Black seed honey is usually available in the winter during the period of seed cultivation. It is worth noting that there are not enough studies available on the benefits of black seed honey, but in one study, mice; Published by the Journal of Apitherapy in 2019, conducted with the aim of evaluating the effect of black seed honey in calming anxiety, and it was noted that black seed honey has a non-hypnotic anti-anxiety effect; And that depends on the dose taken from it, but this study was conducted on animals, and it is not enough to confirm the benefit of this type of honey in relieving anxiety, and there is still a need to conduct more studies to know its effect in humans.
It is worth noting that honey has many types; There are about 320 different types of honey, differing in taste, color, and smell.
Benefits of honey in general
Honey contains mainly sugar, in addition to various types of amino acids, and it also contains compounds that have antioxidant properties, compounds that help protect the body from cell damage caused by harmful compounds known as free radicals, which are compounds that are linked to An increase in the risk of chronic diseases, such as heart disease and cancer, and the antioxidants in honey may help reduce the effect of these harmful compounds, which reduces the risk of these diseases, and it should be noted that some types of honey contain a large amount of antioxidants close to the quantities found in fruits and vegetables.
Honey is also a source of many minerals and vitamins such as calcium, iron, copper, phosphorous, potassium, magnesium, zinc and manganese, in addition to vitamin C, vitamin B2, vitamin B3, and vitamin B5.
For more information about the benefits of honey, you can read the article What are the benefits of honey.
The difference between types of honey As mentioned earlier, there are more than 300 different types of honey, and each type has unique sources of flowers, and different climatic conditions.
It is worth noting that the source of flowers has an effect on the composition of honey, including the different quantities and types of antioxidants, and other chemical plant materials available in honey, in addition to the fact that its color affects its content of antioxidants, As dark honey contains a higher amount of antioxidants compared to With a light honey colour.
The glycemic index also varies for different types of honey, and ranges between 32-85, depending on the plant source that is less than sucrose, ranging between 60-110, and on the other hand, the types of honey rich in fructose are considered to have a low glycemic index. Relatively compared to other types of honey, for example: Acacia Honey.
Note: The glycemic index is a value used to determine the effect of a particular type of food on raising blood sugar levels. Foods are divided according to their glycemic index into 3 categories: foods with a low glycemic index; Which does not cause a rapid and significant rise in blood sugar levels, and for foods with a medium glycemic index; Which causes a moderate rise in blood sugar levels, and foods with a high glycemic index; Which causes a rapid and large rise in blood sugar levels.
Also, different types of honey contain varying amounts of minerals and trace elements.
honey side effects
The degree of safety of honey Eating honey is often considered safe for most adults, and for pregnant women when it is in moderate quantities as available in food, but the concern about food poisoning is when eating honey by infants and young children, and there is not much information available about the safety of using very large quantities of it by pregnant or breastfeeding women; So you should avoid large quantities in these cases, and stick to the quantities usually found in food to stay on the safe side.
As for children from the age of one year or more, honey consumption is often considered safe when it is in moderate quantities, while it is likely that it is unsafe to be consumed by children under the age of 12 months and infants due to the possibility of food poisoning, as mentioned previously.
Contraindications to the use of honey
Some people should be careful when wanting to consume honey of all kinds, and we mention from these people the following:
Diabetics: Consuming large amounts of honey may increase blood sugar levels in patients with type 2 diabetes.
People with pollen allergies: Honey contains pollen, which may cause allergic reactions in people with pollen allergies. So they should avoid it.
