Honey Keeps the Brain Happy

Daily Hit of Honey Good for You, Beekeepers Hear
By Cassandra Kyle, The StarPhoenix (Canada), 12/5/2008

A spoonful of honey brings metabolic stressors down and with it the chances of developing diseases such as diabetes, Alzheimer's and osteoporosis, says a leading honey researcher.

Ron Fessenden, a retired physician and author from Denver, Colo., says the health benefits of honey are real and can be used to improve the health of the general public. Speaking on Tuesday at the Saskatchewan Beekeepers' Association convention in Saskatoon, Fessenden said honey lowers blood sugar levels, which reduces metabolic stress.

"Honey actually has a very significant stabilizing affect on blood sugar, that's counter-intuitive to most individuals who think it's sort of like saying, 'Well, I'm going to eat some bacon to help control my cholesterol,' and that's not true about honey," he said.

Honey, which is made of two sugars, facilitates the production of liver glycogen, Fessenden said. Liver glycogen fuels the brain but only has enough stores for about eight hours, he continued. The human body produces cortisol when the brain runs out of glycogen and when cortisol is released, he said, it triggers metabolic stress.

"Obesity, insulin resistance, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, polycystic ovarian disease in young women, hyperthyroid conditions, osteoporosis, about 10 per cent of all cancers, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, neurodegenerative conditions which are impacted by high blood-sugar levels over several decades -- all of these things are reduced or eliminated by the elimination of metabolic stress by the reduction of cortisol levels," he said.

In short, Fessenden says honey keeps the brain happy…