In many ways, we follow the power of habit. Even the diet is largely a habit. For centuries, bees have amazed us with their "wisdom" in the choice of the most valuable substances that make up the nectar and pollen that they collect by flying out on bribes.
Honey can fill in any gap in daily nutrition. People who are aware of the nutritional value of honey are more likely to consume it regularly than those who have a rather vague idea of it. A doctor who is familiar with all the properties of honey usually tries to prescribe it to patients who need to change their diet in some way.
The bactericidal properties of honey, i.e. the fact that honey is a medium in which bacteria cannot exist because of its potassium content, have been proven in practice. Potassium removes moisture from the bacteria, without which their existence is impossible.
At the Colorado Agricultural College, Dr. SCETTT, a bacteriologist, studied the bactericidal properties of honey. To tell the truth, he did not believe that honey could destroy pathogenic bacteria. In his lab, he placed various pathogens in pure honey. The results were amazing. Within hours, or at least a few days later, all the pathogens died. The cause of typhoid fever died after 48 hours. Other typhoid-like microbes, called A and B, died within 24 hours. Movable microbes found in the intestines and water, similar to the typhus bacilli died after 5 hours. Microbes causing chronic bronchopneumonia died on the fourth day. Honey also killed specific bacteria that cause several diseases, such as peritonitis, pleurisy and purulent abscess. Dysentery germs died after 10 hours. Such information can be found in Bulletin No. 252 published by the experimental station where Dr. SCETTT conducted his experiments. His findings were also confirmed by other researchers. For example, Dr. STERTEVANT, Bacteriologist in the Entomology Department of Washington, D.C.; Dr. Lockheed, Bacteriology Officer in Ottawa, Canada; and many others.
The benefits of honey have been known since the land was inhabited by primitive people. Once they discovered a nest of bees and tried golden nectar, they began to systematically hunt nests of bees and collect honey.
For centuries, honey produced by bees from flower nectar was the only sweet product available to humans. In recent years, there have been many substitutes for honey used to feed people in the form of sugar derived from processing. But until now, honey is the only sweet product that has several valuable properties like no other.
Honey is of particular interest from satisfying human needs for essential minerals. This is very important because most of us understand that the average diet is characterized by a lack of minerals necessary for the body. We are accustomed to very many products that have partially lost their natural mineral composition in the process of production and thus have lost some of their value. Therefore, it is very important to know what kind of minerals are missing in the food we consume and how to fill this gap.
Honey contains iron, copper, manganese, silicon dioxide, chlorine, calcium, potassium, sodium, phosphorus, aluminum, and magnesium. Ultimately, all these elements are fed into the honey from the soil on which the plants grow, and through the plants into the nectar, which is the main substance used by bees to produce honey. The composition of honey should vary according to the level of mineral reserves in the soil.
For some years, the mineral composition of honey has not been taken into account, as it has been assumed that very few minerals are contained in honey. It is now known, however, that many minerals are required by the human body in very small quantities to maintain the mineral balance. Honey contains an appropriate amount of minerals necessary to meet the needs of a normal human body. Professor X.A. SHUIT of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin said about the content of minerals in honey: "Of the vital mineral elements, copper, iron, and manganese seem to be contained in more in dark honey than in light honey. In terms of nutritional value, iron is of great importance because of the hemoglobin content in the blood. Hemoglobin is formed based on nutrients supplied by food. It carries the oxygen required by the body's tissues. Only because of its iron content does hemoglobin have the ability to retain oxygen.
One of the most important values of honey is its therapeutic properties.