Four Ways Honey Can Improve Your Health

Honey has been used for thousands of years as a delicious sweetener. But, did you know honey is actually far healthier than many people realize? To help show the powerful benefits that honey packs, we’ve gathered some interesting facts you may not have known that will change your opinion on this sweet little powerhouse of health.

1. Honey is a powerful cough suppressant.

Honey has been used for generations as a medicinal. Whether it is being used for its supposed longevity benefits, its aid in allergy relief, or its more “mystical” (and questionable) purposes — there is no shortage of ways honey is supposedly able to help us. However, when it comes to symptom relief, honey has been proven to be a hard-hitting cough suppressant in a number of different studies (source, source).

While honey is never recommended to be given to young children for risk of botulism poisoning, honey has proven itself to be a truly powerful aid against that pesky cough!

2. Has antioxidants that can lower blood pressure.

Not only is honey a powerful cough suppressant, its assistance in lowering high-blood pressure cannot be overlooked.  On a study involving both humans and rats, honey was shown to actually help in lowering the high-blood pressure in patients! (source, source).

So, while we don’t suggest you go drinking a half-gallon of honey to relieve your mildly high-blood pressure, it can definitely benefit you in the long run as a sugar substitute.

3. Honey can help improve cholesterol.

The amazing health benefits that honey offers don’t stop at lowering blood pressure, because honey is also found to improve your cholesterol.

In one study, when replacing honey with sugar, honey was found to decrease the LDL (bad cholesterol) in a patient a noticeable degree, and increase the HDL (good cholesterol) also a noticeable degree, while also helping the patient lose weight! (source, source, source)

According to one of these studies:

The results of this study demonstrate that 8-week consumption of honey can provide beneficial effects on body weight and blood lipids of diabetic patients. (study)

4. Honey can help lower triglycerides.

Triglycerides are directly linked with an increase risk of heart disease, and type 2 diabetes (source) — and, interestingly, honey is also found to help lower these levels when taken consistently over time! (source, source, source)