This Article is included on my Blog in the Interest of those who Love Honey - REAL HONEY, that's RAW HONEY, Not Cheat's Honey we find in the Stores 90% of the time. So this Article is here for both Raw Honey Advocates and the Beginner: People who didn't know there is a REAL DIFFERENCE between Honey (just any honey) that's had most of the Goodness Stripped from it and Raw Honey that is endowed with LOTS of BENEFITS. I have Researched the Benefits of Natural Honey several times through the years, and the Article I am placing here, I discovered today, with their Link to credit them (I'm not into plagiarism) is one of the absolute best I have found, for your Knowledge of this Very Important Topic. Congratulations to the Honey Boutique for such a wonderful piece of work. Do Read and Enjoy!
Probiotics and Honey
We have 39–300 trillion bacteria living inside ourselves right now! Some of these are known as probiotics.
Probiotics are living microorganisms (usually bacteria) that is friendly to our body, when ingested, it provides a health benefit by helping to colonize your gut with good microorganisms.
Probiotics should not be confused with prebiotics, which are carbs — often dietary fibers — that help feed the friendly bacteria already in your gut. Honey is both a prebiotic and a probiotic. Products that contain both prebiotics and probiotics are referred to as synbiotics. Synbiotic products usually combine friendly bacteria along with some food for the bacteria to eat (the prebiotics), all in one supplement. Honey is one of a handful of examples of a synbiotic.
Different probiotics have been found to address different health conditions. Although there is evidence in support of general wellbeing improvement, more research is needed on specific applications.
Why is gut health important?
The complex community of microorganisms in your gut is called the gut flora, gut microbiota, or gut microbiome. Your gut flora performs many important health functions. It manufactures vitamins, including vitamin K and some of the B vitamins. It also turns fibers into short-chain fats like butyrate, propionate, and acetate, which feed your gut wall and perform many metabolic functions. These fats also stimulate your immune system and strengthen your gut wall. This can help prevent unwanted substances from entering your body and provoking an immune response. Your gut flora is highly sensitive to your diet, and studies show that an unbalanced gut flora is linked to numerous diseases. These diseases are thought to include obesity, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, heart disease, colorectal cancer, Alzheimers disease and depression. Probiotics and prebiotic fibers can help correct this balance, ensuring that your body is functioning optimally.
Research indicates that people with obesity have different gut bacteria than those who are lean. Research shows a connection between gut microbes and obesity in both infants and adults. It also shows that microbial changes in the gut are a factor in developing obesity as an adult. Therefore, many scientists believe that your gut bacteria are important in determining body weight.
More early research holds promise that certain gut bacteria called psychobiotics may be able to help treat cognitive and neurological disorders, such as autism, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.
What do probiotics do specifically?
Probiotics are widely researched for their effects on digestive health with evidence suggesting that probiotics can help combat and cure:
Antibiotic-associated diarrhea – When people take antibiotics, especially for long periods of time, they often experience diarrhea — even long after the infection has been eradicated. This is because the antibiotics kill many of the natural bacteria in your gut, which shifts the gut balance and allows harmful bacteria to thrive.
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) – A common digestive disorder, reducing gas, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, and other symptoms. Seven separate research studies have indicated IBS improvement with probiotic supplementation. Research indicates that multi-strain probiotic supplements seem to bring the most IBS improvement, especially when taken for longer than 8 weeks.
Some studies also note benefits of probiotic supplementation against inflammatory bowel diseases, such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Although, researchers say further research is needed before the treatment is confirmed to be effective.
Probiotics may also help fight Helicobacter pylori infections, which are one of the main drivers of ulcers and stomach cancer.
Some probiotic strains appear to aid weight loss – evidence also suggests that Lactobacillus Rhamnosus and Bifidobacterium lactis can aid weight loss and help prevent obesity. In one study, 210 people with central obesity, which is characterized by excess belly fat, took the probiotic Lactobacillus Gasseri daily. Participants lost an average of approximately 8.5% of their belly fat over 12 weeks. When participants stopped taking the probiotic, they gained the belly fat back within 4 weeks.
Some researchers suggest that, for some people, supplementing with certain strains of probiotics may be preferable to taking psychotropic drugs to cope with the mental stress, loneliness, and grief.
Other health benefits
There are many other benefits of probiotics. They may help with the following conditions:
• Inflammation: Probiotics reduce systemic inflammation, a leading driver of many diseases.
• Depression & anxiety: The probiotic strains Lactobacillus Helveticus and Bifidobacterium Longum have been shown to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression in people with clinical depression.
• Blood cholesterol: Several probiotics have been shown to lower total and LDL (bad) cholesterol levels, although the research remains controversial.
• Blood pressure: Probiotics may also cause modest reductions in blood pressure.
• Immune function: Several probiotic strains may enhance immune function. This can lead to a reduced risk of infections, including those that cause the common cold.
• Skin health: There’s evidence that probiotics can be useful for acne, rosacea, and eczema, as well as other skin disorders.
• Anti-aging: There’s evidence that probiotics have the potential to extend lifespan by increasing the ability of cells to replicate themselves.
This is only a small slice of probiotics’ benefits, as ongoing studies indicate a wide breadth of potential health effects.
What probiotics are present in honey?
Fresh honey contains a very large range of different beneficial probiotics. The two main categories are Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) and Aerobic Spore-Forming Bacteria (genus Bacillus spp.).
The lactic acid bacteria (LAB) possess a wide spectrum of antimicrobial activity against various microorganisms that are pathogenic to humans. The number and species composition in honey depends on the season, the source and amount of nectar, the health of bees, and the presence of other microorganisms in the collected nectar. The level is lowest in early spring, when bees start collecting pollen and nectar after winter, and increases with foraging activity. Transient microbes collected from flowers, provoke the growth of LAB microbiota and anti-microbial proteins in honey bees which are passed onto the honey.
Honey also contains spores of aerobic spore-forming bacteria of the genus Bacillus spp. which are collected by bees from plants during foraging. Physio-Chemical properties of honey do not allow these bacteria spores to pass into the vegetative form. However, the intestine of honey bee and human represents a suitable habitat for their germination and reproduction, where some strains of Bacillus spp. manifest themselves as probiotics. Thus these probiotics are only found in fresh* and raw honey*.
*We define fresh honey as product that is less than 6 months old from harvest. Raw honey has undergone no ultrafiltering or Pasteurisation.
How do you boost your intake?
Science has made tremendous strides in the past two decades toward understanding the roles that probiotics play in human health and disease. Still, probiotic research is in its infancy, and there’s much to learn. One thing we do know is that maintaining a healthy gut is about more than taking a probiotic supplement. Day-to-day diet and exercise are just as important, as many lifestyle factors affect your gut bacteria.
However, substituting Raw Honey into your diet instead of other sugars may offer a wide range of benefits with few side effects. As such, if you’re interested in improving your Gut Health, they could be worth a try.
Do you have digestive problems that you have not been able to resolve? Boost your raw honey consumption or add a probiotic supplement.
You can get probiotics from raw honey, supplements, as well as from foods prepared by bacterial fermentation. Probiotic foods include yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, tempeh and kimchi.
If you are experiencing severe symptoms, be sure to consult your healthcare provider first.
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To Be Continued
Please come back tomorrow when there will be more content on this Page on a few things to watch out for and how to find some Good Honey - Go for Raw Honey Every Time! Hey?