National Honey Month, initiated by the National Honey Board in 1989, marks an important time for honey producers and beekeepers across the nation. In the United States, honey collection season typically concludes in September as bees begin to secure their hives and prepare for winter.
Honey has a myriad of health benefits. While it contains mostly sugar, honey also has a mix of amino acids, vitamins, minerals, iron, zinc and antioxidants. In addition to its use as a natural sweetener, honey is used as an anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antibacterial agent. People commonly use honey orally to treat coughs and topically to treat burns and promote wound healing.
According to The Mayo Clinic, research on honey for specific conditions includes:
- Cardiovascular disease. Antioxidants in honey might be associated with reduced risk of heart disease.
- Cough. Studies suggest that eucalyptus honey, citrus honey and labiatae honey can act as a reliable cough suppressant for some people with upper respiratory infections and acute nighttime cough.
- Gastrointestinal disease. Evidence suggests honey might help relieve gastrointestinal tract conditions such as diarrhea associated with gastroenteritis. Honey might also be effective as part of oral rehydration therapy.
- Neurological disease. Studies suggest that honey might offer antidepressant, anticonvulsant and anti-anxiety benefits. In some studies, honey has been shown to help prevent memory disorders.
- Wound care. Topical use of medical-grade honey has been shown to promote wound healing, particularly in burns.
Results might vary because there are no standardized methods for producing honey or verifying its quality.
In the spirit of celebration for National Honey month, here are a few fun, crazy facts you may not have known about bees, beekeeping, and honey, from the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture.
- There are nearly 20,000 known species of bees throughout the world; 4,000 of which are native to the United States (USDA, Bee Basics: An Introduction to Our Native Bees).
- A single worker honeybee produces approximately 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime. That means around 22,700 bees are needed to fill a single jar of honey! (National Honey Board, Honey Trivia).
- In 2012, archaeologists discovered “the world’s oldest honey“! It was found in ceramic jars in Georgia, the country – not the state, and is estimated by scientists to be about 5,500 years old!
- Although Utah’s official state emblem features a beehive and enjoys the nickname “The Beehive State”, the 2016 top 10 honey-producing states include North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, California, Florida, Texas, Minnesota, Michigan, Louisiana, and Georgia.
- Honey comes in a variety of colors and flavors – including blue or purple! States located in the southeastern region of the United States are known to produce purple honey. Purple honey is an incredibly rare harvest – some beekeepers go their entire lives without ever encountering it. There are many different hypotheses on how purple honey gets its color, but scientists still cannot reach an agreement on the cause (April Aldrich, A History of Honey in Georgia and the Carolinas).
—
Photo Credit: Good Job / Shutterstock.com