HONEY

HONEY

Honey is a mixture of sugars and other compounds. With respect to carbohydrates, honey is mainly fructose (about 38.5%) and glucose (about 31.0%),making it similar to the synthetically produced inverted sugar syrup which is approximately 48% fructose, 47% glucose, and 5% sucrose. Honey's remaining carbohydrates include maltose, sucrose, and other complex carbohydrates.Honey contains trace amounts of several vitamins and minerals.As with all nutritive sweeteners, honey is mostly sugars and is not a significant source of vitamins or minerals.Honey also contains tiny amounts of several compounds thought to function as antioxidants, including chrysin, pinobanksin, vitamin C, catalase, and pinocembrin.The specific composition of any batch of honey will depend largely on the mix of flowers available to the bees that produced the honey.
Typical honey analysis
Fructose: 38.0%
Glucose: 31.0%
Sucrose: 1.0%
Water: 17.0%
Other sugars: 9.0% (maltose, melezitose)
Ash: 0.17%
Other: 3.38%
The analysis of the sugar content of honey is used for detecting adulteration.[citation needed] Honey has a density of about 1.36 kilograms per liter (36% denser than water).

For at least 2700 years, honey has been used by the Egyptians and also by modern humans to treat a variety of ailments through topical application, but only recently have the antiseptic and antibacterial properties of honey been chemically explained. Wound Gels that contain antibacterial honey and have regulatory approval for wound care are now available to help conventional medicine in the battle against drug resistant strains of bacteria MRSA. As an antimicrobial agent honey may have the potential for treating a variety of ailments. One New Zealand researcher says a particular type of honey may be useful in treating MRSA infections. Antibacterial properties of honey are the result of the low water activity causing osmosis, hydrogen peroxide effect, and high acidity.