Unlock the Power of Honeycomb: Boost Nutrition, Accelerate Weight Loss & Enhance Metabolic Health!

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a cluster of diseases comprising obesity, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, and hypertension. There are numerous pre-clinical as well as human studies reporting the protective effects of honey against MetS. Honeycomb, with its raw honey, beeswax, propolis, and royal jelly, offers a unique nutritional profile that may contribute to weight management and overall health. This article explores the potential benefits of honeycomb in the context of nutrition, weight loss, and metabolic health, considering both scientific evidence and practical applications.

Understanding Metabolic Syndrome

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a cluster of multiple risk factors that predispose patients to cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. It was first described as syndrome “X” in 1988 by Reaven. Since then, various organizations have established their own diagnostic criteria and definitions including the modified World Health Organization criteria in 1998, the International Diabetes Federation/National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute/American Heart Association criteria (IDF/NHLBI/AHA), the revised National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP ATPIII) and the Joint Interim Statement or “Harmonized” criteria.

Global prevalence of MetS varies according to age, ethnicity and gender. In the United States, the overall prevalence of MetS was 33% within the period of 2003-2012, affecting predominately women and the Hispanic population. The prevalence of MetS among adults in the Asia Pacific region was reported to be approximately 25.7%. Among South-East Asian countries, Malaysia was found to have a higher prevalence of MetS, which stands at 34.3% as compared to Philippines (11.9%), Indonesia (28.4%) and Singapore (20.2%). The syndrome was generally more prominent among urbanites, females, elderly (≥50 years old) and among the Indian population.

Rapid urbanization and changes in lifestyle, especially in developing countries, are closely related to MetS. Some of the risk factors include sedentary lifestyle, consumption of an unhealthy diet consisting of high saturated fat with low fibre, as well as general and central (or abdominal) obesity. Lifestyle modification remains the main emphasis of MetS treatment, with the primary goal to reduce the risk for complications, like atherosclerotic disease. If unsuccessful, the patient may be treated with drug therapy targeting each component of MetS, resulting in polypharmacy. Polypharmacy poses certain challenges to the patients, including non-compliance to medications, adverse drug reactions, drug-to-drug interactions and the requirement for multiple visits to the physician.

Natural products such as ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids found in fish, flaxseed oil, resveratrol in red wine, dark chocolate, cinnamon extract, soy protein, dietary fibre, chromium and traditional Chinese herbs have been used as dietary interventions in lowering the incidence of MetS. Generally, these natural products improved MetS through their anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic effects.

What is Honeycomb?

According to the Codex Alimentarius, “honey is the natural sweet substance produced by Apis mellifera bees from the nectar of plants, secretions of living parts of plants, or excretions of plant-sucking insects on the living parts of plants, which the bees collect, transform by combining with specific substances of their own, deposit, dehydrate, store and leave in the honeycomb to ripen and mature”. However, other species of bees and insects can also produce honey such as stingless bees (Melipona and Trigona spp.) and Nectarina wasps in South America, as well as several species of honey ants, especially Melophorus inflatus in Australia. In addition, social wasps and bumblebees (Bombus spp.) also produce small amounts of honey.

Honeycomb is divided into two broad categories that include Blossom Honey or Nectar Honey (originates from nectars of plants) and Honeydew Honey [mainly from excretions of plant sucking insects (Hemiptera) on the living parts of plants or secretions of living parts of plants]. Additionally, honeydew honey can also be defined as a type of honey produced by sap-sucking insects (e.g., aphids) and is made from honeydew, but not from the blossom nectar. Honey can be further classified as mono- or multifloral honey according to the quantification of pollen types. There are four types of pollen quantification: (1) Predominant pollen types (calculated total pollen grains >45%); (2) Secondary pollen types (16-45%); (3) Important minor pollen types (3-15%); and (4) Minor pollen types (<3%). The honey is considered as monofloral if it has a predominant pollen type. In contrast, if the honey contains other pollen types, it is classified as multifloral.

The composition, flavour and aroma of the honey depend on the plant sources, climate and environmental conditions. Carbohydrate is the main constituent in dry weight honey with fructose being the highest component at approximately 32-38% followed by glucose as well as other disaccharides and oligosaccharides. Honey also contains organic acids, minerals, trace elements, numerous vitamins, enzymes and proteins. The antioxidant capability of honey is linked to its polyphenol compounds which comprise of flavonoids (e.g., quercetin, luteolin, kaempferol, apigenin, chrysin, galangin), phenolic acids, antioxidant enzymes (e.g., glucose oxidase and catalase), ascorbic acid, and carotenoid. Different types of honey exert different degrees of health benefits even though they have common composition and physicochemical properties such as high osmolarity, low moisture and acidity. This is related to its geographical, seasonal and botanical origin as well as the harvesting, processing and storage conditions.

The Composition of Honeycomb

Honeycomb is like nature’s little vault, storing more than just the golden honey you see at first glance. It’s a mix of sweet nectar, nourishing wax, protective resins, and nutrient-packed secretions-all crafted by bees with incredible precision. Here's a breakdown of its key components:

Raw honey: The heart of the honeycomb, full of natural sugars, enzymes, and antioxidants. It delivers quick energy while also offering phytonutrients that can help protect cells from oxidative stress. Raw honey contains natural enzymes and antioxidants. Raw honeycomb contains raw honey, which is a natural source of antioxidants and has antimicrobial properties.
Beeswax: A source of long-chain fatty acids and alcohols that can help support the gut lining. Beeswax slows gastric emptying, helping you feel full longer. Beeswax is composed of long-chain fatty acids and alcohols.
Propolis: The bee-made resin that acts like the hive’s security system, sealing and protecting it from bacteria and mold. The propolis is associated with anti-fungal properties and helps to prevent candida.
Royal jelly: A creamy, nutrient-rich secretion that bees make specifically to nourish the queen. It contains proteins, fatty acids, and vitamins linked to hormonal balance, healthy metabolism, and overall vitality.

Authentic raw honeycomb maintains a natural chewiness due to its beeswax.

Honeycomb and Weight Loss: The Connection

Is honeycomb good for weight loss? You might be surprised to learn that this natural, sweet substance could play a role in supporting your health goals. Beneath its golden sweetness lies a blend of natural compounds that can support the body in subtle, meaningful ways. Honeycomb can absolutely play a role in a healthy lifestyle, but it shines brightest as part of a balanced diet.

Honeycomb works best when enjoyed with a little intention. Honeycomb can feel like a little luxury on your plate, but it’s most effective when it’s part of a broader, balanced approach to health and weight management.

Benefits

Satiety: Beeswax slows gastric emptying, helping you feel full longer.
Natural Sweetener: Honeycomb’s flavor is luxurious and concentrated, making it an excellent natural sweetener.
Energy Source: Raw honey delivers quick energy.

Considerations

Calorie Density: Because honeycomb is calorie-dense, even a small piece packs a lot of natural sugar and energy.
Moderation: It can be-when enjoyed in moderation and paired with nutrient-rich foods. A small piece-about one to two teaspoons-goes a long way.

Honeycomb and Obesity: Scientific Evidence

Obesity is the central occurrence in MetS. According to the harmonized criteria mentioned previously, the presence of three out of five criteria in an individual is required for diagnosing MetS. One of the criteria is central obesity due to the accumulation of visceral adipose, defined by increased waist circumference. As excessive, unused energy is being stored in the body, adipose tissue becomes hypertrophied and undergoes hyperplasia, leading to reduced blood supply to the tissue, resulting in a hypoxic environment. At the same time, the adipose tissue itself produces a number of pro-inflammatory mediators namely tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), leptin, resistin and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1).

Protective effects of honey against obesity have been reported in animal experimental studies. For instance, short-term feeding with honeydew honey (Northofagus solandrii) resulted in a lower percentage of weight gain in rats than in those fed with sucrose and mixed sugars diet, although there were no differences in term of total energy intake among the rats. Likewise, long-term administration of honeydew honey for 365 days significantly prevented overall weight gain in adult rats compared to the rats receiving long-term sucrose. In addition, rats receiving long-term honey treatment developed significantly lower body fat percentage when analysed with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scan compared to the sucrose group, measuring at 25.5 ± 6.1% and 34.7 ± 9.1% of body fat percentage, respectively.

Like adult rats, a similar result has been observed in growing rats. By feeding 7-day old rats with either cane syrup or honey with identical nutritional value, visceral fat of rats receiving cane syrup was substantially higher as compared to rats fed with honey. In addition, the liver of cane syrup-fed rats showed accumulation of fat droplets as well as fatty degeneration which were significantly reduced in the honey supplemented group.

The anti-obesity effect of honey was further demonstrated by Nemoseck et al. (2011). Compared to the sucrose-fed group, honey-fed rats were found to have significantly:

Lower weight gain (118 ± 20 g vs. 135 ± 33 g).
Lesser food intake (729 ± 150 g vs. 880 ± 172 g).
Decreased fat pad weight (3.89 ± 0.63 g vs. 4.87 ± 0.94 g).
Smaller percentage of relative fat (1.11 ± 0.13% vs. 1.33 ± 0.16%).
Reduced level of serum leptin (449.0 ± 143.3 pg/mL vs.

Compared with sucrose and mixed sugar-fed rat groups, rats receiving honey had a significantly lesser percentage of weight gain (155.0 ± 6.5% and 151.5 ± 14.4% vs. Long-term feeding with honey resulted in:

Markedly lower percentage of overall weight gain than sucrose-fed rats (107.2 ± 13.8% vs. 130.6 ± 26.7%).
Significantly smaller total body fat percentage compared to sucrose-fed rats (25.5 ± 6.4% vs.

Both low and high dose honey administration caused:

Significantly lower visceral fat mass and visceral fat percentage (especially in male rats).

Honey supplementation led to:

Non-significant weight loss (1.3%; p = 0.09).
Mild decreased in body fat percentage (1.1%; p = 0.279).
Non-significant decreased in fat mass (1.1%; p = 0.682).

Consumption of honey significantly decreased body weight in type II DM patients as compared to control (69.5 ± 11.9 kg vs.

It is noteworthy that honey is also capable of exerting anti-obesity effects in human as reported in randomized clinical trials (RCTs). A total number of 55 apparently healthy, overweight and obese individuals with body mass index (BMI) of >25 kg/m2 were recruited and allocated into either sucrose-receiving or honey-receiving groups randomly. At the end of study duration, individuals prescribed with 70 g honey had a mild reduction in body weight (1.3%), fat weight (1.1%) and body fat percentage (1.8%) along with significantly decreased BMI (1.2%; p = 0.02). In another RCT, Bahrami et al. (2009) recruited 42 patients with type II diabetes mellitus and randomly assigned them into control and honey-supplemented groups for 56 days. This study reported that the addition of honey in the diabetic treatment regime significantly reduced the patients’ body weight (p = 0.000) at the end of the study period.

Honeycomb and Diabetes

MetS is predictive of type II diabetes. Individuals with metabolic syndrome had a five-fold increased risk for developing the disease. Type II diabetes mellitus is a chronic noncommunicable disease characterized by insulin insensitivity causing a rise in the blood glucose level. It affects nearly 150 million of the world population and the number is expected to double by the year 2025. People with diabetes have increased risk of coronary heart disease and stroke, contributing up to 10% of adult mortality in developed nations. Current management of type II diabetes in clinical settings include mass screening of the general population, prevention via lifestyle modification and weight reduction; with pharmacological treatment as the last resort if other steps have failed.

For years, researchers have been conducting various animal studies, preclinical trials as well as RCTs to show the beneficial effects of honey on diabetes. Treatment of 1.0 g/kg/day honey resulted in a modest decrease of fasting blood sugar (FBS) level at the end of study duration. Honey administration at the dose of 2.0 g/kg/day caused marked reduction of FBS after 28 days. Treatment with both 1.0 and 2.0 g/kg/day of honey:

Protected against shrinkage of the pancreatic islets sizes.
Significantly elevated the serum insulin level.
Markedly increased insulin intensity in the pancreatic islets (as seen in the immunohistochemistry analysis).

Patients receiving honey were observed to have significant reduction of fasting blood sugar level after 56 days treatment compared to baseline (124.3 ± 37.5 vs. Diabetic rats supplemented with honey (1 and 2 g/kg) had significantly lower FBS (7.8 ± 0.12 mmol/L and 9.03 ± 0.15 mmol/L, respectively) than diabetic control rats (31.1 ± 2.3 mmol/L). Treatment with honey resulted in a non-significant reduction of FBS and 2 hour postprandial glucose level compared with untreated alloxan-induced DM rats (8.44 ± 1.66 and 11.05 ± 2.11 mmol/L vs. 11.57 ± 2.22 and 16.45 ± 3.11 mmol/L, respectively). After 56th days, serum glucose concentration of noise-induced diabetic rats treated with honey had a significant lower concentration (208 ± 34.6 mg/dL) (p < 0.01) compared to untreated diabetic rats. Honey-treated rats had a larger diameter of the Langerhans islands in the pancreas compared to diabetic control (5.6 ± 154.5 vs.

Multifloral honey (Apis cerana indica F., Apis mellifera L., Apis dorsata F., Apis florea F. Trigona iridipennis honey had the strongest α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibitory properties compared to other multifloral honey species.

Streptozotocin (STZ) is known to induce diabetes in rats by damaging pancreatic β-cells of islets of Langerhans. These cells are responsible for the production of insulin to increase cellular uptake of glucose. Administration of mad honey (produced from the flower of Rhododendron spp., a botanical family of Ericaceae) in STZ-induced diabetic rats and non-diabetic rats for 3 days has been shown to markedly reduce blood glucose levels.

Antidiabetic effects of honey are also explained by its ability to modulate adiponectin levels as well as its antioxidant capacity. Adiponectin, a hormone secreted by adipose tissue to regulate glucose and lipid metabolism, is found to be decreased in diabetic patients. Meanwhile, oxidative stress-mediated lipid peroxidation has been linked to the development of complications in diabetes. A high level of adiponectin reduces systemic inflammation and improve insulin sensitivity. In a study by Hemmati et al. (2015), STZ-induced diabetic rats were orally fed with honey for 21 days at the doses of 1.0 and 2.0 g/kg/day. The researchers observed a significant increase of adiponectin levels (4.5 ± 0.2 and 4.2 ± 0.3 mg/L, respectively) with a marked decrease of malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in the supplemented rats compared to the diabetic control rats. Thus, these effects were correlated with a significant improvement of fasting blood sugar (FBS) levels and lipid profiles in honey-…

Honey Intake and Metabolic Syndrome

Honey intake reduces blood sugar levels and prevents excessive weight gain. It also improves lipid metabolism by reducing total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and increasing high-density lipoprotein (HDL), which leads to decreased risk of atherogenesis. In addition, honey enhances insulin sensitivity that further stabilizes blood glucose levels and protects the pancreas from overstimulation brought on by insulin resistance. Furthermore, antioxidative properties of honey help in reducing oxidative stress, which is one of the central mechanisms in MetS. Lastly, honey protects the vasculature from endothelial dysfunction and remodelling.

Incorporating Honeycomb into Your Diet

Honeycomb’s vast array of health benefits exceed that of any liquid honey, and according to Ella, outweigh the overall benefits of maple syrup and agave as well. Ella says, "No other sweeteners possess the health benefits that raw honeycomb does. The glucose oxidase is the digestive enzyme in the honeycomb, which helps us to optimize our digestion, and helps us slow down the blood glucose response and absorption, so we don't have the spikes. The propolis is associated with anti-fungal properties and helps to prevent candida. Polyphenols and antioxidants are also associated with lower cholesterol and decreased risk of heart disease. Pass the Honey’s single-serve honeycomb is versatile. It can adorn beautiful dishes and appetizer plates as well as be your on-the-go snack.

If we had to give you just one reason why eat honeycomb, it’s because it’s the closest thing to nature’s candy. First, raw honeycomb is a natural bee product crafted from waxy, hexagonal cells filled with pure, raw honey.

Serving Suggestions

Enjoy it Raw: Enjoy the natural, sweet taste of honeycomb directly. Its rich, golden flavor makes it an excellent snack on its own, offering a burst of nature's sweetness.
In Beverages: Add honeycomb to your favorite teas or herbal infusions for a natural sweetness and a subtle flavor twist. It pairs well with green tea, chamomile, or spiced chai for a soothing experience.
With Cheese: The rich sweetness of honeycomb complements the sharp, salty taste of many cheeses.
On Bread or Crackers: Add honeycomb to toasted bread or crackers for an easy and delicious snack. Its smooth texture spreads quickly and pairs beautifully with butter or cream cheese.
On Yogurt or Oatmeal: Drizzle honeycomb over yogurt or oatmeal for an instant flavor upgrade. Its natural sweetness and texture add depth to these classic morning options, making breakfast feel extra special.
On Desserts: Honeycomb adds a touch of elegance to desserts like ice cream, cake, or cheesecake, enhancing taste and presentation. Its natural sweetness pairs beautifully with a variety of treats.
With Fruit: Pair honeycomb with fresh fruits like apples, pears, or berries.
In Salads: Adding honeycomb to your salad can give it an unexpected yet delightful sweet contrast.

How to Identify Real Honeycomb

Labels: Look for labels or markings indicating the honeycomb is raw and unprocessed. Honeycomb is one of the purest and most natural forms of honey available.
Sourcing: Always verify where your honeycomb comes from.
Texture: Authentic raw honeycomb maintains a natural chewiness due to its beeswax.

Potential Drawbacks and Precautions

Allergies: If you’re sensitive to bee products, honeycomb may cause reactions ranging from mild itching to more serious symptoms.
Blood Sugar: Research suggests that honeycomb’s natural sugars, such as glucose and fructose, are metabolized differently than refined sugars, which may influence blood sugar levels. By definition, High Gi carbohydrates cause blood sugar levels to spike and then crash, whereas low Gi foods are digested and absorbed more slowly. (Did you know that this concept is true of fruit as well?
Moderation is Key: Honeycomb can offer anti-inflammatory support, gut-nourishing compounds, and gentle energy when it’s part of a thoughtful, balanced eating plan.

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