Health Tips

HARMFUL EFFECTS OF RAW (UNPROCESSED) HONEY

Image Source: Siona Karen, CC-BY, via flickr - farm3.staticflickr.com honey.jpg

 

Everyone loves honey because apart from its sweet taste it has lots of health benefits. Ever imagined what raw honey tastes like? Oh yeah I have! But before you do that you will have to know why raw honey isn’t as completely safe as you think.

Honey is a sweet sticky substances produced by bees and other insects that collect nectar from flowers. Raw honey is honey that has not been pasteurized so spores and pollens naturally inside the honey are still there. Raw honey can pose some dangers to consumers such as:

Inherently Toxic

There are certain flowering plants like rhododendrons and oleanders that have certain substances that are toxic to humans but not bees. The nectar of these flowering plants contains a substance called grayanotoxin which is toxic to the nervous system thereby preventing your nerve cells from functioning properly. Less side effects include weakness, dizziness, vomiting, nausea. Severe effects can cause health problems and in worse cases death.

Food Poisoning

Eating raw honey can cause food poisoning. Raw honey contains spores of botulinum bacteria which causes botulism. Children under the age of 1 are more susceptible to botulism because they have no well-developed digestive system to deal with the bacteria unlike older children and adults. Symptoms of botulism include diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and fever. In adults constant intake of raw honey containing botulinum bacteria may become life-threatening if left untreated.

Allergies

Most people have this strong belief that the tiny particles of pollen in raw honey can reduce the intensity of their allergies in a way that build up tolerance to these allergens that are allergic in the honey. Contrary to this belief, a nurse at Dallas Children medical center, Chris Wagner said that she has seen people with cases of Anaphylactic shock that eat raw honey with allergens. Symptoms of this include low blood pressure, heart failure, breathing difficulties and even death. Symptoms from less allergic reactions include itching and rash on skin.