Honey: nutrition and cosmetics

Honey is a very nutritious food produced by bees from nectar or honeydew. Found on the flowers of many plant varieties, it is produced by the nectariferous glands located inside and outside the flower. Can we consider it an ancestor of sugar? Of course! For millennia honey was the only sugar ingredient available and the first traces of this food date back to the 6th millennium BC. ; from the deciphering of the hieroglyphs of Ancient Egypt it immediately became clear how much honey was not used purely in the food sector but also in the medical and cosmetic fields. But how many types of honey are there? Thousands of flower species are visited daily by bees: some of these give rise to so-called unifloral honeys [in which there is still a percentage of nectars from different plants] while others give rise to the famous multi-flower honey.

The color, texture and flavor of this food can vary greatly depending on the bloom from which the nectar is collected.

Its uses other than food? In the herbal field, honey is used for the treatment of the hematopoietic system, the skin system, the nervous system, the respiratory and digestive systems; instead in fresh honey the antibacterial and antioxidant properties are strong, qualities that tend to fade with the passage of time and exposure to the light and the heat.

In cosmetics, honey is widely used for its emollient, hydrating and antioxidant properties; its greatest virtues? Applied to the skin, it performs a highly restorative action by hydrating it and giving it a new softness; its antioxidant power instead contrasts skin aging and the premature appearance of annoying blemishes. Finally, the high concentration of fat-soluble sugars contained in it helps to moisten the skin and fight the dispersion of intracellular water.