From: abulsari@abo.fi (Abhay Bulsari VT)
Subject: Is honey healthy ? (Valuable information for newcomers becoming vegan)
Organization: Abo Akademi University
Date: Sat, 3 Oct 1992 13:44:41 GMT


I received this from: Michael Traub <traub@btcs.bt.co.uk>



Reproduced from "The Vegan", Autumn 1992

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Healthy Honey?

Honey  -  a  pure natural food for humans coming direct from nature? That's
too  much  to  swallow.  Honey  is  produced  when nectar is mixed with the
digestive  secretions  of  the  bee, and the resulting mixture is disgorged
(to  be  fed  half-digested  to  other  bees).  Its  sole purpose is not to
satisfy  humans'  sweet  tooth  but  to  provide  the  energy  necessary to
sustain  a  bee  in  flight.  It  is no more suitable for humans than cow's
milk.  How  many  other  species  consume  regurgitated,  pre-digested food
produced by, and for another species?

Researchers  have  discovered  that  honey  can  be  contaminated  with the
bacterium  clostridium  botulinum  which  causes  one third of all cases of
infant  botulism.  A  health  warning about feeding honey to babies appears
in  "The  Parent's  When-Not-To-Worry  Book" by Barry Behrstock (MD, Fellow
of  American  Academy  of  Pediatrics)  and  Richard  Trub. They state that
infant  botulism  can  produce a muscle-weakening disease in babies and has
even  been  implicated  in some cases of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Many
paediatricians  are  now insisting that no child be given any form of honey
during its first year of life.

Depending  on  the source of the nectar, honey can also contain poisons. Dr
Herbert  M  Shelton  states:  "In  many parts of the world poisonous honeys
are  produced.  I have eaten honey that was as bitter as quinine." (Source:
Ahimsa,  July-September  1991.)  He  goes  on  to  say  that no person with
gastric  or  intestinal  ulcer,  or  any  marked catarrhal condition should
ever use honey.

In  his  book  "Pesticides  and  Your  Food",  Andrew Watterson states that
pesticides  which  may  be  found  in  honey  include:  cypermethrin,  DDT,
deltamethrin,  dieldrin,  fenvalerate,  malathion  and pirimiphosmethyl. In
1988-9  gamma-HCH  was present in our out of seven samples of honey checked
by  the  Ministry  of  Agriculture,  Fisheries  and Food (MAFF). In Bombay,
honey   has   been   found   to  contain  BHC,  gamma-HCH,  heptachlor  and
aldrin/dieldrin  but  not in concentrations above the limits adopted by the
World Health Organisation (WHO).

An  American  organic  food  publication  notes  that  bees  may  resort to
drinking  from  a  sewage  leech  bed  or  the  run-off  from a chemical or
oil-retaining  pond  if  cleaner  sources of drinking water are not readily
available.

In  addition  to  honey,  numerous  (so-far  unsubstantiated) health claims
have  been  made  for  royal  jelly  - the food of queen bees. However, the
Consumer's  Association  failed  to find any clear evidence that it has any
medicinal  benefits.  "A  30g  bowl  of  cornflakes  provides 30 times more
thiamin  and  riboflavin;  90  times more niacin; and nearly 400 times more
folic  acid  than  a 500mg dose of royal jelly. And the cornflakes are much
cheaper."  (Guardian  9.4.91.)  Despite this annual sales in Britain top 17
million pounds.

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