made him drink (honey) and he was recovered " [Bukhari & Muslim] 1 2
One should drink honey even when he is healthy, as this is a Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). It is confirmed by the following hadeeth:
" Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, reported: I served drink to Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) in this cup of mine: Honey, Nabidh, Water and Milk " [Bukhari & Muslim]
As long as one is a Muslim, sayings of Allah in the Quran and Muhammad (p.b.u.h) in his ahaadeeth, are more than sufficient to constitute a belief about something as compared to any other source. Some people base their beliefs on scientific research and facts even if they contradict the Quran and hadeeth, not realizing that science is a system of knowledge or observation by human beings and human beings are prone to errors. Thus if science contradicts any views of the the Quran or Sunnah then it is science that is wrong, not the Quran or hadeeth. However scientific research that is in accordance with the Quran and hadeeth has helped us a lot to understand some issues in much greater depth.
Below is a scientific research on honey and its not because of this research that we are going to constitute the belief about healing ability of honey. We are just going to use it as a tool to praise and appreciate the sayings of Allah and His prophet about honey, to which we have already established our belief and faith regarding its (honey's) healing capabilities.
Honey as Medicine and Remedy
Honey has long been used in medicine not only as a valuable item in the diet but as a remedy and a means of healing. In the oldest medical papyri of Egypt, dating back to 1553-1550 BC, there are indications that honey was used to heal wounds, ‘in order to cause urination’, and ‘as a means of easing the belly’. In Mesopotamia and Assyria, too, honey was used for healing and is mentioned among remedies on the tablets found in the library of Ashur-bani-pal.
In Indian medicine it was considered that honey could be used both as a remedy and as an analeptic. The tonics prescribed ‘to give pleasure’ and ‘to preserve youth’ were mainly prepared from honey. And a diet in which honey and milk were the main items was thought to prolong life.
In ancient Greece honey was considered one of nature’s most precious gifts. The Greek philosopher Democritus, creator of atomic theory, said, when asked for advice on how to live and how to keep in good health, that one should anoint one’s interior with honey and one’s exterior with oil. Hippocrates, the Greek doctor, prescribed honey extensively and successfully for many diseases. Honey taken with other food, he said was nutritious and improved the complexion.
Galen, the great Roman physician, considered honey an all-purpose remedy, recommending it to treat many kinds of poisoning and intestinal ailments, in particular gangrenous stomatitis.
Later in the Arab East, honey was extensively used by doctors. The greatest medical authority of mediaeval times, Ibn-Sina (or Avicenna), gave dozens of recipes in his Canon that included honey and beeswax among the ingredients. Of the medical gruel that was eaten by scholars and philosophers he wrote: ‘It helps you when you have a runny nose, cheers you up, makes you feel fit, facilitates the digestion of food, gets rid of wind, and improves the appetite. It is almost a provision for retaining youth, making the memory better, sharpening the wits, and loosening the tongue. ’ He considered honey to have absorbing properties and recommended a wafer (tapitma) made of honey and wheat flour without water to treat wounds. The wafer was placed on the surface of the wound and changed every twelve hours until healthy tissue grew. Ibn-Sina also wrote that honey had a beneficial effect on deep, contaminated ulcers.
Honey is also considered an important remedy on folk medicine. ‘There is no need to be afraid of asking simple people what they think is a good cure,’ Hippocrates wrote, ‘for I believe that the art of medicine was on the whole discovered by so doing.’ Through observations and folk wisdom people made many valuable discoveries down the ages which furthered the development of medicine and the art of healing. Remedies like foxglove, adonis, quinine, opium, atrophine, cocaine and others were all borrowed from folk medicine.
Modern experiments and observations indicate that there is every reason to consider honey a remedy. To what does it owe its curative properties? Mainly to the glucose it contains, which has an invigorating effect on the cardiovascular system, but also to its many other substances that improve the resistance of the organism.
Uses of Honey
Honey and Children
A sensible diet is most important in a child’s development. As we have already mentioned it is better for children to take honey with their food than sugar. It is advisable to give them a teaspoon of honey two or three times a day, but the dose should not exceed 30 to 40 grams daily.
It has been noted in the literature that children prefer honey to sugar. We ourselves made the following experiment once at the Istra Rest Home for children. Each morning and evening the children were given an extra three lumps of sugar (30 to 35 grams). After a couple of days, however, we were forced to alter the test, as the children were giving the sugar to the dog, throwing it away, or leaving it. The effect was quite different when we gave 60 of them a spoonful of honey morning and evening. All were eager to get their ration of honey first and were always anxious to know whether there would be any the next day.
Dentists have no doubts about the harmful effect of sugar on the teeth. It has been established that the remains of sugar in the mouth break down, under the effect of bacteria, to form acids, particularly lactic acid, which leads to slow but considerable decalcification of the teeth and to caries. Honey, on the other hand, has active antibiotic properties and in the fact disinfects the mouth.
Honey Inhalations
Good therapeutic effects have been obtained when honey is inhaled into the upper respiratory tract. The observations of Dr. Ya.A.Kiselstein, reported in 1938, are of special interest in this respect. He employed an ordinary inhalation apparatus adapted to atomize aqueous solutions, and used a 10 per cent solution of honey. Each session of treatment lasted five minutes. One of his cases, 32 years of age, had suffered for several years from a feeling of dryness in the pharynx and loss of voice. The nasal mucosa and the back of the pharynx were more or less normal, but the laryngeal mucosa and the upper sections of the trachea were covered with suppurative scabs. After seven inhalations the patient felt better and the scabs and hoarseness disappeared.
Of 20 patients treated by honey inhalation, only two felt no improvement at all. Before beginning honey inhalations all the patients concerned had been under observation and had been treated with ordinary conservative remedies, from which they derived no noticeable improvement.
When inhaled honey not only has an effect on the mucous membrane of the nose and throat, but also on the alveoli of the lungs (through which it enters the blood). Thus it not only acts as a local bactericide, but also helps to build up the organism generally. Dr.Kiselstein incorrectly attributed the therapeutic effect obtained from inhalation to the vitamin content of the honey, though its vitamin content, in fact, is low. We therefore decided to test 10 per cent and 7 per cent solutions of honey enriched with vitamins C, B2 and A. The results far exceed our expectations. The patients treated were soon free of their complaints. In 1967 the Bulgarian doctor Stoimir Mladenov reported having used honey inhalation extensively and successfully to treat patients with diseases of the upper respiratory tracts. Inhalation with honey can easily be carried out at home, but only under the supervision of a doctor.
Since olden day honey has been reputed an all-purpose remedy for colds, not simply on its own, but mixed with other foods and medicines. People with colds are recommended to take honey with warm milk (one tablespoon of honey to glass of milk) or with lemon (the juice of one lemon to a hundreds grams of honey). A good remedy is a 1:1 syrup of horseradish juice and honey.
When honey is taken for a cold the patient should stay in bed, or at least at home, for honey causes one to sweat a great deal. Linden honey is a particularly good diaphoretic.
Honey has also been used since time immemorial for diseases of the lungs. Hippocrates wrote that ‘honey gets rid of sputum and soothes a cough’. Avicenna recommended a mixture of honey and rose petals in the early stages of tuberculosis, considering it more effective when taken before noon. He also believed that hazel nuts and honey helped in cases of chronic coughing and facilitated expectoration.
‘Honey is juice with heavenly dew’, we read in a seventeenth century Russian manual on medicine, ‘which the bees collect in fine weather from fragrant flowers and which possesses many curative properties in the treatment of various illnesses.’
‘Honey rids a wound of its stench, prevents people from going blind when smeared on the eyeball, heals sores in the mouth, causes urination, eases the bowels, soothes a cough, heals poisoned bites and the bites of mad dogs. It has a good effect on deep wounds and is a remedy for the lungs and the inner joints.’
These old manuals describe honey as a remedy exerting a beneficial effect on people of all ages. ‘We need not be afraid to give wild honey to children and old people and even to pregnant wives, for eating wild, honey is without harm to what is conceived in the womb.’
In Russian folk medicine, honey was used for certain skin complaints.
Despite numerous examples that honey is an excellent remedy for pulmonary tuberculosis, no specific curative properties can be attributed to it in this disease. It can merely be noted that honey is generally a restorative and thus helps the organism to fight the tuberculous infection. This is our own observation from a comparison of various methods of treatment of abscess of the lung, and our own observations of patients in Prof. F.A.Udintsev’s clinic at the Kiev Medical Institute. Three patients were given 1000 to 150 grams of honey a day. As a result considerable improvement was noted. They began to feel better, their appetites improved, and they began to put on weight. Their hemoglobin increased, while the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (E.S.R.) decreased. The patients coughed less and the amount of sputum decreased; they began to urinate more during the day than at night (the opposite being the case before honey was given); and a beneficial effect was noted on the gastrointestinal tract.
Honey and The Heart
The muscle of the heart is working continuously and needs glucose in order to make up the energy expended. When a very small quantity of glucose (0.1 per cent) is added to the physiological saline in which an isolated heart is immersed, the heart will continue working outside the body for four days.
Honey has a beneficial effect on the heart because it contains much easily assimilated glucose. It has been noted (Theobald) that it has an invaluable effect on the weakened muscle of the heart in various types of cardiac disease. Even diabetics can take honey, since cardiac activity is improved by the injection into the organism of fructose or honey. In all cases were a cure depends on the activity of the heart, honey should not be forgotten, so that the heart will not only be stimulated, when given digitalis, but also receive nutrition. Honey causes the veins to expand and improves circulation through the coronary arteries. With prolonged prescription of honey (50 to 140 -- on an average 70 -- grams of honey daily for one to two months) patients with heart trouble feel better in themselves, the composition of their blood returns to normal, their haemoglobin level increases, and cardiovascular tonus improved.
Honey and The Eyes
Honey has long been considered a most effective remedy for many eye diseases. An ancient Egyptian papyrus gives the recipe for a honey ointment and instructions how to us it. Ibn-e-Sina recommended honey mixed with onion juice, clover, or wheatgrass for the eyes. In the last century honey was held by some writers to be a good remedy for burns, especially those affecting the eyes, and an excellent cure for inflammation of the eye. It has not lost its importance today, even when medicine has been enriched with a host of new preparations (sulphonamides, antibiotics, etc.), and is, in fact, highly effective for certain diseases of the eyes.
A.Kh.Mikhailov reported having used eucalyptus honey and cornea, sores on the corneal membrane, and other complaints. The honey was made by bees from a mixture of honey with an infusion of eucalyptus leaves (since it is the leaves and not the flowers of this tree that possess curative properties).
A honey ointment has been widely used in the eye department of the Odessa Regional Hospital to treat various lesions of the corneal membrane. At first honey was merely added to a 3 per cent sulphapyridine ointment (replacing vaseline). This ointment was highly effective on very slow-healing sores and speeded up the rate of cicatrization. A 30 per cent solution of sodium sulphanil acetamide given in drops, or sulphapyridine ointment containing vaseline, brought no relief to patients with inflammation of the cornea, their condition only improving when the honey and sulphapyridine ointments were administered. Quite a few patients with keratitis or sores on the corneal membrane were cured with honey on its own.
Honey has also been used extensively in the eye clinic of the Omsk Medical Institute (Maximenko) to treat herpetic and uncerous keratitis, and as a means of resorption in cases of opacity of the cornea or vitreous body, immature or initial cataract, and burns affecting the eye.
Only sterile honey from honeycomb should be used in the eyes, and then only under the supervision of a doctor or ophthalmologist.
Treatment of Wounds
In folk medicine, and in antiquity, honey was used to heal wounds. Pliny wrote that fish fat mixed with honey had a beneficial effect on infected wounds and on sores in the mouth. And in mediaeval times, as we said above, Avicenna used wafers containing honey to treat wounds. In mediaeval Russia a honey ointment containing pine tar was used to heal wounds; old Russian manuscripts on cures often said: ‘Honey takes away the stench from wounds’. Later honey and fish oil were used to treat extensive wounds, the treated wound healing after ten to twelve days, leaving a large scar.
In 1938 the Soviet surgeon Ya.M.Krinitsky obtained good results from suing an ointment of honey and fat to treat 48 patients with infected, necrotic wounds. After five days the dead tissues began to come away in 90 per cent of the patients and a new epithelium to replace them. Krinitsky concluded from his observations that the honey helped the wounds to heal more quickly by bringing about a marked increase in glutathione in the wound. (Glutathione plays a most important part in oxidation-reduction processes in the organism and stimulates cell growth and division.)
In 1946 Prof. S.A.Simirnov (Tomsk Medical Institute) used honey to treat gunshot wounds in 75 patients, and concluded that it stimulated growth of tissue in slow-healing wounds.
Many other examples could be cited from the experience of doctors and surgeons. The Ukrainain doctor, A.S. Buddai, treated slow-healing wounds and ulcers in his rural practice with an ointment containing 80 g honey, 20 g fish oil, and 3 g xeroform. The honey and xeroform were pounded together in a mortar, the fish oil added, and the mixture stirred until uniform. More recently I have tested a similar ointment containing honey and sea-buckthorn oil, which proved more effective. Many people become allergic to fish oil and xeroform.
In 1946 A.E.Helfman reported having treated patients with torpid wounds at an evacuation hospital by means of honey electrophoresis. His observations of 35 patients with fractures due to gunshot wounds, complicated by osteomyelitis (inflammation of the bone marrow), indicated that honey electrophoresis induced active development of granulation. After treatment the wounds, which had been covered with flaccid anaemic granules full of pus, became cleaner, blood flowed freely in them, and they began to heal.
Honey and Digestion
An old saying has it that honey is the stomach’s best friend.(1). The medical literature indicates that honey has a beneficial effect on digestion. It is particularly good as a laxative, and when eaten regularly helps keep the gastrointestinal tract in normal working order.
Food remains in the stomach for two to three hours, even longer, after eating, during which time it is subjected to the action of the gastric juices. Many authors think, on the basis of clinical observations, that honey reduces hyperacidity of the stomach when taken with other food. Our own investigations showed that a barium meal with honey remained in the stomach an hour or two longer than barium sulphate on its own; and the outline of the organ was much sharper on the X-ray plate. The passage of a barium meal with honey through the small and large intestines in no way differed from that of barium sulphate on its own or with sugar.
Honey can be used as a remedy, or as part of the diet, in the treatment of several gastro-intestinal ailments, for instance in cases of gastritis or gastric ulcer in which there is hyperacidity. In 1924 Dr. V.P.Grigoriev had a patient under clinical observation for whose hyperacidity the only effective remedy was honey. In the period 1944-9, 600 patients with ulcers of the stomach were treated with honey at the clinic of the Irkutsk Medical Institute. M.L.Khotkina (1953) described 302 cases with the most typical course: 76 (34.3 per cent) had hyperacidity; 67 (30.2 percent) were normal; in 54 (24.7 percent) acidity was subnormal; and in 24 (10.8 per cent) there was no acidity. When the normal diet and medicines were prescribed 61 per cent of the patients recovered and 18 per still felt pain; but when honey was prescribed 79.7 to 84.2 per cent recovered and only 5.9 continued to feel pain at the end of treatment. X-ray established that, with normal treatment, the ulcers healed in 29 per cent of patients, but in 59.2 per cent of those taking honey. The average period of hospitalization was shorter for patients prescribed honey. A general tonic effect was also noted: weight increased, the composition of the blood improved, gastric acidity became normal, and thee was a tranquilizing effect on the nervous system. Patients became calm, cheerful, and full of life.
Müller and Arkhipova, of the dietetic department of the Ostroumov Hospital in Moscow, studied the effect of honey on 155 patients with ulcers. Their observations indicated that honey brought acidity and the secretion of gastric juice back to normal, and saved patients from heartburn and belching, ended cramps, and so on.
When honey is used to treat ulcers it has a dual effect: a) a local effect helping the surface of the gastric mucosa to heal; and (b) a general effect building up the organism as a whole, and particularly the nervous system (which is extremely important since gastric and duodenal ulcers develop when the receptors of these organs cease to function properly).
For ulcers honey should be taken 90 minutes to two hours before meals, or three hours afterward, preferably an hour and a half or two hours before breakfast and the midday meal and three hours after the evening meal. The honey should be dissolved in warm, boiled water. In this form it dilutes the mucus in the stomach and lowers acidity, and is rapidly assimilated without irritating the intestine. A cold solution, on the other hand, increases acidity, slows down digestion of the contents of the stomach, and irritates the intestine. When taken just before meals, honey stimulates secretion of gastric juice.
The liver is rightly called the organism’s main chemical laboratory, since it takes an active part in all its vital processes, namely, the conversion of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, hormones, etc. Enzymes are formed in the liver and carotene is transformed there into vitamin A. Prothrombin (a substance involved in coagulation of the blood) is formed there with the help of vitamin K and the hormones produced by the endocrine glands acquire new properties in the liver.
Honey has long been used in folk medicine to treat complaints of the liver. Its beneficial effect is due to its chemical composition, in particular to its high glucose content. Glucose not only feeds the tissue cells of the liver, but also increases its reserve of glycogen and improves the process to tissue replacement. The liver acts as a filter, rendering bacterial poisons harmless; glycogen helps it to carry out this function more effectively and so builds up the organism’s resistance to infection. Diseases of the liver are frequently treated clinically with intravenous injections of glucose.
Honey mixed with curd (cottage cheese), porridge, boiled buckwheat or barely, apples, etc., is not only good for the sick, but also for the healthy.
Doctors recommend the following for people with kidney trouble: either honey and rosehip tea (15 grams of rosehips to 0.5 litre of water) or honey and radish juice (100 to 200 grams daily). People suffering from gravel in the kidneys are advised to take a tablespoon of olive oil, honey, and lemon juice three times a day, but only under the supervision of a doctor.
Honey and The Nervous System
Honey is known to have a favourable effect on the nervous system. Clinical observations are that hypertonic solutions of glucose take effect rapidly in the treatment of some diseases of the nervous system. And usually, after two or three injections, headaches lessen, the sight improves, and so on.
Prof. N.K.Bogolepov and V.I. Kiseleva (1949) reported treating two cases of St. Vitus’ dance with honey. After three weeks’ treatment with honey alone the patients began to sleep normally, their headaches ceased, they felt stronger and less irritable and became cheerful and active again.
People with nervous conditions or suffering from exhaustion are recommended to drink glass of water in which honey and the juice of half a lemon have been dissolved, or to eat two tablespoons of honey, before going to bed. In 1938 Prof. E. Zander noted that there is no less harmful soporific than a glass of honeyed water, taken at night. Honey is undoubtedly better than powers that irritate the stomach.
Bran soaked in water and mixed with honey is considered an excellent remedy for strengthening the nerves; or vitamin B1 can be taken instead of bran.
A preparation of honey from which the proteins have previously been extracted is frequently used to prevent the radiation sickness that often develops in patients during radiation therapy, an intravenous injection of 10 ml of a 20 to 40 per cent solution of this preparation being administered before each session of the course of treatment. Once the properties of protein-free honey in the treatment of this illness had been established, it began to be used in the patented preparation Melcain, which contains a 1 to 2 per cent solution of procaine in protein-free honey for therapeutic and prophylactic purposes in diseases normally treated with procaine and honey.
Honey with Medicinal Herbs
Honey has a beneficial effect when taken with medicinal herbs.
Agrimony (Agrimonia eupatoria L.) was used in folk medicine as an all-purpose remedy, and for treating reheumatism, haemorrhoids, gastric disorders, and other illness. Ertel and Bauer recommend drinking a small cup of agrimony tea and honey three times a day, and using an agrimony infusion as a lotion. Agrimony tea and honey can be used in cases of chronic rheumatism, blood-spitting, serious indigestion, and inflammation of the pharynx. It is a most effective remedy for complaints of the liver and spleen, as it helps prevent diarrhoea (2) and weakness in the intenstines. It dissolves and rids the organism of kidney sand, and has a beneficial effect on cancerous tumours.
Aloes The resinous sap of aloe leaves (Aloe spp.) is frequently used for medical purposes. It is dark brown, has an distinctive, unpleasant smell, and a bitter taste. In folk medicine the juice of fresh aloe leaves was used, mixed with fat and honey in the following proportions, for pulmonary tuberculosis:
- Honey ................... 100
- Butter .................... 100
- Goose grease ........ 100
- Fresh aloe juice ....... 15
- Cocoa powder ........ 100
A tablespoon of the mixture is taken in a glass of warm milk twice a day (morning and evening).
Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa L.). The flowers are used in folk medicine as a mild laxative. Ertel and bauer consider that tea made from blackthorn flowers is invaluable for inflammation of the respiratory tract, clearing it of sputum.
Barnet saxifrage (Pimpinela saxifraga L.). A decoction of dsaxifrage in water, or in the form of an infusion (10 g of the root to 200 g of water) with honey is considered to be an extremely good expectorant, and also acts as an analeptic after illness. It is taken a tablespoon at a time, three to five times a day. Two glasses of a saxifrage tea with rosehips and honey are recommended to dispose of stones in the bladder; A. Raff considers this a real remedy for stones.
The Swiss specialist in medicinal herbs, I. Künzle recommended a tablespoon of powdered saxifrage root, mixed with honey, every four hours for children with diphtheria (in the 24th edition of his alamanac, 1945).
Coltsfoot leaves In folk medicine the fresh juice of coltsfoot leaves, or a brew (15 g of leaves to 200 g of water) with honey, was used as an expectrant. Several authors indicate that coltsfoot and honey preparations are very effective in several illnesses. Raff recommends cup of coltsfoot tea and honey once a day for pulmonary tuberculosis. Ertel and Bauer maintain that two cups a day of a tea prepared from the leaves and flowers of coltsfoot and lungwort. (pulmomonaria officinalis) with honey have a beneficial effect on the nervous system and gastro-intenstinal tract, and help ward off fatigue. The fresh juice of coltsfoot leaves with milk and honey can also be used for the same purpose.
Cowberry or red bilberry (Vaccinium vitis-idea L). The leaves of this evergreen underbush are used for medicinal purposes, and are extensively employed in folk medicine as a brew for treating kidney stones, rheumatism and gout. An infusion (20 g of leaves to a glass of water) or a tea made the honey retained approximately 50 per cent of its natural ascorbic acid and 60 to 90 per cent of that artificially added. This made use believe that it possesses stabilizing properties preventing oxidation of vitamin C. In addition, the physico-chemical properties of the honey have a very favourable effect.
We used ascorbic acid (vitamin C) in these experiments because it is the most unstable of the vitamins. It can be taken, not without justification, that other vitamins (B1, B2, PP,D, and A) also keep well when added to honey.
Multivitaminized honey and diabetics The Moscow doctor A. Davydov described in 1915 how he had used honey with success in treating diabetic. After giving eight patients honey he concluded that ‘honey can be very useful in treating sugar diabetes in many cases:
- As a tasty substance.
- As a nutritious addition to the diabetic diet since there is almost no desire, when it is taken, for other sweet things not permitted in the illness.
- As a means of preventing acetonaemia, for which sugar always has to be prescribed, so upsetting the diet.
- As a sugar that not only does not increase excretion of glucose but even greatly reduces it.
The combination of vitamins B1, PP, and C with laevulose (fructose) (of which honey contains 41 per cent) can have a beneficial effect on normalizing the conversion of carbohydrates in diabetics, since these vitamins are not only involved in their conversion but also lower the sugar level of the blood. Honey, moreover, has been found to contain hormone substances akin to insulin. It would therefore seem desireable for clinical tests to be made with a multivitaminized honey of special composition containing thiamine, ascorbic acid, and nicotinic acid in considerable doses. A honey of this kind would add variety to the diabetic diet.
Multivitaminized products for diabetics were made experimentally from honey on the writer’s initiative at the Marat Vitamin and Confectionery Factory in Moscow: multivitaminized honey, honey and blackcurrant paste, blackcurrant paste, honey and peanut butter, and honey and sesame halva (bennet butter). Samples of these products were tasted and judged by experts at the All-Union Vitamin Research Institute, given a positive evaluation, and recommended not only for diabetics but also for small children, schoolchildren, and patients with various ailments.
Multivitaminized honey and glutamic acid Glutamic acid was discovered by Liebig over a hundred years ago but has only comparatively recently begun to be used in medicine to treat certain disorders of the central nervous system. In view of its unpleasant taste and the fact that it often causes vomiting when taken by mouth, it is prescribed in a thick sugar syrup or with jam, preserves, or fructoglucose. In this respect honey has several advantages over other sweet substances in that it itself has curative properties.
Honey enriched with vitamins and glutamic acid can be of great value. Not only does the honey mask the unpleasant taste of riboflavin and glutamic acid, but it also stabilizes the activity of vitamin C. We recommend the following recipe for multivitaminized honey and glutamic acid:
- Bese Monofloral Honey ...... 100 g
- Glutamic Acid .................... 6 g
- Vitamin C ........................... 200 mg
- Vitamin B1 ......................... 4 mg
- Vitamin B2 ......................... 4 mg
- Vitamin PP (B5) ................ 20 mg
The amounts are based on accepted dosages of glutamic acid and the vitamin doses recommended by the Committee on Pharmacology of the USSR Ministry of Health.
Other Herbal and Honey Remedies
Elderberry and honey jam Sebastian Kneip (the well-known advocate of hydrotherapy) recommends a curative jam made of honey and elderberries for people leading a sedentary life. A spoonful of the jam in a glass of water makes a pleasant beverage that has a good effect on the stomach and kidneys.
Horseradish and honey, according to Raff, eases bronchial asthma. Equal parts of grated horseradish and honey are mixed, and a teaspoonful taken during the day and another when going to bed.
Herbal tea Raff recommends a tea made from lungwort, coltsfoot, althaea, and honey as a remedy for cough in illnesses affecting the respiratory tract. A tablespoon of the herbal mixture is teeped in a litre of boiling water for three or four hours. One or two glasses of the tea (or infusion) are drunk daily, with a teaspoon of honey.
Lemon juice and honey is a good remedy in cases of hypertension, insomnia, and nervous conditions. Dissolve a spoonful of top quality honey in a glass of mineral water and add the juice of half a lemon. The beverage is pleasant and nutritious. Bauer recommends lemon juice with honey and olive oil for complaints of the liver and gall bladder.
Linseed tea Ertel and Bauer recommend linseed tea with aniseed, fennel, and honey as an effective laxative. A teaspoonful of the mixture is boiled with 250 g of water for three or four minutes, using ground linseed, fennel, pharmaceutical dill, and good quality honey.
Tea with honey V.V.Pokhlebin gives a recipe for tea with honey and other ingredients that was widely used in folk medicine. Fairly strong, warm tea, taken with lemon, black pepper and honey is an effective diaphoretic for treating catarrahal illnesses of the respiratory tract, and a diuretic.
Tea contains no less than 120 to 130 chemical substances, Pokhlebin writes, including essential oils (0.02 per cent), tannin (15-30 per cent), albumin (16-25 per cent), alkaloids (1-4 per cent), vitamins B1, B2, PP, C, R, K, and provitamin A. Dr. D.F.MacLeadon (U.S.A.) contends that tea contains fluorine and can therefore be used as an effective means of averting tooth decay. But this property is lost when tea is drunk with sugar, which encourages caries. MacLeadon therefore strongly recommends sweetening tea with honey instead of sugar. Pokhlebin, too, concludes that tea should be drunk with honey.
Yarrow tea Raff maintains that a tea made by steeping 20 grams of yarrow in 500 of boiling water (and mixed with 50 g of honey after infusing) is very good for influenza. One coffee cup of the tea is drunk, three times, a day.
Old wife’s remedies A teaspoon of honey before bed is recommended for babies cutting teeth. It reduces the amount of phosphorus in the blood and so eases the pain.
A similar dose of honey prevents bed-wetting, as it causes dehydration and reduces the amount of calcium in the blood.
Two tablespoons of honey taken regularly instead of supper help in cases of insomnia. The honey (50 g) is best taken on rye or wholemeal bread an hour or hour and a half before going to bed. It has a soothing effect on the nerves and a beneficial effect on normal intestinal function.
