Honey’s Health Benefits

Put down the cookies and colorful candies and indulge in a natural treat that satisfies your cravings while potentially making your body healthier. A recently-published review article by researchers in Malaysia discusses the protective effects of honey against metabolic syndrome in both animal and human models. Metabolic syndrome is a conglomerate of multiple risk factors that predispose patients to cardiovascular diseases and/or diabetes. This is diagnosed if the patient has at least three of the following:

  1. High fasting serum glucose levels
  2. High blood pressure
  3. High serum triglycerides
  4. Low serum high-density lipoprotein (HDL), also known as cardio-protective cholesterol
  5. Large waist circumference

Lifestyle modification is the biggest emphasis when it comes to the treatment of metabolic syndrome, primarily by maintaining a healthy diet and by meeting the ACSM standards for physical activity (150 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity exercise weekly). 

Metabolic syndrome is tricky because if lifestyle modification fails to yield results, polypharmacy may be necessary to control each individual component that is out of range. This itself creates a litany of challenges for one to overcome.

As the article states, “obesity is the central occurrence in metabolic syndrome” and this is taken into account by the waist circumference measurement criterion. Obesity was classified under different parameters, but one study showed a significant difference in body weight in type II diabetes mellitus patients when eating honey compared to a control group while another study took 60 overweight or obese individuals and noted a significant reduction in body mass index (BMI).

The review article also delves into the possible anti-diabetic, hypolipidemic (abnormal lipid results), and anti-hypertensive (high blood pressure) effects from a wide range of studies along with critiques of each study model. For more information, check out this article.

Reference:

Ramli, N.Z.; Chin, K.-Y.; Zarkasi, K.A.; Ahmad, F. A Review on the Protective Effects of Honey against Metabolic Syndrome. Nutrients 2018, 10, 1009.

About the Author: 

Mark Wassmer was born and raised in San Diego and earned his undergraduate degree in Exercise Biology from UC Davis in 2013. After graduating, Mark worked at UC Davis Sports Medicine and investigated several projects, including the effects of cooling technology on elite cyclists in extreme heat conditions and the effects of an ACL injury prevention protocol on youth athletes. In 2016, he graduated from Point Loma Nazarene University with a Master’s of Science in Kinesiology (Exercise Science concentration) and studied the effects of neuromuscular electrical stimulation vs. traditional rehabilitation on quadriceps muscle strength after total knee arthroplasty. In his free time, Mark runs a non-profit project that provides the gift of play to children in underprivileged communities around the world, with his most recent trip taking him to three orphanages in rural Vietnam and influencing hundreds of kids.

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