India 21 September 2016: Ayurveda is an ancient system of medicine that has been practised for thousands of years and has been becoming a worldwide choice due to its natural, holistic healing properties which treats the root cause of a disease instead of just the symptoms. One of the vital component of Ayurvedic medicines, honey, is mixed with a variety of herbs and spices and made into compound for management of various ailments.
Modern lifestyle and diet plays a critical role in the upsurge of the no. of disease and Ayurvedic teaching advocate the daily consumption of honey for good health. Honey is known to be a safe replacement of sugar, which also has antimicrobial properties along with its other beneficial effects.
Some benefits of consuming Honey:
Good for Immunity: Honey is reported to have immunomodulator.
Good Anti-oxidant: Honey is known for centuries for its medicinal and health promoting properties. It contains various kinds of phytochemicals with high phenolic and flavonoid content which contribute to its high antioxidant activity. Honey has antioxidant property potential to prevent the development of free radicals.
Good for Digestion: Honey is good for digestion and it also act as a prebiotic.
Cough & Throat Irritation: Honey has soothing effect. So it is traditionally used for its beneficial effects in cough and throat irritation.
Good for Wound healing (Topical application): honey helps in reducing inflammation, promotes granulation and helps in healing with reduced scarring
With the health benefits of honey becoming more popular each day, there are several kinds and brands of honey in the market which are labelled as the purest but many of these may be having harmful Antibiotics above the permissible limits & may also be adulterated with sugar.
Today, honey is the focus of modern scientific research by the medical community, but as a consumer there are some indicators one should look for at the time of buying honey from the market.
Thickness Test: - It is scientifically proven that pure honey is high on viscosity and very sticky in consistency.
Water Test: -Pour a spoon of honey in water. If it settles down at the bottom, it is pure. If it dissolves immediately, it has excess moisture @ is not good quality.
Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI):- FSSAI is a statutory body for laying down science based standards for articles of food. A license from FSSAI is a prerequisite. FSSAI defines the regulations for quality of honey.
Crystallization Test: Pure honey takes longer to crystallize, typically in more than 4 weeks, when refrigerated