In natural healing circles, honey long has been used for its multiple benefits. Its flavonoids and antioxidants have been shown to be cancer and heart disease preventive; it helps reduce ulcers and other gastrointestinal problems; it’s antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal; it works as a cough suppressant; it heals wounds, it contains probiotics, it is a component of many skin crèmes, and it’s an anti-allergenic agent and one of many natural allergy remedies, based on the theory that because honey contains tiny traces of pollen, repeated exposure should help build up immunity to those pollens. But if you’ve been taking your daily dose of honey without receiving any of these benefits, the reason may not be that honey is useless. It may be that your honey isn’t actually honey.
That’s right. And the first clue is that an overwhelming proportion of the so-called honey sold in the US contains absolutely no pollen. The Food Safety News group conducted tests a few years back and found that more than 75 percent of the honey on retail store shelves was pollen free. In fact, 100 percent of the honey sold in drugstore chains like Walgreens and Rite-Aid contains no pollen, nor does any of the honey distributed in individual packets in restaurants. Supermarkets like Shop-Rite and Safeway didn’t fare much better in the study, nor did big box stores like Costco. In these stores, 76 percent of the honey on the shelves had no pollen, and while going organic increased the odds of getting the real thing, 30 percent of the organic honey tested had no pollen, either.
So what does this clue mean? Have bees found a way to produce honey without using pollen, then? Absolutely not. The reality has nothing to do with the bess and everything to do with greed. A lot of the honey sold in the US comes from Asia where it’s processed to remove the pollen and then cut with high-fructose corn syrup, sugar water, and artificial sweeteners to maximize profit. In fact, some so-called honey contains no trace of anything coming from bees, but rather, it’s a concocted blend of flavorings and sweeteners packaged and sold with a “honey” label. Even worse, the Food Safety News study found that much of the honey sold in the US contains dangerous contaminants such as traces of illegal antibiotics intended for animals and heavy metals.
So how can you be sure you’re getting real honey? Again, getting organic guarantees nothing. Your best bet is to buy from local producers who sell at locally owned stores. Local honey is better for you, anyway, as it contains an exact match to the local pollens that might be causing you allergy problems.
Be sure to pick up your jar of locally produced, non-heat treated, “real” honey on your next visit to Whitaker’s.
