A thick, golden liquid produced by industrious bees, honey is made using the nectar of flowering plants and is saved inside the beehive for eating during times of scarcity. It is a nutritious natural sweetener, a concentrated energy source, and an ancient folk remedy for health and healing. Honey is also an active ingredient in beauty and skin-care products and at present, the subject of many medical types of research. In nutritional terms, raw honey contains small amounts of a wide variety of vitamins, minerals, proteins, and disease-fighting antioxidants that make it healthier than granulated white sugar.
In the hive, as the original nectar dehydrates and is converted into honey, small amounts of antiseptic hydrogen peroxide are produced.
Hydrogen peroxide has antibacterial qualities. Thus, honey has traditionally been used as topical medication and is currently used to promote healing and prevent infection in skin wounds, burns, and ulceration. Raw honey is a good source of antioxidants, helps in digestive issues, soothes a sore throat etc.
However, one important precaution that must be kept in mind while consuming honey is that it should not be cooked. Yes, it is an absolute NO. Here is a look at the reasons behind the same. In Ayurveda, honey is considered an important food which is good for the heart and eyes. Ayurveda identifies the various dietary benefits of honey. However, it strongly advises against heating it for any reason. As per Ayurveda, heating honey initiates a negative chemical change that causes it to turn bitter in taste.
This makes it unwanted to use from a culinary perspective. In addition, Ayurvedic dietary principles warn that consuming honey that has been cooked, baked or added to hot liquids contributes to ill health over time. The reason is that honey when cooked, becomes glue-like in texture. The literal meaning of ama is undigested food or toxins stuck within the digestive tract. It is considered to be the root cause of most ill health in Ayurveda.
Science confirms that heating or cooking honey does indeed damage it, thereby eliminating many of its beneficial effects. As per the National Center for Biotechnology, heating honey causes adverse effects. Cooking honey lowers its quality, and it loses essential enzymes and nutrients. In fact, heated honey has high chances of affecting the body and can be fatal as well.
Consuming cooked honey leads to congestion, weight gain, respiratory diseases, certain skin conditions, digestive problems, and imbalance in blood glucose. Also, pasteurizing honey may result in an increase in the glycemic index, which is not good for people suffering from diabetes. Thus, it must be ensured that one should never cook honey or consume it after cooking. Doing that should stimulate metabolism throughout the day. Even though honey is recommended because of many benefits, Ayurveda advises against heating honey for health-related and practical reasons.
Moreover, it claims that consumption of heated honey contributes to bad health over time. That might explain why honey toxic after heating belief might exist.
The reasoning is that heated honey becomes like glue which sticks to the mucous membranes in the digestive tract and releases toxins. Science confirms that heating honey changes it because heat eliminates many of its beneficial effects. The most noticeable change of heating honey is a loss of probiotics and enzymes. There was research in which tested physicochemical characteristics and chemical constituents of heated honey and honey mixed with ghee.
The researchers evaluated the effect of consuming heated honey, ghee, honey mixed with ghee, and heated honey mixed with heated ghee. The test subjects were rats. HMF is derived from dehydration of certain sugars, which means that it is formed in early stages of caramelization. When the heated honey was mixed with ghee, the negative effects were more prominent. Such a result lead the researchers to conclude that the increase in HMF may act as a poison. However, after rats have been fed a mixture of raw and heated honey with ghee, they have not shown a significant change in weight gain, food intake, and relative organ weights.
Other research suggests that HMF may be toxic and carcinogenic in humans, but more research is needed. As a result of potential danger, many countries impose restrictions on maximum levels of HMF in beverages and food.
There is nothing unusual about bees eating honey as it is their winter food, but something happens when the honey is heated. Beekeepers who gave their bees heated honey have noticed that it can be deadly. The reason for the bad effect of heated honey is probably due to the increase of HMF which might be toxic to bees. When you consider such honey toxic from heat effect, that makes you wonder what effect it has on humans, right? A similar pattern can be observed when calves are fed pasteurized heated milk instead of raw milk.
Calves fed pasteurized milk are underdeveloped, sick, and suffer organ damage which can result in death before they even reach adulthood. Some beekeepers give their bees high-fructose corn syrup when they want their colonies to be quickly ready for pollination season, but they might be doing them more harm than good.
The HMF is the main reason why high-fructose corn syrup is not good for bees. The problem with HMF levels in corn syrup rising with heat is that the temperature inside the hive can be high enough to produce HMF. Unfortunately, bees won't hesitate to feast on the syrup if given to them even though it has a negative effect on bees. It is a responsibility of every beekeeper to take proper care of their bees. Note that the following effects of heating honey are based on heating raw honey, not honey that you can buy in your local grocery store.
By observing what happens to honey under heat, we can try to determine is honey toxic. When it is in its raw unprocessed state, it contains enzymes, pollen, and vitamins and minerals as well as fructose. Honey comes with some warnings. In alternative circles, there is an assertion that honey becomes toxic when heated.
Certainly, the enzymes present in raw honey are killed with high heat, just like they are killed in fresh fruits and vegetables when they are cooked. But this would not make it toxic. This idea would tie into the wisdom that all disease begins in the gut. The best way to make a truly informed decision is to look with an open mind at both sides of the argument before deciding. There are many Ayurvedic recommendations for food, based on your constitution, you can see more here pdf. While Ayurveda recognizes the many dietary and holistic benefits of honey, the dietary principles of this ancient system of health also strongly advise against heating it for any reason.
The reasons are both practical and health-related. This makes it undesirable to use from a culinary perspective in comparison with other natural sweeteners like unrefined cane sugar or fruit. There is also a study that studies the properties of cooked honey on its own, and when mixed with ghee, when fed to rats source. The browning and total antioxidant of honey mixed ghee samples was significantly higher when compared to ghee samples. Further, the authors have also evaluated the effects of consumption of heated honey, ghee, honey mixed with equal amount of ghee and heated honey mixed with heated ghee in rats.
The feeding of heated honey and honey mixed with ghee for 6 weeks showed no significant change in the food intake, weight gain and relative organ weights. The study revealed that the heated honey mixed with ghee produces HMF which may cause deleterious effects. Seeing the chemical names of compounds makes them sound scarier than they often are.
Along with many other flavor- and color-related substances, HMF is formed in the Maillard reaction as well as during caramelization. In these foods it is also slowly generated during storage. Acid conditions favour generation of HMF. HMF is a well known component of baked goods.
Upon toasting bread, the amount increases from It appears that HMF is caused by heating sweeteners, both honey and other carbohydrate sources such as dried fruit, and corn syrup. HMF is toxic to honey bees, which is why corn syrup being fed to honeybees can cause problems source and it is is also found in coffee source.
Unless we are following other dietary recommendations from the Ayurvedic wisdom, there is not good reason to avoid honey unless we are also avoiding all other heated carbohydrates and coffee. In my home, I keep both a jar of raw honey and conventional cooked honey from Costco. I also use fruit to sweeten when possible. Raw honey is wonderful to add to anything that will not be heated to more than degrees.
I use it in popsicles, smoothies, and in salad dressings. Find raw honey here. The Gut and Psychology Syndrome GAPS diet allows honey in cooking due to it containing primarily fructose, which is digested higher up in the digestive system and allows us to still have sweets, while also not feeding the pathogenic bacteria lower in the digestive tract.
Some people following GAPS and other healing diets find that they feel much better and have better healing while avoiding all carbohydrates, I wonder if the HMF present in cooked foods may be part of the reason why a low carbohydrate diet works for some people.
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