Honey has always been one of the most highly recommended foods by health experts, but no matter how good a food is, it has two sides—"what is medicine for others may be poison for you." Honey is the most familiar bee product for humans, made industriously by bees from nectar collected from flowers and brought back to the hive. Its color, aroma, flavor, and quality vary according to the flowers, season, and region from which it is collected. It mainly contains over 60 inorganic and organic substances needed by the human body, glucose, fructose, enzyme values, proteins, and 18 amino acids.
Honey is sweet, delicious, and nutritious. Regular consumption can lead to a rosy complexion, relieve fatigue, nourish yin, and strengthen yang. Modern medicine has proven that oral consumption of honey can treat diseases of the heart, liver, spleen, kidneys, lungs, and intestines. Externally, it can be used to treat burns, frostbite, and moisturize the skin.
However, it is currently believed that there are three types of people who should not drink honey—
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1. Infants under one year of age should not eat honey:
Honey is nutritious and a great food for the general public. Many new mothers also add some honey to their babies' complementary foods to adjust the flavor and increase nutritional value. However, experts point out that infants under one year of age are not suitable for eating honey.
During the brewing and transportation process, honey is easily contaminated by *Clostridium botulinum*, because bees may bring back pollen and honey contaminated with *Clostridium botulinum* during the process of collecting pollen. The spores of *Clostridium botulinum* are highly adaptable and can still survive at high temperatures of 100°C.
Because infants have weak gastrointestinal function and poor liver detoxification capabilities, especially those under six months old, *Clostridium botulinum* can easily multiply in the intestines and produce toxins, leading to poisoning.
Poisoning symptoms usually occur 8 to 36 hours after eating honey or foods containing honey, and often include constipation, fatigue, and loss of appetite. Although the chance of an infant contracting a *Clostridium botulinum* infection is small, doctors still advise: do not give your child honey or its products before they turn one year old.
In addition, experts also remind that children over one year old should also be cautious when drinking honey, and the amount consumed should be appropriately reduced compared to adults.
2. Diabetics cannot take honey:
In every 100 grams of honey, the carbohydrates include about 35 grams of glucose, 40 grams of fructose, about 2 grams of sucrose, and about 1 gram of dextrin.
Both glucose and fructose are monosaccharides. After entering the intestines, they can be directly absorbed into the blood without digestion, causing blood sugar to rise. Sucrose and dextrin are absorbed after slight hydrolysis. Therefore, honey's effect on raising blood sugar is particularly significant. From this point of view, diabetics cannot take honey.
3. Patients with cirrhosis cannot drink honey:
Generally, patients with hepatitis B are very suitable for drinking honey because the monosaccharides provided by honey do not need to be decomposed and synthesized by the liver, which can reduce the burden on the liver. However, patients with cirrhosis cannot drink honey because it can worsen liver fibrosis.
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Note: Cold medicine can easily interact with honey
When you have a cold, you are most likely to cough, and honey has a cough-relieving effect, so many people drink honey to relieve cough symptoms when they have a cold. Sun Guanghong, a professor in the Department of Pharmacy of the Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, reminds everyone that cold medicine should not be taken with honey.
Honey has the effect of moistening the lungs and relieving cough, and is suitable for dry coughs. If the cough produces little phlegm, or the phlegm is small and sticky, or it's a dry cough without phlegm, you can drink it with honey. However, if you are taking antipyretic drugs or cold medicines containing antipyretic ingredients, it is not advisable to take honey at the same time. Many cold medicines, such as Tylenol, Fastcrack, Ganlike, and Ganmaoqing, contain the analgesic and antipyretic drug acetaminophen. When it encounters honey, it forms a complex that affects the body's absorption rate, thereby weakening the antipyretic effect.
Similarly, all Chinese patent medicines containing honey, such as cough syrups and Chuanbei Loquat Paste, should not be taken with the above-mentioned cold medicines at the same time.
In addition, honey mainly achieves the effect of relieving cough by moistening the lungs. Coughs caused by colds are mostly due to external pathogens and are not suitable for nourishment, so it is best not to drink honey.
After understanding the above taboos of drinking honey, you need to pay attention when drinking honey in the future. Although you can't drink honey indiscriminately, honey does have its little-known effects. Below, Xiaomei recommends a few honey recipes for you, hope you will like them~~
Honey-Cold Zongzi Honey Pancakes Honey Ice Cream Lime Honey Tea