Nutrients
Honey
Reviewed August 2026 · How we write these articles
Honey is a product produced by honey bees that are members of the family Apidea and the honey product is typically collected from bee hives after the bees have produced the honey. Honey is the sweet material which is produced by bees who pick-up sweet juices, enrich them by materials from their own bodies, change them in their bodies, store them in honeycombs and allow them to ripen in the honeycombs.
Honey formation
The bees reside as a family in a bee hive. The bee family consists of a queen bee whose sole purpose is to lay eggs for producing worker and drone bees. The sole purpose of the worker bee is to continuously produce honey which is an excretion that occurs after the bees have collected nectar from foliage. Honey is laid down by bees as a food source. In cold weather or when food sources are scarce, bees use their honey as their sole source of nutrition. By contriving the bee swarm to make its home in a hive, mankind has been able to domesticate the insects.
In the hive there are three types of bee: the single queen bee, up to 200 drone bees to fertilize her and some 20,000 to 80,000 worker bees. The worker bees raise larvae and collect the nectar that will become honey in the hive. They go out, collect the sugar-rich flower nectar and return to the hive. As they leave the flower, bees releases nasonov pheromones. These enable other bees to find their way to the site by smell. Honeybees also release nasonov pheromones at the entrance to the hive, which enables returning bees to return to the proper hive. In the hive the bees regurgitate the nectar a number of times until it is partially digested.
It is then stored in the honeycomb. Nectar is high in both water content and natural yeasts which, unchecked, would cause the sugars in the nectar to ferment. After the final regurgitation, the honeycomb is left unsealed - bees inside the hive "fan" their wings creating a strong draught across the honeycomb. This enhances evaporation of much of the water from the nectar. The reduction in water content, which raises the sugar concentration, prevents fermentation. Honey as removed from the hive by the beekeeper has a long shelf life and will not ferment.
Composition of honey
Natural honey is the sweet, aromatic, viscous syrup produced by the honeybee from the nectar of flowers. The color and flavor of honey is closely related to the flower from which it originates. Common flavors of honey include orange blossom honey, tupelo honey, buckwheat honey, clover honey, blackberry, and blueberry honey. In general, the darker the color of the honey, the stronger the flavor. About 25 floral types of honey are commercially important. These range in color from nearly water-white (sweet clover) to dark amber (aster-goldenrod) and in flavor from very mild (fireweed, clovers) to pronounced (buckwheat, tulip poplar).
The composition of the honey varies, depending on the origin of the type of honey. Honey is generally considered to be a highly concentrated solution of simple sugars having the following physical characteristics: high viscosity, stickiness, great sweetness, high density, hygroscopicity and relative immunity from spoilage. Honey has a very high content of glucose and fructose. Honey contains other significant amounts of vitamins, including vitamin C and trace amounts of iron, copper, manganese, calcium, potassium, sodium, phosphorus and magnesium.
It also offers high levels of hydrogen peroxide. Water content of honey is a most important characteristic. Typically, processed honey has a solids content of from about 77% to about 85% (wt). Within this range, the dextrose-water ratio of the honey is above about 1.7 and after a period of time, the honey will tend to granulate or crystallize.
Dietary used and health benefits
Honey is predominantly used for direct human consumption and additionally, for the production of pastry, such as, gingerbread, and of sweets and alcoholic beverages. The main uses of honey are in cooking, baking, spreading on bread or toast, and as an addition to various beverages such as tea. Honey is the main ingredient in the alcoholic beverages, mead, which is also known as "honey wine", and methelgin. The importance of honey as a food stuff, savory snack and a medicine is primarily based on its content of easily absorbable carbohydrates, aromatic substances which stimulate the appetite, and mineral components. Of the latter, calcium, magnesium, iron, manganese, phosphorous, silicon, copper and nickel are present in almost all types of honey.
In medicine, honey serves as a strengthening substance for convalescents because of its high nutritional value. Honey has an antibacterial and germ-reducing, i.e. a healing, grooming and protective effect. Honey is a natural antibacterial substance, making it quite useful in the treatment of wounds. In slowly healing wounds, honey acts as an anti-inflammatory agent. Honey also appears to promote rapid wound debridement, replacement of sloughs with granulation tissue and rapid epithelialization and absorption of oedema from around the margins. It contains hydrogen peroxide, which it releases slowly, killing any germs that are in the wound.
Peroxide stimulates white blood cells that initiate the body's immune response to infection. It contains other properties that help generate tissue, possibly vitamin C and amino acids. Honey is used in bronchial catarrh. The presence in honey of acetylcholine acts to lower the blood pressure, and has a stimulating effect on stomach and bowel activities. Acetylcholine is the neurotransmitter substance at cholinergic synapses, which causes cardiac inhibition, vasodilation, gastrointestinal peristalsis, and other parasympathetic effects. It is liberated from preganglionic and postganglionic endings of parasympathetic fibers and from preganglionic fibers of the sympathetic as a result of nerve injuries, whereupon it acts as a transmitter on the effector organ.
Its immediate effect on the heart is presumably based on the restoration of the heart muscle metabolism or a rebuilding of the energy reserves of the heart muscle. Furthermore, honey is used in the diet for liver conditions and particularly in chronic liver diseases.
Side effects and precautions
Honey is not always healthful. Because it is gathered from flowers in the wild, there are situations in which it may be toxic. Rhododendrons, Mountain Laurels and azaleas have nectar that is poisonous to humans though harmless to bees. The shape of the Azalea flower, however, makes access to nectar difficult for honeybees. And during the time at which Azaleas bloom, there are usually other flowers available which are more appealing to the honeybee. So lethal honey is rarely encountered.
Honey is the only food source thus far implicated in the pathogenesis of infant botulism. Approximately 15% of the infant botulism cases identified in the United States are associated with ingestion of honey. Since an infant's digestive juices are non-acidic, ingestion of honey creates an ideal medium for botulinum spores to grow and produce sufficient levels of toxins to cause infant botulism. For this reason, it is advised that neither honey, nor any other sweetener, be given to children under the age of 18 months.
Once a child is eating solid food, the digestive juices are acidic enough to prevent the growth of the spores. Infant botulism may also arise due to ingestion or inhalation of the C. botulinum spores from environmental exposure to dust or dirt. When ingested, toxin is formed within the gut of the infant after the germination and multiplication of the C. botulinum spores. Release of botulism toxin in adults and especially in infants and children can be fatal. Treatment of botulism in infants is merely supportive.
Bee pollen consists of plant pollens collected by worker bees combined with plant nectar and bee saliva. Pollen is the male seed of flowers required for fertilization of a plant. Pollen is produced in the microsporangium (anther of an angiosperm flower or male cone of a coniferous plant). Each pollen grain contains one or two generative cells (the male gametes) and a vegetative cell. The group of three cells is surrounded by a cellulose cell wall and a thick, tough outer wall made of sporopollenin.
There are two kinds of pollen. One is carried by the wind (anemophile), while the other (entomophile) must attach itself to insects coming into the flower. The entomophile pollen is heavier and different altogether from the other kind. Plants that produce this type of pollen are dependent on bees for their survival. These pollens are never airborne and are not responsible for seasonal allergies.
Honeybee pollen is rich in vitamins, proteins, enzymes and coenzymes, fatty acids, and carbohydrates that our bodies need. Bee pollen contains basic elements needed by the human body, including essential amino acids with 25% protein, 16 different vitamins, 11 enzymes, 14 fatty acids, 28 minerals and 11 different carbohydrates. It contains very small amounts of many substances considered to be antioxidants, including beta carotene, vitamins C and E, lycopene, selenium, and flavonoids.
Bee pollen is excellent for increasing strength, endurance, and energy. It helps to speed recovery after rigorous exercising and other forms of physical stress and maintain vigorous good health. Bee pollen may strengthen the immune system through its antioxidant properties. It helps muscles recover more quickly from exercise and to increase mental stamina.
Bee propolis is the resinous substance collected by bees from the leaf buds and bark of trees, especially poplar and conifer trees. It is present on the inner surface of beehive alveoli. Propolis is composed of a variety of primary plant-derived pollens, waxes, oils, resins, polyphenols, and flavonoids. It is used by bees as a glue or cement in their hives. They also enclose or encapsulate things that bother them such as menthol bags placed by the beekeeper inside the hive. It is sticky in warm weather and brittle in cold weather.
Since ancient times propolis has been used as a folk remedy in different areas of the world because of its potential antimicrobial and soothing and demulcent activities. Propolis has been found to exhibit a variety of pharmacological effects on the human body. Propolis which has been known as a natural antimicrobial substance or a health-improving substance is a composition containing secondary metabolites typified by flavonoids and phenols produced by phanerogams such as aspen and pine trees and collected by arthropods such as honeybees in wax and salivary juice which are produced by the arthropods.
Propolis extracts may be helpful in protecting against and shortening the duration of the common cold. The antimicrobial properties of propolis may also help protect against parasitic infections in the gastrointestinal tract.
Intact bee propolis contains a variety of trace ingredients in the form of a homogenous mixture with resins, beeswax, essential oils and pollens as predominant ingredients. Propolis has approximately 50 constituents, primarily resins and vegetable balsams (50%), waxes (30%), essential oils (10%), and pollen (5%). Propolis is used by music instrument makers to better show the wood grain. It is a component of Italian varnish and was reportedly used by Stradivari.
Intact propolis is not useful in food products because it generally contains large amounts of contaminants and is barely soluble in water. Thus, propolis is generally used as a propolis extract in the form of liquid (propolis tincture) which is prepared by extracting a crude propolis specimen with a relatively-high concentration solution of a readily water-soluble organic solvent such as ethanol.
Royal jelly is a product of the processing of various plant materials within the salivary glands of the worker honeybees. It is a viscous substance with milk-white or pale yellowish color, which is given to honey bee larvae and a queen bee and has been known from old times as efficacious one of perpetual youth and longevity, nourishment, robustness and so on.
The worker bees generate, between their 9th and 15th days of life, a milk-like protein-rich feed juice (royal jelly) in their hypopharyngal glands and especially in the middle mandibular gland. Royal jelly is a natural product produced by bees in a hive to feed larvae and queen bees. It protects the queen from infection and gives her a life span of 50 times that of normal bees. It also endows her with enormous reproductive capacity; up to two million offspring from the initial fertilization.
Royal jelly is an emulsion of proteins, sugars and lipids in a water base, and is synthesised by the bee from pollen. People collect royal jelly for a dietary supplement. Royal jelly contains all of the B vitamins, including high concentrations of pantothenic acid (vitamin B5) and pyridoxine (vitamin B6). It is the only natural source of pure acetylcholine. Acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter in the brain, which helps to regulate memory, and in the peripheral nervous system, where it affects the actions of skeletal and smooth muscle.
Decreased levels of acetylcholine are part of the pathology of Alzheimer's disease. Royal jelly also contains minerals, enzymes, hormones, eighteen amino acids, antibacterial and antibiotic components, and vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin D and vitamin E.
Royal jelly is known to have interesting therapeutic effects on vertebrates, particularly in mammals and humans. Applied topically it's said to help improve skin's elasticity and minimizes wrinkles nourishing the skin and erasing facial blemishes. It may protect from infections caused by gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. It is capable of stimulating the adrenal glands to produce a positive reaction on increased metabolism, enhanced energy, greater sexual capability and appetite.
The royal jelly as commodities is classified into raw royal jelly, dried royal jelly (which is lyophilized product of the raw royal jelly), and preparative royal jelly. The royal jelly develops its most superior efficacy when it is ingotten in raw state, but the single intake of raw royal jelly gives a somewhat burden to the person, since the royal jelly has an inherent styptic taste stimulating a tongue. The royal jelly is one of natural products with delicate properties and troublesome handling is required as requiring refrigeration or freezing to keep its freshness. Therefore, the royal jelly has widely marketed as the preparative royal jelly, in which honey, lactose or the like sweetener is generally added.