Honey is nature's perfect food. While honey is primarily composed of fructose, glucose and water, it also contains other sugars as well trace enzymes, minerals, vitamins and amino acids.
For all the chemists out there, honey is about 82% carbohydrates. The carbohydrates present are the monosaccharides fructose (38.2%) and glucose (31%); and disaccharides (~9%) sucrose, maltose, isomaltose, maltulose, turanose and kojibiose. There are also some oligosaccharides present (4.2%), including erlose, theanderose and panose (formed from incomplete breakdown of the higher saccharides present in nectar and honeydew). Honey also contains a number of enzymes, including invertase, amylase, glucose oxidase, catalase, and acid phosphorylase, which removes inorganic phosphate from organic phosphates. Eighteen free amino acids can also be found in honey, of which the most abundant is proline. All honey also contains trace amounts of the B vitamins riboflavin, niacin, folic acid, pantothenic acid and vitamin B6, as well as ascorbic acid (vitamin C), and the minerals calcium, iron, zinc, potassium, phosphorous, magnesium, selenium, chromium and manganese.
The main group of antioxidants in honey are the flavonoids, of which one, pinocembrin, is unique to honey and bee propolis. Ascorbic acid, catalase and selenium are also antioxidants. Generally speaking, the darker the honey, the greater its antioxidising properties.
Other compounds in honey are the following organic acids: acetic, butanoic, formic, citric, succinic, lactic, malic, pyroglutamic and gluconic, and a number of aromatic acids. The main acid present is gluconic acid, formed in the breakdown of glucose by glucose oxidase. Honey also contains hydroxymethylfurfural, a natural product of the breakdown of simple sugars below pH 5.
So what does all this mean for the layman? It means that even though honey tastes great, it also has a number of pharmaceutical advantages for humans (and animals too). It means honey is chemically diverse enough to heal a plethora of human ailments, from burns to high blood pressure to allergies. It means you can enjoy honey twice, once for its flavor, and once for its healing properties.
