The British Daily Mail reported that a study shows honey helps to slow down aging and reduce anxiety. Adding honey to the diet improved the memory of the tested rats and alleviated their anxiety symptoms. Why does long-term consumption of honey slow down aging?
Lynne Crepis and Nicola Stark of the University of Waikato in New Zealand conducted this experiment on rats. They mixed 10% honey, 8% sucrose, or no sugar into the rats' food and fed them for a year. At the start of the experiment, these rats were only two months old. Every three months, scientists conducted targeted anxiety and spatial memory tests on the rats to get their evaluation results. They found that the rats fed with honey completed a complex maze twice as many times as the ordinary rats, with the sucrose-fed rats coming in second. This showed that their anxiety symptoms were milder. They were also more likely to enter the novel arm of a Y-shaped maze, which showed they remembered where they had been before, thus they had better spatial memory abilities.
Dr. Stark said: "A diet with honey may help to alleviate anxiety symptoms and improve memory during the aging process." She believes that this result should be attributed to the antioxidant properties of honey, which have been previously verified in humans. In ancient times, humans used honey as food, medicine, and a beauty aid. The time of obtaining honey through beekeeping can be traced back to at least 700 BC. Bees combine saliva with nectar, which produces a chemical reaction to create honey. It is used as an antiseptic in the treatment of ulcers, burns, and wounds. It also contains a variety of trace elements that help prevent some cancers and fight colds.
Because honey is beneficial to health, its sales are rising rapidly. Mintel, a retail analyst, said that honey sales have increased by 14% in the past two years, making it the second best-selling product in the dessert market.