What Are Some Raw Honey Nutrients?

Raw Honey Nutrients

If you’re like many people today, you’re wondering just how powerful raw honey can be. Many are discovering its benefits, and they have been for generations. Raw honey has long been used not only as great food but as a medical treatment. It may seem like a simple source of sugar, but the reality is the nutrients found in raw honey are both surprising and powerful.

What is Raw Honey?

If you’re not familiar with the idea of raw honey, it may help to get a bit of background information. Honey is initially formed from the nectar of a flower that a honeybee’s digestive tract has processed. The honey is then stored in a hive. Not all honey is alike, though. The nutrients found inside honey depend somewhat on the flower source that it’s made from. This information is accurate for both the honey you’ll find on the shelves of your local grocery store and raw honey alike. What distinguishes raw honey from the other type, though, is the processing involved. Raw honey is extracted directly from the honeycombs of bees, then filtered through a nylon or mesh filter to help remove beeswax. At that point, it is bottled. Other kinds of honey, though, are filtered additional times, then pasteurized to destroy possible toxins. In that pasteurization process, though, many of the essential nutrients are lost.

What Nutrients are Inside Raw Honey?

Honey is actually a blend of fructose and glucose, both of which are types of sugar. The composition of honey is about 99% honey and one percent water. Inside that honey, though, you’ll find lots of nutrients. It’s about .5% protein. You can also find sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, selenium, copper, zinc, iron, manganese, and chromium. There are also several vitamins found in raw honey, including B vitamins and vitamins C and K. Keep in mind that these nutrients aren’t in honey in large amounts. Most register at just under 1%, but the presence of these alone is incredibly important. It means that you can take on some nutrition with the added sweetness.

Raw honey contains several enzymes as well as those nutrients. Inside, you’ll find amylase, which can help you digest carbohydrates. It also contains saccharase, which is used to enhance metabolism in the body. Additionally, raw honey has glucose oxidase inside, which works to normalize your body’s blood sugar.

These benefits are far from the only ones raw honey provides. It’s also packed with antioxidants, including flavonoids, phenolic acids, and glutathione. However, the amount of each of these depends a bit on the flower nectar the bees were eating when the honey was created. A good rule of thumb is that the darker the honey, the higher the overall amount of antioxidants inside. Why are antioxidants so important? Free radicals have the ability to damage your cells, and that can lead to disease. The antioxidants found in raw honey, though, stop free radicals in your body.

The Other Benefits of Raw Honey

Raw honey is packed with various kinds of nutrients, but there’s more to it than that. It also has a healthy Glycemic Index or GI. The GI number is a value that foods have been assigned based on how fast they create an increase in your blood glucose level. Foods with a lower GI usually release glucose into the body slowly. Foods with a higher GI release glucose very quickly and increase blood sugar numbers very quickly. Honey has a GI of just 19, so it releases the sugar inside very slowly, which helps to keep insulin levels low.

Raw honey is packed with nutrients and vitamins, making it an incredibly healthy part of any diet.