Honey, Nature’s Ultimate Healing Secret: Its Uses In Unani And Ayurvedic Therapies

Ayurveda and Unani system of medicines have always emphasized the amazing healing properties of honey, nature's gift to the world of healing. Read on.

Honey, known as asl (Arabic), angab n (Persian), shehed (Urdu), and madhu (Hindi), is a amber-colored viscous liquid with a distinguished taste, and is one of the most well-known and vastly used as a food as well as drug (ghidh -i-daw ) in Unani system of medicine. Honey has always held a valued place in traditional medicines for centuries. Ancient Egyptians, Assyrians, Chinese, Greeks, Romans, and Arabs employed honey for health promotion, curing diseases and wounds in the intestine. Oral administration of honey to treat and protect against gastrointestinal infections such as gastritis and gastric ulceration caused by bacteria and rotavirus has been reported.

The many uses of honey in Unani and Ayurveda therapies

Uses of honey in Unani Medicine are well established since the time of Hippocrates.

• Ayurveda and Unani system of medicines emphasized topical application of honey as an effective treatment for wounds, burns, skin ulcers and recent studies are proving this claim valid.
• Oenomel is an ancient Greek beverage consisting of honey and unfermented grape juice. It is sometimes used as a folk remedy for gout and certain nervous disorders.
• Hippocrates, the great Greek scientist, prescribed a simple diet, favouring honey given as oxymel (vinegar and honey) for pain, hydromel (water and honey) for thirst, and a mixture of honey, water, and various medicinal substances for acute fevers.
• Hippocrates also utilized honey to treat baldness, as a contraceptive and for wound healing, laxative action, cough and sore throat, eye diseases, topical antisepsis, prevention, and treatment of scars.
• Avicenna, the great scientist and physician, almost 1000 years ago, had recommended honey as one of best remedies in the treatment of Respiratory Tract infections.
• Unani classical literature describes some pharmacological actions of honey to be anti-inflammatory, pain killer, antiseptic, blood purifier, wounds healer, expectorant, appetizer, nutrient, de-obstruent (a drug which removes obstructions in the body by aiding the opening of ducts), nutrient, lithotripsic, digestive tonic for stomach and an aphrodisiac among numerous other benefits.

The goodness of honey

Freshly extracted honey is a thick liquid. Its viscosity depends on a large variety of substances present in it and its water content. The colour of honey ranges from shades of yellow to amber, and it depends on its botanical origin, duration, and storage conditions, but transparency or clarity depends on the number of suspended particles such as pollen and other substances. The composition of honey varies depending on the plants on which the bee feeds and is reported to contain over 200 substances. The primary constituents of natural honey are fructose, glucose, and water, where sugar accounts for a major portion of honey, i.e. 95 99 per cent of honey dry matter. The principal sugars are fructose (32.56 to 38.2 per cent) and glucose (28.54 to 31.3 per cent). It also contains fructo-oligosaccharides and many amino acids, vitamins, minerals and enzymes. However, almost all-natural honey contains flavonoids (such as apigenin, pinocembrin, kaempferol, quercetin, galanin, chrysin and hesperidin), phenolic acids (such as ellagic, caffeic, p-coumaric and ferulic acids), ascorbic acid, tocopherols, catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), reduced glutathione (GSH), Millard reaction products and peptides.

Benefits of honey

Recent research indicated the presence of many bioactive compounds in honey with promising health effects like antioxidant, anti-diabetic, anticancer, etc. Honey is highly nutritional with promising properties of the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial agents as well as cough reducing and wound healing characteristics. It is a valuable dietary supplement. Let us look at a few other benefits of this food.

• Nearly all types of wounds like abrasion, abscess, amputation, bedsores/decubitus ulcers, burns, chilblains, cracked nipples, leprosy, traumatic, cervical, varicose and sickle cell ulcers, septic wounds, surgical wound or wounds of abdominal wall and perineum are found to be responsive to honey therapy.
• Application of honey as wound dressing leads to stimulation of healing process and rapidly clears the infection.
• Honey has cleansing action on wounds, stimulates tissue regeneration, and reduces inflammation.
• Honey impregnated pads act as non-adhesive tissue dressing. The most well-known effect of honey is antibacterial and antioxidant activity.
• Honey has also been reported to exhibit an inhibitory effect on Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, fungi, and some viruses.
• Topical application of honey has been effectively used on muco-cutaneous injuries such as genital lesions, superficial skin burns and post-operative wounds.
• In addition, honey has been used in some gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, inflammatory, and neoplastic states. The antioxidant capacity of honey plays an important role in its useful effects.

Activate your digestive system: A well-known way of activating the digestive system is to drink teaspoon of Honey mixed well with a cup of water on an empty stomach first thing in the morning.

Honey has zero side effects

Furthermore, honey has been shown to be an effective antibiotic in treating infections without any negative side effects associated with conventional antibiotic use. It is an amazing fact that the bacteria-killing properties of honey increases two-fold when diluted with water. Antioxidants present in honey such as flavonoids, polyphenolics, Vitamin C, and monophenols may be associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular failures. Also, the protective effects of flavonoids such as antioxidant, antithrombotic, anti-ischemic, and vasorelaxant reduce the risk of coronary heart disorders. Honey also improves serum testosterone concentration, sperm count, and fertility.

The way forward

The foremost concern in the medicinal application of honey in modern medicine is variation in its composition and lack of clinical trials. In principle, it is suggested that other actions of honey mentioned by Unani physicians in literature should be evaluated further by the researchers.

Nowadays, researchers are paying more attention to medicines and food with natural origin and embracing their efficacy and safety in therapeutics. One of the most important natural products is honey, which has been used for different medicinal purposes since ancient times. In addition to the important role of honey in traditional medicines, researchers are also proving the claim of ancient physicians and accepting honey as a new effective medicine for many kinds of diseases.

It is need of the hour to understand the benefits of honey mentioned in classical literature and should be explored by researchers.

(This article is jointly authored by Dr Prof. S.M. Arif Zaidi, Dean of School of Unani Medical Education and Research, and Dr. Sahar Saleem, Assistant Professor, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi)