what is the medicinal importance of honey?

Answer 1

I Think it's Chief Property is as an Inhibitor of the Growth of Bacteria, WRT this, the Mechanism is Primarily Osmotic.

Answer 2

Clostridium botulinum (botulism) can grow in it very well. Normally, C. botulinum, when in food that is cooked, dies off and produces the botulism toxin (ie. BoTox)...so most clinical disease for botulism is an "intoxication" of a heat stable bacterially produced toxin, not an "infection" with the bacteria. HOWEVER, in honey, since we don't usually cook it, the bacteria can actually cause an infection in infants or immunocompromised people (...why you should never feed it to infants!) For the vast majority of us, the bacteria just dies in the digestive process and causes no problems. Medical pluses seem to have been covered pretty well by others...this is about the only negative I can come up with.

Answer 3

Medicinal uses and health effects of honey

For at least 2700 years, honey has been used to treat a variety of ailments through topical application, though it was not until modern times that the cause of infection was understood. Now, it is understood that the folk remedy of using honey to treat wounds has a scientific explanation: it acts as an antiseptic/antibacterial agent. As an antimicrobial agent honey has potential for treating a variety of ailments, including MRSA.[25] Antibacterial properties of honey are the result of the low water activity causing osmosis, hydrogen peroxide effect,[26] and high acidity.[27]

[edit] Osmotic effect

Honey is primarily a saturated mixture of two monosaccharides. This mixture has a low water activity; most of the water molecules are associated with the sugars and few remain available for microorganisms, so it is a poor environment for their growth.

[edit] Hydrogen peroxide

Hydrogen peroxide in honey is activated by dilution. However, unlike medical hydrogen peroxide, commonly 3% by volume, it is present in a concentration of only 1 mmol/l in honey. Iron in honey oxidizes the oxygen free radicals released by the hydrogen peroxide.

glucose + H2O + O2 → gluconic acid + H2O2

When used topically (as, for example, a wound dressing), hydrogen peroxide is produced by dilution with body fluids. As a result, hydrogen peroxide is released slowly and acts as an antiseptic. Unlike 3% medical hydrogen peroxide, this slow release does not cause damage to surrounding tissue.

[edit] Acidity

The pH of honey is commonly between 3.2 and 4.5.[28] This relatively acidic pH level prevents the growth of many bacteria.

[edit] Nutraceutical effects

According to recent findings, honey may have some significant nutraceutical effects (or positive long-term health effects resulting from honey's consumption). In addition to its primary carbohydrate content, honey often contains polyphenols, which can act as antioxidants.[29] As a nutritional element, antioxidants prevent oxidative stress to cells throughout the body; however, the nutritional significance of antioxidation remains in dispute. Antioxidants in honey have even been implicated in reducing the damage done to the colon in colitis.[30] Furthermore, some studies suggest that honey may be effective in increasing the populations of probiotic bacteria in the gut, which may help strengthen the immune system, improve digestion, lower cholesterol and prevent colon cancer.[31]

Such claims are consistent with its use in many traditions of folk medicine.[32]

[edit] Other medical applications

Some studies suggest that the use of honey may reduce odors, swelling, and scarring; it may also prevent the dressing from sticking to the healing wound.[33]

Some claim that one drop of honey directly on the eye can treat mild forms of conjunctivitis.[34][35][36]

Due to its antiseptic properties, honey (especially when combined with lemon) can be taken orally by Pharyngitis and Laryngitis sufferers, in order to soothe them.[citation needed]

Though widely believed to alleviate allergies, local honey has been shown to be no more effective than placebos in controlled studies.[37] This may be due to the fact that most seasonal allergies are caused by tree and grass pollens, which honeybees do not collect.

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also has viagra like effects ;) but this hasn't been scientifically proven .. although the villagers of central asia will say otherwise ;)

Answer 4

>>Honey is said to improve food assimilation and to be useful for chronic and infective intestinal problems such as constipation, duodenal ulcers and liver disturbances. They have reported successful treatment of various gastrointestinal disorders.
>>In temperate climates and places with considerable temperature fluctuations, honey is a well-known remedy for colds and mouth, throat or bronchial irritations and infections. The benefits, apart from antibacterial effects, are assumed to relate to the soothing and relaxing effect of fructose.
>>is used in moisturizing and nourishing cosmetic creams, but also in pharmaceutical preparations applied directly on open wounds, sores, bedsores, ulcers, varicose ulcers and burns. It helps against infections, promotes tissue regeneration, and reduces scarring also in its pure, unprocessed form. If applied immediately, honey reduces blistering of burns and speeds regeneration of new tissue. A cream, applied three times per day and prepared from equal parts of honey, rye flour and olive oil, has been successfully used on many sores and open wounds -even gangrenous wounds in horses. They successfully tested a honey and cod liver oil mixture suspended in a simple non-reactive cream base on open wounds in humans, but he gave no details on proportions.
>>Clinical cases or traditional claims that honey reduces and cures eye cataracts, cures conjunctivitis and various afflictions of the cornea if applied directly into the eye. There are also case histories of ceratitis rosacea and corneal ulcers, healed with pure honey or a 3 % sulphidine ointment in which Vaseline was replaced by honey.
>>Honey is good for diabetics. A study revealed that insulin levels were lower when compared to the uptake of equal caloric values of other foods, but blood sugar level was equal or higher than in the other compared products shortly after eating. In healthy individuals, the consumption of honey produced lower blood sugar readings than the consumption of the same quantity of sucrose.
>>Honey is said to normalize kidney function, reduce fevers and help insomnia. It is also supposed to help recovery from alcohol intoxication and protect the liver; effects also ascribed to fructose syrups. Heart, circulation and liver ailments and convalescent patients in general improved after injection with solutions of 20 and 40% honey in water.
>>Topical applications under controlled conditions have shown accelerated wound healing in animals and of experimental burn wounds in rats but also of various types of wounds, including post-operative ones in humans. The simultaneous stimulation of tissue regeneration by honey reduces scarring and healing times. In many tropical field hospitals, where antibiotics and other medicines are scarce, honey has been employed successfully for a long time.
>>honey solutions (diluted honey) with the right pH,has antibacterial activity due to the presence of hydrogen peroxide.
>>Honey is also used as a base in some honey-based preparations.

Answer 5

It never goes bad