Re: Raw Honey - Chris

[Guest guest]

Masterjohn <chrismasterjohn@...> wrote:

Raw honey is loaded with enzymes and it lasts years, as far as I know.

-----------

I was looking back at some old posts. Thought you would be interested in

reading this and possibly comment.

This is from a scientific researcher in response to a line from We Want to Live

- Aajonus.

Excerpt:

In the body, 80-90% of unheated honey turns into enzymes for digestion,

assimilation and utilization.

Comment: This is impossible. honey is 100% sugar. Enzymes are 100% protein.

How can sugar (with no nitrogen), turn into protein?

It is absurd statements like the above that makes good scientists reject and

laugh at this and then throw out the bad, along with the good. Problem is, how

does an uninformed public know the difference???

They don't and tend to believe what they read. Sad situation.

jafa

I

---------------------------------

Sneak preview the all-new .com. It's not radically different. Just

radically better.

[Guest guest]

On 7/2/06, jafa <jafasum@...> wrote:

> Comment: This is impossible. honey is 100% sugar. Enzymes are 100% protein.

How can sugar (with no nitrogen), turn into protein?

> It is absurd statements like the above that makes good scientists reject and

laugh at this and then throw out the bad, along with the good. Problem is, how

does an uninformed public know the difference???

> They don't and tend to believe what they read. Sad situation.

Not that I would believe anything that Aajounus says by virtue of him

saying that, but are you SURE that this person is a scientific

researcher? What is her or his specialty? Rocks?

Of course sugar doesn't turn into protein without a source of

nitrogen. But why on earth this person thinks honey is " 100% sugar "

is well beyond me.

Chris

--

The Truth About Cholesterol

Find Out What Your Doctor Isn't Telling You:

http://www.cholesterol-and-health.com

[Guest guest]

Here is a brief excerpt from one page on honey composition. I would

note that there are actually other antibacterial components in some

honeys besdies the hydrogen peroxide. In any case, if this person had

bothered to look for a single article anywhere on honey composition,

she or he would be quickly disabused of the notion that honey is " 100%

sugar. " That said, I find it hard to believe that Aajounus's

statement that 80-90% of honey winds up as active enzymes could

possibly be true. Maybe he means that 80-90% of the enzyme content

consumed becomes biologically active in the human, which sounds more

plausible.

In any case, excerpt below.

Chris

====================

http://maarec.cas.psu.edu/bkCD/Products_Hive/honey_com.html

One of the characteristics that sets honey apart from all other

sweetening agents is the presence of enzymes. These conceivably arise

from the bee, pollen, nectar, or even yeasts or microorganisms in the

honey. Those most prominent are added by the bee during the conversion

of nectar to honey. Enzymes are complex protein materials that under

mild conditions bring about chemical changes, which may be very

difficult to accomplish in a chemical laboratory without their aid.

The changes that enzymes bring about throughout nature are essential

to life.

Some of the most important honey enzymes are invertase, diastase, and

glucose oxidase.

Invertase, also known as sucrase or saccharase, splits sucrose into

its constituent simple sugars, dextrose, and levulose. Other more

complex sugars have been found recently to form in small amounts

during this action and in part explain the complexity of the minor

sugars of honey. Although the work of invertase is completed when

honey is ripened, the enzyme remains in the honey and retains its

activity for some time. Even so, the sucrose content of honey never

reaches zero. Since the enzyme also synthesizes sucrose, perhaps the

final low value for the sucrose content of honey represents an

equilibrium between splitting and forming sucrose.

Diastase (amylase) digests starch to simpler compounds but no starch

is found in nectar. What its function is in honey is not clear.

Diastase appears to be present in varying amounts in nearly all honey

and it can be measured. It has probably had the greatest attention in

the past, because it has been used as a measure of honey quality in

several European countries.

Glucose oxidase converts dextrose to a related material, a

gulconolactone, which in turn forms gluconic acid, the principal acid

in honey. Since this enzyme previously was shown to be in the

pharyngeal gland of the honey bee, this is probably the source. Here,

as with other enzymes, the amount varies in different honeys. In

addition to gluconolactone, glucose oxidase forms hydrogen peroxide

during its action on dextrose, which has been shown to be the basis of

the heat-sensitive antibacterial activity of honey.

Other enzymes are reported to be present in honey, including catalase

and an acid phosphatase. All the honey enzymes can be destroyed or

weakened by heat.

--

The Truth About Cholesterol

Find Out What Your Doctor Isn't Telling You:

http://www.cholesterol-and-health.com

[Guest guest]

On Jul 2, 2006, at 11:52 AM, jafa wrote:

> Comment: This is impossible. honey is 100% sugar. ....

Since bees produce and reproduce indefinitely on honey and have for

thousands of years, to say that honey is 100% sugar (ie, not

differentiating honey from man-made sugar) strikes me as a misleadingly

broad statement, and one from which no conclusions can be drawn, since

I do not expect that bees could thrive indefinitely on refined white

sugar. Therefore, obviously something in honey must differ from white

sugar. Question is, what? Scientists and laypeople alike might well ask

this and be open to a spectrum of answers (whic could lead to a

spectrum of conclusions, depending on the biases and slant of the

concluder)

I'd also ask where this information came from to begin with.

> Problem is, how does an uninformed public know the difference???

> They don't and tend to believe what they read. Sad situation.

I believe that each individual is responsible for divining what is

right and best for them from what they read and apprehend. You live

with the results of your choices. If you choose to make your mind up

without doing research... you (or your animals and children) live with

the results.

I expect we are all here because we DO feel responsible for educating

ourselves from diverse sources and making a personal decision based on

more than one source of information.

[Guest guest]

Hold on, genius. Bees reproduce on royal jelly, not honey.

>

> Since bees produce and reproduce indefinitely on honey and have for

> thousands of years, to say that honey is 100% sugar (ie, not

> differentiating honey from man-made sugar) strikes me as a

misleadingly

> broad statement, and one from which no conclusions can be drawn,

since

> I do not expect that bees could thrive indefinitely on refined white

> sugar.

[Guest guest]

,

You are correct: only the Queen reproduces, and she eats royal jelly,

not honey. The young larvae begin on royal jelly and switch to honey

later.

Thank you for correcting me.

I appreciate these facts but my original assertion is the same:

The statement " Raw honey is 100% sugar " is misleading.

Raw honey obviously has properties which white sugar does not.

(I consider refined honey a separate question)

Question is: what properties?

Raw honey contains pollen and propolis, among other things, so what's

in pollen would need to be part of the answer.

This site sells honey and is not an impartial source, but it gives some

intriguing leads.

I'd like to look into the science which investigates the antimicrobial

and antibacterial effects of propolis, examines enzymes in raw honey,

as well as nutritional essays on pollen.

http://www.draperbee.com/

BEE POLLEN:

Main Ingredients: Protein 21.2 %, Carbohydrates 48.5 %, Fatty acids 9.9

%, Ash 3.5 %, Fiber 14.2 %

Thiamine (vitamin B1) - Indicated for the treatment of the toxic

effects of alcohol and certain medicine, the curing the edemas, the

treatment of shingles, and heart conditions myocarditis and

tachycardia, and in regimen for diabetes.

Riboflavin (vitamin B2) - In opthomology, necessary to cure

conjunctivitis, disorders of retinal adaption, some skin diseases and

alleviate migraines.

Pyridoxine (vitamin B6) - Required for the formation of hemoglobin and

used to combat nervousness, fatigue, muscular weakness, brain tumors,

anemia, Parkinson's disease, arteriosclerosis of the brain, and

radiation sickness.

Nicotinic Acid (Nicotinamide) - Acts on the formation of blood, is used

in the treatment of toxic overload, diabetes mellitus, gastrointestinal

problems, asthma, neuralgia, fights migraine and tinnitus, and lower

cholesterol.

Pantothenic Acid (Part of B-complex) - Effectively speeds the cure of

wounds, gangrene, various ulcers, herpes, bedsores, inflammatory

infections of the mouth, colds, bronchitis, infectious hepatitis and

minor skin problems.

Ascorbic Acid (vitamin C) - Stimulating antitoxic effects. Beneficial

against colds, respiratory distress, and is useful in metabolizing

calcium.

Retinol (vitamin A) - Effective against infections, dry eyes, and

nightblindness.

Tocopherol (vitamin E) - Assists oxygenation of the cellular level and

fights sterility. Has anticoagulant properties and improves blood

circulation.

On Jul 3, 2006, at 1:24 PM, michael grogan wrote:

> Hold on, genius. Bees reproduce on royal jelly, not honey.

> >

> > Since bees produce and reproduce indefinitely on honey and have for

> > thousands of years, to say that honey is 100% sugar (ie, not

> > differentiating honey from man-made sugar) strikes me as a

> misleadingly

> > broad statement, and one from which no conclusions can be drawn,

> since

> > I do not expect that bees could thrive indefinitely on refined white

> > sugar.

>