HONEY – NATURAL vs. COMMERCIAL

 

 You must have seen Baba Ramdev selling his Patanjali honey on the television screen “Koi brand honey nahin banata….” It is a war out there. Every company whether it is Dabur or Zandu or Hitkari or Beez or Apis Himalaya or 24 Mantra are trying to sell us Multiflora Honey, Eucalyptus Honey, Ajwain Honey, Sidr Honey, you name it. The Indian honey market reached a value of about INR 17.29 billion in 2020. The market is further expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 10% between 2021 and 2026 to reach a value of nearly INR 30.6 billion by 2026. According to the research study, the global Honey Market was estimated at USD 8,050 Million in 2019 and is expected to reach USD 10,840 Million by 2026. The global Honey Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.8% from 2019 to 2026! Approximately 1.8 million tons of honey was produced in 2016, and more than 25% of this global total was produced by China.

 

Bee farming

The Central African Republic consumes the most honey 9.62 grams/capita followed by New Zealand, Slovenia, Greece, Switzerlan, Austria and Turkey. Honey, alongside beeswax and royal jelly, is one of the main items produced by bees. Beekeeping has been one of the oldest activities in India. This makes it one of the leading honey markets in the world which has created an intense competition in terms of innovation and cost. Additionally, the demand for honey in India is augmenting on account of the growing consumer preference for natural and healthy alternatives of artificial sweeteners, rising awareness regarding the benefits of honey and increasing popularity of various honey flavors. In addition, owing to its proven anti-bacterial, anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory properties, honey is projected to gain a momentum in both the food and non-food applications across the country.

 

History

Scientists believe that bees have been making honey for close to 40 million years. The earliest record of human consumption of honey dates back to a cave painting in Valencia, Spain, that was painted more than 60,000 years ago. Several cave paintings in Cuevas de la Araña in Spain depict humans foraging for honey at least 8,000 years ago. Large-scale meliponiculture has been practiced by the Mayans since pre-Columbian times. Ancient civilizations valued honey chiefly for its sweet taste, and it was widely used as a trading commodity. Written history of honey dates back to 2100 B.C. where it was mentioned in Sumerian and Babylonian cuneiform writings, the Hittite code, and the sacred writings of India and Egypt. Its name comes from the English hunig, and it was the first and most widespread sweetener used by man.

 

Benefits and uses

Honey is healthier than any synthetic sweetener and refined sugar, because it contains plant chemicals and antioxidants that protect the body from disease and premature aging. Diverse range of honey products currently available in India which find applications in the food and beverage, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. Scientific validation of the medicinal utilization of honey and its growing value as a premium ingredient in nutraceuticals are also acting as strong market drivers.

Honey has antioxidants that reduced risk of heart attacks, strokes and some types of cancer as well. It is also used in vaginal candidiasis because of its anti bacterial and anti-fungal properties. The phytonutrients in honey are responsible for its antioxidant properties, as well as its antibacterial and antifungal power. They’re also thought to be the reason raw honey has shown immune-boosting and anticancer benefits. In Ayurveda it has a proud place in wound healing and topical honey treatment has been used to heal wounds and burns since ancient Egypt and is still common even today. It has remained a grandmother’s remedy for sore throat since time immemorial and has proven to be effective as a treatment for Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) bacteria, though, a common cause of stomach ulcers.

But is the "innocent" honey we buy without hesitation in the supermarket really the most natural and healthy product for us?

 

What is "regular" or commercial honey?

This is what is available in food chains and department stores. You feel relaxed because the product is marked as containing 100% honey without additives. But the truth is that there are many things you aren’t aware of about the process that honey goes through from the moment it’s drawn from the hive. In this same process, which usually begins after the bees have finished storing the nectar and processing it in the hive’s honeycombs, the honey is extracted by centrifugation and decantation which separates it from the bee wax as the latter floats up. Then it is processed and filtered in a way that changes its composition. The honey is pasteurized, which means that it is heated to a high temperature to eliminate the yeast in it, which allows for a longer shelf life and smoother texture. In addition, the honey undergoes advanced filtering processes designed to remove debris and air bubbles, so that the honey that reaches consumers will look clearer, transparent and attractive. These commercial and advanced screening processes have been revealed in various studies as potentially reducing the presence of healthy nutrients in honey, such as pollen, enzymes, and antioxidants.

Manual centrifugation, decantation and filtration process 

In addition, there are manufacturers that operate without supervision and add sugar and other sweeteners at this stage, in order to increase the profitability of its sale. Along with them, there are manufacturers that pass the honey through an even more complex process called ultra-filtration, which also damages the nutrients in it. Although honey may reduce the risk of heart disease resulting from high blood pressure and cholesterol [1], help heal wounds and treat a cough, there is a high probability that these benefits are not as significant in regular honey as in a product called raw honey, which contains a higher amount of antioxidants, enzymes, and nutrients that are responsible for the same health benefits as noted above.

 

What is raw honey?

Raw honey is honey as it is held in the beehive. In other words, it is honey that, during the extraction process, is filtered through a cloth or nylon net to remove residues such as beeswax and dead bees, and then goes directly to packaging and selling. This means that raw honey does not undergo the heating, pasteurization and filtration processes used in industrial processing. Some of the benefits of raw honey are that it contains 2 amino acids, 31 different minerals and a variety of vitamins and enzymes needed by the body, but it should be noted that these advantages are relatively negligible because the amount of these nutrients is minimal in honey. The most significant thing in raw honey is the high content of its bioactive plant compounds, which have not been affected by industrial processing. These compounds are called polyphenols and they act as antioxidants, and have been shown to be anti-inflammatory and reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer[2]. In raw honey, there are, of course, no added sweeteners. Due to the fact that the raw honey does not undergo processing that makes it more smooth, raw honey becomes more rigid, crystallized and granular, which is also a good way to identify it. Additionally, organic honey cannot be heated and therefore, some organic honey is also considered raw. 

A natural bee hive in our farm

 

According to a study comparing the number of antioxidants in regular honey and in raw honey, it was found that raw honey has 4.3 times more antioxidants than regular honey [3]. Further research has found that raw honey and honey with minimal processing, with an emphasis on minimal, have similar amounts of minerals and antioxidants, but raw honey has a higher number of enzymes.

Pollen content: Another essential difference between ordinary honey and raw honey is its pollen content. Bees pass from flower to flower and collect nectar and pollen that are taken back into the hive and reach the honeycomb - which is supposed to be the bee's own source of food. The pollen contains over 250 different nutrients, including amino acids, vitamins, essential fatty acids, and antioxidants [4]. Pollen helps the body fight inflammation, improve liver function and reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke. The substance was considered so nutritious that the Federal Health Ministry recognized pollen as a medicine. Unfortunately, honey processing such as heating and ultra-filtration can reduce the presence of pollen in honey, making it little more than a natural sweetener. In an unofficial study of 60 samples of commercial honey, two-thirds of them did not contain pollen.

Glucose oxidase content: Another important ingredient in honey is an enzyme called Glucose oxidase, which helps in the production of molecules that give honey its antibacterial properties, but this enzyme is also vulnerable to honey processes such as industrial filtration and heating[5].

 

Complications associated with Honey

As is well known, it is forbidden to give honey to any infants under the age of two for fear of exposure to the toxin secreted from the Clostridium botulinum that may be found in honey, and to some extent the ban also holds for pregnant women. The risk of bacteria is present in both normal and raw honey, and therefore it is important that the populations at risk avoid consuming it. If you experience side effects such as nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea after consuming honey, although rare, you should report them to your doctor immediately.

 

Where can you find raw honey?

The unfiltered and unheated honey which is also organic and chemical-free is abundantly available in the villages both in the orchards as well as in the village markets. It's a good idea to take advantage of a day off or a weekend getaway and take a trip to a village where honey is extracted from hives of commercial bee keepers or farmers, just to make sure you're getting the very best. Buy honey from the village haats and encourage our beekeeping farmers.

Pure natural honey

References

 

1. E A Alagwu , J E Okwara, R O Nneli, E E Osim : Effect of honey intake on serum cholesterol, triglycerides and lipoprotein levels in albino rats and potential benefits on risks of coronary heart disease; Niger J Physiol Sci. 2011 Dec 20;26(2):161-5.
2.   Yue Zhou , Jie Zheng , Ya Li , Dong-Ping Xu , Sha Li , Yu-Ming Chen , Hua-Bin Li: Natural Polyphenols for Prevention and Treatment of Cancer; Nutrients 2016 Aug 22;8(8):515.
3.  Manuela Blasa, Manila Candiracci, Augusto Accorsi, Maria Piera Piacentini, Maria Cristina Albertini, Elena Piatti: Raw Millefiori honey is packed full of antioxidants; Food Chemistry, Volume 97, Issue 2, Pages 217-222, 2006.
4. Katarzyna Komosinska-Vassev , Pawel Olczyk, Justyna Kaźmierczak, Lukasz Mencner, Krystyna Olczyk: Bee pollen: chemical composition and therapeutic application: Evid Based Complement Alternat Med . 2015;2015:297425.
5.  https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/11/tests-show-most-store-honey-isnt-honey/#.WnbBQqiWbie