Golden highlights
- Honey is far more than amber sweetness – it’s an ancient medicine (dating back to 2000 BC) validated by modern research. Honey is a nutrient, drug and an ointment.
- Produced by the honey bee (Apis mellifera), honey is a unique mix of sugars, enzymes, vitamins, minerals, proteins and plant compounds. It has proven antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, wound-healing and immune-boosting effects.
- It soothes coughs, supports brain and metabolic health, and can ease side effects of cancer treatments.
- Different honeys bring different strengths: Manuka for antimicrobial action (against around 60 species of bacteria), thyme and buckwheat for coughs, stingless bee honey for neuroprotection.
- Raw, unprocessed honey usually carries more of these benefits than processed varieties.
Folklore – Honeymoon
The word honeymoon is said to have appeared in English in the 1500s as a metaphor describing the first month of marriage – a time thought to be as sweet as honey, but, like the moon, destined to wax and wane.
Later traditions have given the word an even richer honey connection. In parts of Europe, newlyweds were encouraged to drink mead – a fermented honey wine – for a full lunar month after their wedding. Mead was thought to bring fertility, joy, and good fortune, and this custom may have helped honey stick in the idea of a honeymoon.
More than just sweetness
Honey is about 20% water and 70% sugars. The sugar is mostly fructose and glucose, but also a smaller amount (2g/100g) of trehalose (2 glucose molecules together). Trehalose may sound like a minor player, but it’s a vital energy source for bees to regulate sustained flight and protects their cells against stress. Remarkably, research now links trehalose with human health too — including autophagy (cellular clean-up), metabolism controlling, inflammation, aging, neuroprotection, and potentially anticancer activity.
Beyond the sugar, this still leaves about 10% of honey being a complex mix of enzymes, amino acids, vitamins (A and C), minerals (like copper, manganese, selenium, and zinc), and phytochemicals like flavonoids, phenolic acids, and aromatic compounds. This is the “active” fraction, and it varies depending on the flowers, region, season, type of bees, and even how the honey is processed and stored. This shapes honey’s colour, aroma, flavour — and its medicinal effects.
Antimicrobial action
Unheated honey has antimicrobial action against pathogenic bacteria including Helicobacter pylori, and some antibiotic-resistant bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and food spoilage bacteria. Honey’s antiviral and antifungal actions have been studied less – but it’s shown active against candida and a number of virus types including rubella, HIV (decreasing patient viral load), herpes viruses, and is being investigated against coronaviruses.
These effects are thought to come not only from its acidity and high sugar content but also from natural compounds like hydrogen peroxide, methylglyoxal (from glucose metabolism), and plant-derived essential oil compounds gathered by the bees from aromatic herbs — for example, thymol from thyme is a strong antimicrobial and is used in mouthwashes and disinfectants.
Wound healing
Controlled clinical studies confirm honey’s role in speeding wound healing, especially in diabetic ulcers and abscesses, particularly where conventional modern therapeutic agents fail. It keeps wounds moist, reduces inflammation and infections, and forms a protective barrier against infection. Honey has also been shown to:
• Help the body clear away damaged tissue
• Deodorise malodorous wounds
• Stimulate non-healing wounds
Burns
Honey is used in some burn units, where a dressing accelerates wound healing. But a combination of honey-milk is shown in research to have the greatest effects. A combination of honey with Aloe vera and drops of lavender essential oil are also effective for soothing first and second-degree burns (though not for use deep burns). Honey has also proved helpful for oral mucositis in cancer patients undergoing radiation.
Anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects
Honey is rich in phenolic compounds, which protect the body from oxidative stress – a driver of aging and chronic disease. Clinical studies show honey increases antioxidant activity in the blood, strengthening the body’s natural defences.
Soothing coughs
Controlled trials comparing honey to common cough medicines (containing for example diphenhydramine) have shown it to be more effective in easing night-time cough in children with respiratory infections, improving both their sleep and their parents’. Not only does honey outperform standard treatments for coughs and colds in a review of 12 clinical trials in people of all ages, people recovered one to two days faster when taking honey. Honey has also been shown to ease pain after tonsillectomy and to improve oral health measures in stroke patients.
Sleep
A mixture of milk and honey is a traditional occasional bedtime drink and research has now shown for example, that when given to coronary patients it improves their sleep quality compared to the control group.
Effects on blood sugar and metabolism
Despite being sweet, honey behaves differently from ordinary sugar. Meta-analysis studies show raw and clover honey can lower fasting glucose, cholesterol, and triglycerides. Its glycaemic index (GI) is generally lower than sucrose, though it varies by variety (e.g., Acacia honey has a lower GI than Tupelo honey).
In both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, honey causes a lower blood-sugar rise than sucrose, though more research is needed to understand long-term effects. In addition, honey may also stimulate diseased beta cells in the pancreas — a key future therapeutic in diabetes.
Metabolic syndrome
Metabolic syndrome – a cluster of risk factors that raise the risk of heart disease and diabetes – may also benefit from honey. Research shows it can:
• Lower blood sugar compared to sugar
• Support healthy weight
• Improve cholesterol balance (lower LDL and triglycerides, raise HDL)
• Enhance insulin sensitivity
• Protect blood vessels through its antioxidant properties
Cancer support
Honey may also help with complications of cancer treatment. Studies show it reduces mouth pain and inflammation and soreness of the digestive tract (mucositis), and it can improve white blood cell counts in patients with low neutrophils (neutropenia) when used as a supplement.
Hay-fever support?
Some people advocate eating local honey to ease hay-fever (pollen) allergies. This idea is similar to incremental allergen exposure therapy, where the body is gradually introduced to small amounts of an allergen to build tolerance over time. (This method of medical therapy does show high success rates when carried out consistently over several years).
Scientific studies confirming the same effect for honey haven’t yet been completed, so the evidence remains anecdotal. Still, many suggest taking a spoonful of local honey daily from mid-February or early spring (well before your hay-fever symptoms usually begin). At the very least, it will help soothe symptoms through its natural healing properties – the science-backed effects to help ease allergy symptoms include:
- Anti-inflammatory effects – helping reduce swelling and irritation in airways and sinuses, easing congestion and discomfort.
- Antioxidant effects – rich in flavonoids and phenolic compounds, honey combats oxidative stress—a key player in allergic reactions.
- Antimicrobial action – it can help prevent and soothe secondary infections (like those arising from prolonged congestion), thanks to its antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal properties.
- Mucosal soothing – honey coats the throat, relieving irritation, dryness, and cough.
- Immune-modulating properties – emerging research shows that certain honey components can down-regulate major inflammatory pathways (like pro-inflammatory cytokines).
So while honey is not yet scientifically supported in allergy treatment, its scientifically supported to be anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antimicrobial, soothing, and immune-regulating, making it a helpful addition for managing allergy symptoms. In addition, it is possible that giving local honey regularly to children (over the age of 12 months), would boost pollen exposure in our increasingly urban lives, and therefore decrease hay-fever.
Alcohol metabolism – prevent drunkedness!
Honey has been shown to clinically reduce blood alcohol concentration and reduce intoxication time. In one study, freshly harvested Nigerian citrus honey reduced both the intensity and duration of alcohol intoxication when taken with alcohol. Its been shown to enhance the activity of the enzyme that breaks down alcohol (alcohol dehydrogenase). Different honeys have different efficacy, and studies are ongoing but fructose content and the phenolics in honey play a part.
Immune booster
Honey has been shown a natural immune modulator. Research shows it can stimulate the immune system by enhancing lymphocytes, boosting phagocytic (pathogen and cell debris engulfing) activity, and regulating the release of key pro-inflammatory cytokines (including tumor necrosis factor and interleukins). At the same time, honey also demonstrates anti-inflammatory effects, suppressing the over-expression of these same cytokines when inflammation is excessive.
This dual action—both stimulating and calming the immune response—has been linked to honey’s strong antioxidant capacity, derived largely from its rich content of phenolic compounds. By reducing oxidative stress, honey helps maintain immune balance and protect tissues from damage. Supporting this, a randomized controlled trial found that honey consumption lowered oxidative stress and reduced lymphocyte DNA damage following exercise, effects attributed to its high antioxidant potential.
Neuroprotection
Widely studied for its neuroprotective effects and potential to help stay neurodegeneration, various honeys show antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anticholinesterase (increasing our memory and awareness signal acetylcholine) actions. Neuroprotective effects are linked to polyphenol content, with quercetin and gallic acid being the most prominent.
Does the type of honey matter?
Yes. Not all honeys are equal.
• Manuka honey: effective against infections, though not as strong in cancer-related benefits.
• Thyme and buckwheat honey: strong antimicrobial and cough-soothing properties.
• Thyme honey and raw tropical stingless bee honey: particularly rich in phenolics, with neuroprotective effects.
In general, raw, unprocessed honey tends to preserve more beneficial compounds – and usually have a lower GI – than processed honey.
Bee thankful
As the physic garden team put the physic bee’s honey into pots, we’re reminded that every drop is both food, preventative medicine and medicine (just like the medicinal plants the nectar is gathered from). Honeys healing powers, as old as human history, are now reaffirmed by modern science. Whether drizzled on warm bread, stirred into tea or milk, or used with care in healing, honey is a golden thread connecting nature, wellbeing, and tradition.
Want to be a bee keeper?
Find out more here – make your own amber nectar and help support bees, biodiversity and your health.
Cautions
- Do not give honey to infants under 12 months because of the risk of botulism
- Use with caution in diabetes
- Some advice limiting honey in gout, though moderate amounts of pure raw honey may be acceptable.
- New research verifies a traditional Ayurvedic warning, showing that if taken regularly and long-term, a honey and ghee (butter-fat) combination may actually be harmful to health. Recent research shows that this combination long-term may produces an oxidative stress-mediated toxicity, inflammation, causing for example weight and hair loss and affect the skin.
Sample References
Molan, P.C. (2001). The potential of honey to promote oral wellness. General Dentistry, 49(6), 584-589.
Jull, A.B., Cullum, N., & Dumville, J.C. (2015). Honey as a topical treatment for wounds. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (3), CD005083.
Aljadi, A.M., & Kamaruddin, M.Y. (2004). Evaluation of the phenolic contents and antioxidant capacities of two Malaysian floral honeys. Food Chemistry, 85(4), 513-518.
Palma-Morales M, Huertas JR, Rodríguez-Pérez C. A Comprehensive Review of the Effect of Honey on Human Health. Nutrients. 2023 Jul 6;15(13):3056. doi: 10.3390/nu15133056. PMID: 37447382; PMCID: PMC10346535.
