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aatd86

One of my relatives tried that and actually found out that her blood glucose levels had actually worsened.

She must have seen some of these facebook viral posts abouymt the benefits of raw honey consumption.

Probably has to be taken in moderation.

In any case, just anecdotal.

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You should be careful with honey as there is a lot of fake honey in circulation, mostly from China.

When possible, only buy artisan honey or honey sold at reputable local shops.

Local honey is supposed to have a benefit of helping your body deal with allergens as well.

That’s because it contains small amounts of the pollen you might be allergic to. So it’s really important that it’s raw, because you don’t want to cook the proteins that the pollen is made of.

Why do you not want to cook the proteins? Does it break them down to uselessness, or do the become harmful?

Heat changes the protein structure, so antibodies might no longer recognize them: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9826012/

FWIW, that's been thoroughly debunked. For the vast majority of people who suffer from seasonal allergies, they are not allergic to the same plants that bees pollinate.

It’s probably true that most seasonal allergies are cause by wind-pollinated plants, but bees sometimes help to pollinate those kinds of plants if they happen to be the closest food source. I have ash trees (Fraxinus) in my neighborhood, and even though they’re primarily wind-pollinated, I always see lots of bees gathering their pollen in the springtime. But bees would probably prefer flowers with more nectar if they’re available.

I think a big factor that hasn't been mentioned is how the honey was consumed. Was it on an empty stomach? Before, during, after a meal? What did the meal contain? Does consuming it after waking up or before going to bed have an effect?

Just saying something is beneficial for your health without knowing the method of consumption is like saying sunscreen is good for you without mentioning it's supposed to go on your body and not in your mouth.

A good number of popular Honey brands don't sell Honey, they sell some sort of Chinese syrups that mimic Honey.

In India, there was a huge uproar on this when it was found that several popular and 'herbal' brands sell Chinese syrups in the name of Honey. Google it.

Yeah you need the raw stuff that is not heated. There is usually some firm honey in there and not just a fluid substance.

> One of my relatives tried that and actually found out that her blood glucose levels had actually worsened

That does not seem surprising to me. Honey has a worse glucose/fructose ratio than table sugar.

Did she take care to source her honey from reputable sources?

A lot of "honey" is honey mixed with syrup.

Imported from Africa, with the honeycomb. Specific flowers and straight from the owner. She even filtered it herself.

Yeah, the trials were done with ~2 TBS of honey daily or around 128 calories. Could definitely see people going way above that or using low quality honey. YMMV on products like honey and olive oil based on the quality of the manufacturer

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