For literally thousands of years, people have been using raw honey as a natural treatment for a number of ailments and conditions.
That’s because it has several amazing health benefits, which range from antioxidant and antibacterial effects to wound healing, improving digestion, and providing essential vitamins and minerals.
What Is Raw Honey?
It’s important to make the distinction between regular honey and raw honey. Regular honey is pasteurized, while raw honey basically comes straight from the honeycomb. The process of pasteurization involves heating honey to high temperatures, which kills fungi and bacteria, but also removes many of the honey’s powerful nutrients.
Therefore, if you’re going to eat honey, I’d recommend choosing raw honey over pasteurized honey, provided that it comes from a trusted source.
Raw honey contains pollen and propolis whereas pasteurized honey does not. Along with some other components, it’s those pollen and propolis that give raw honey its potent benefits, which I’ll discuss below.
What Are the Health Benefits of Raw Honey?
1. Is a Source of Antioxidants
One of raw honey’s main health benefits come from its antioxidants. Raw honey contains several plant chemicals, particularly flavonoids and polyphenols, that have a powerful antioxidant effect.
These plant chemicals primarily come from the pollen and propolis in raw honey. Why are antioxidants so powerful? you may ask.
Well, put simply, antioxidants help fight unstable molecules in your body called free radicals. If they’re left to roam freely throughout your body, these free radicals can cause oxidative stress, damage your cells, and cause an array of chronic diseases, such as cancer and autoimmune diseases.
The antioxidants found in raw honey and other foods, such as berries, leafy greens, beans, and dark chocolate, have tremendous free radical-fighting benefits.
Additionally, it’s worth noting that the makeup of the antioxidant profile of raw honey varies depending on the flower(s) the bees got the nectar from, the season, and the general environment in which the bees live and the honey is produced.
2. Has Antimicrobial Properties
Raw honey is also well-known for its antimicrobial properties. Thanks to its glucose oxidase, hydrogen peroxide, and low pH level, it is a natural antibacterial and antifungal and can be used both internally and topically.
Note that pasteurization usually destroys the enzyme glucose oxidase, which significantly reduces the antimicrobial effects of regular honey. Again, opt for raw honey instead!
3. Has Anti-Inflammatory Effects
The flavonoids and polyphenols in raw honey are antioxidants that help lower inflammation in your body as well.
While acute inflammation can be good for your body—it helps you recover from injuries and workouts, and combats germs and viruses—chronic inflammation is most definitely not a good thing.
Chronic inflammation is often a result of eating too many refined sugars, ultra-processed foods, and an overall unhealthy lifestyle.
Natural anti-inflammatory foods, such as raw honey, on the other hand, may help you to prevent or reduce chronic inflammation, thus also lowering your risk of developing long-term issues like metabolic disorders, heart disease, and some cancers.
4. Contains Vitamins and Minerals
Just like the antioxidant content of raw honey varies depending on the flower(s), season, and environment, its vitamin and mineral composition does, too.
That said, though, all raw honey contains several essential vitamins and minerals (including a few important electrolytes), albeit in relatively small quantities. The main ones are:
- Niacin (vitamin B3)
- Pantothenic acid (vitamin B5),
- Riboflavin (vitamin B2)
- Calcium
- Magnesium
- Manganese
- Phosphorous
- Potassium
- Zinc
5. Helps Heal Wounds
Raw honey’s antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties make it a great natural wound healer. For countless centuries, it’s been used as a dressing to treat wounds and burns. In fact, it may just be the oldest wound treatment known to mankind.
The fact that raw honey is acidic and liquid may also promote the healing of wounds and burns. Additionally, it’s sometimes also used to treat acne.
Disclaimer: Before you use raw honey as a wound treatment, it’s important to speak with your doctor first.
6. Improves Digestive Health
Some research suggests that raw honey may also improve digestive issues, especially the symptoms of diarrhea.
This may be due to raw honey’s antibacterial properties—it may help protect against certain types of bacteria that cause digestive issues, such as diarrhea and stomach ulcers.
7. Provides Cough Relief
Honey is one of the oldest remedies for some common cold or flu symptoms, particularly sore throats and coughing. And even though it won’t actually cure the illness, raw honey can absolutely provide some symptom relief.
Add a tablespoon of honey to a glass of warm milk, or to herbal tea with lemon.
8. May Boost Brain Health
Although more research is needed, there is some evidence that suggests that raw honey may have brain health benefits. Once again, this is thanks to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, which may help fight inflammation in the hippocampus.
Reduced inflammation in the brain would provide direct downstream benefits, including improved memory function, lower risk of metabolic syndrome, less stress, and better mood.
How Much Raw Honey Should You Consume?
Remember that raw honey is still a form of sugar—it’s a natural liquid sugar made up of glucose and fructose. That said, studies show that raw honey has a lower plasma glucose response than refined sugars such as sucrose and dextrose.
Raw honey is an unprocessed sugar source that’s far superior to processed sugar, mainly because of its health benefits. (Pasteurized honey, on the other hand, is processed and because it lacks many of raw honey’s benefits, it’s undeniably inferior to it.)
It’s important to note that you shouldn’t go crazy with your honey consumption, simply because it’s still a form of sugar. Pouring a cup of honey over your morning pancakes every day is not a good idea.
You’ll get the biggest benefits from raw honey from consuming it in low doses. And by that I mean a dose that offers you raw honey’s benefits, while also not being so high that you’re just eating way too much sugar.
In terms of how much you can eat, I suggest having one tablespoon of raw honey a day, preferably with other foods that are rich in protein and fiber, which will lower your blood glucose spike even more.
Great and healthy examples are drizzling raw honey over your Greek yogurt and berries in the morning, adding some honey to your afternoon cup of tea, or having a warm glass of milk with honey in the evening.
I like to think about raw honey as a type of supplement. You shouldn’t go crazy with it, but just having a tablespoon a day gives you all the benefits raw honey has to offer without negatively affecting your overall nutrition goals.
Are There Any Risks to Eating Raw Honey?
If you’re not allergic to bee pollen or have immune system issues, raw honey is generally considered safe for you to use. You should remember, though, that raw honey is unpasteurized and there’s a tiny chance it may contain harmful bacteria. If you’re unsure, speak to your doctor.
IMPORTANT: Never feed honey, whether raw or regular, to children under the age of 1. Honey is not safe for infants due to the risk of botulism poisoning. Read more about botulism and prevention on the CDC website.
