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Honey while delicious and a great source of energy is not the wonder of food it is claimed to be, and you may be surprised at some of the following information. Honey is after all, food for Bees, and pollen doesn’t do much for humans that vegetables won’t do except trigger allergic reactions.

Honey is mostly fructose and glucose with a little sucrose, and contains less calories than sugar. One benefit of using honey in baking cakes is that the cakes remain more moist than if baked with sugar.

Which is best natural or processed honey?

Processed honey is first removed from the comb by spinning, then it is pasteurised, strained and filtered. Natural honey is not heated and therefore has more flavour and better antibacterial properties.

In fact, the antibacterial property of honey has been used for centuries in helping treat wounds. Several studies in the medical field have shown honey to speed healing. A brand of honey from New Zealand called Manuka, has been found to inhibit the growth of MRSA.

Dangers of honey products.

Contrary to popular sales promotions, royal jelly supplements have featured in several scientific journals reporting serious asthma attacks, unfortunately, some fatal, in children and adults who have been taking royal jelly supplements. Additionally, spores of Clostridium botulinium have been found in some honeys.

I have no information as to whether this was caused during processing, or is a natural occurrence, but because of this risk, honey should not be given to babies or very young children.

Tags: honey, asthma, MRSA

Have you ever wondered where our native carrots came from? Believe it or not, they originated in Afghanistan.

Carrots contain beta carotene, which is an antioxidant and can be converted by the body to vitamin A. In fact, carrots are our best and most abundant source of this antioxidant, as well as containing dietary fibre and potassium.

Because beta-carotene is an antioxidant, and anti-oxidants are important in the fight against heart disease, studies have found that high doses of beta carotene may lower the risk of heart disease by as much as 45%.

However, the same studies also show that high levels of beta carotene taken in pill form, don’t work. Further, a study conducted in the United States showed that participants who ate about 1 cup of carrots a day, reduced their blood cholesterol levels by approximately 11%. This was attributed to the high soluble fibre content of carrots, mostly in the form of pectin.

Night vision.

Do you remember being told that eating carrots helps you see in the dark? Well, while carrots will not prevent common vision problems, if you lack vitamin A then your night vision will suffer. Just eating one carrot every couple of days provides enough vitamin A to counteract this deficiency. Of course, you can always take a vitamin tablet, which will miss out on the benefits of the beta carotene, and the natural high soluble fibre, which lowers your cholesterol.

So are carrots best eaten cooked or raw?

Raw carrots, which are often a popular ingredient in salad, make an ideal high fibre calorie snack food. However much to my surprise, I have found that cooking actually increases the carrots nutritional value, because the cooking breaks down the cellular walls and increases the beta-carotene content the body can use.

Furthermore, because beta-carotene in a carrot is fat soluble, actually adding a little butter when cooking helps the body make the best use of the nutrient. To a certain extent, this goes against instinct as butter is fattening, but in this case, it is the right thing to do.

There is only one drawback to eating carrots. While I am not aware of any reports of allergic reactions to carrots, eating too many carrots, leads to a harmless condition in which the skin takes on a yellow orange tinge. In some people, this can appear as a light tan, but in most people, it is more of an orange tinge. This condition is called carotanaemia and will disappear within a few weeks of eating fewer carrots.

A word of warning though. If you haven’t been excessively eating carrots, but your skin has a yellow tinge, and your eyes also appear to have a yellow tinge, then the problem may be jaundice, which is a liver disorder and you should seek medical advice.

Tags: carrots, heart disease, cholesterol

What can I say about potatoes? Well, they were introduced to Europe in the 1500s by Spanish explorers, and were first cultivated in the Andes as far back as 4000 years ago. So it’s quite possible that the native peoples may have eaten potatoes, much as we do today. I would imagine they were eaten after being baked in the ashes of fires, and may even have been mashed and creamed with llama milk, before are being served with foul or other game.

Potatoes are a good source of vitamin B6, C, potassium and other minerals, as well as being a source of fibre. If possible be potatoes should be eaten with the skin, as when eaten in this manner, they provides approximately 25mg of vitamin C, the skins providing both fibre chlorogenic acid, a phytochemical of anti-cancer properties.

Potatoes can be a problem for people with diabetes as they have a high glycemic index.

Did you know?

Potatoes contain small amounts of ferric iron absorbed from soil. These may show up as small black dots in a potato when cooked and are harmless. Most people mistake them for bad spots in the flesh of the potato. Potatoes with a green tint to the skin, or with a green tint when peeled should be avoided, as the green substance called solanine is a mild toxic and can cause diarrhoea cramps, drowsiness and migraines.

A new potato is not just a small potato, but in fact, a potato that has been dug up before are the plant’s foliage has begun to die. This gives it a softer skin and the more intense flavour.

Tags: Potatoes Migraine