197
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
C. Egbuna, G. Dable-Tupas (eds.), Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42319-3_11
Chapter 11
Honey as Functional Food and Prospects
in Natural Honey Production
Maria Catherine B. Otero and Leslie Bernolo
11.1 Introduction
Honey is a superfood that has practically existed for as long as recorded human history. Evidence of bee hives and honey have been found in cave paintings in Spain
during the 7000 BC, and in Egyptian tombs as old as 2400 BC (The Honey
Association n.d.). Aside from being used as food ingredient and natural sweetener,
honey was also valued for its healing properties. Today, after over 2600 years, honey
continues to be produced by honeybees in bee farms and consumed by humans as
functional food because of its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, antitumor, and anti-mutagenic effects.
Honey is defined as “the natural sweet substance produced by honey bees from
the nectar of plants or from secretions of living parts of plants or excretions of plant
sucking insects on the living parts of plants, which the bees collect, transform by
combining with specific substances of their own, deposit, dehydrate, store and leave
in the honey comb to ripen and mature.” (Codex Alimentarius Commission 1999).
Honey is made up of glucose and fructose mainly (~95% of dry weight), as well as
sucrose, maltose, turanose, and erlose, and oligosaccharides such as raffinose and
melezitosein smaller quantities (Bogdanov et al. 2008). It also contains amino acids,
proteins, organic acids and enzymes such as diastase, glucose oxidase and invertase,
minerals, vitamins, insoluble matter like honey comb debris and pollen. Traces of
bacteria, algae and fungi may also be found.
The use of honey as natural sweetener began to decline after the cultivation of
sugar cane in Papua New Guinea in 8000 BC and the production of table sugar
around 100 AD in India (Deerr 1950). But throughout human history, honey had
been celebrated for its folkloric medicinal effects. In 2016, the annual global honey
M. C. B. Otero (*) · L. Bernolo
College of Medicine Research Center, Davao Medical School Foundation, Inc.,
Davao City, Philippines
e-mail: mcbotero@email.dmsf.edu.ph
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
C. Egbuna, G. Dable-Tupas (eds.), Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42319-3_11
Chapter 11
Honey as Functional Food and Prospects
in Natural Honey Production
Maria Catherine B. Otero and Leslie Bernolo
11.1 Introduction
Honey is a superfood that has practically existed for as long as recorded human history. Evidence of bee hives and honey have been found in cave paintings in Spain
during the 7000 BC, and in Egyptian tombs as old as 2400 BC (The Honey
Association n.d.). Aside from being used as food ingredient and natural sweetener,
honey was also valued for its healing properties. Today, after over 2600 years, honey
continues to be produced by honeybees in bee farms and consumed by humans as
functional food because of its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, antitumor, and anti-mutagenic effects.
Honey is defined as “the natural sweet substance produced by honey bees from
the nectar of plants or from secretions of living parts of plants or excretions of plant
sucking insects on the living parts of plants, which the bees collect, transform by
combining with specific substances of their own, deposit, dehydrate, store and leave
in the honey comb to ripen and mature.” (Codex Alimentarius Commission 1999).
Honey is made up of glucose and fructose mainly (~95% of dry weight), as well as
sucrose, maltose, turanose, and erlose, and oligosaccharides such as raffinose and
melezitosein smaller quantities (Bogdanov et al. 2008). It also contains amino acids,
proteins, organic acids and enzymes such as diastase, glucose oxidase and invertase,
minerals, vitamins, insoluble matter like honey comb debris and pollen. Traces of
bacteria, algae and fungi may also be found.
The use of honey as natural sweetener began to decline after the cultivation of
sugar cane in Papua New Guinea in 8000 BC and the production of table sugar
around 100 AD in India (Deerr 1950). But throughout human history, honey had
been celebrated for its folkloric medicinal effects. In 2016, the annual global honey
M. C. B. Otero (*) · L. Bernolo
College of Medicine Research Center, Davao Medical School Foundation, Inc.,
Davao City, Philippines
e-mail: mcbotero@email.dmsf.edu.ph