A drawing made for this site. Drag it to turn it.

Honey (raw and manuka)

Apis mellifera (honey) · 蜂蜜

Bee Medicine. Ayurveda, Chinese Medicine and Modern nutrition.

Also called Manuka honey, Raw honey, Feng mi

Pinyin: Fēng Mì

Spanish: Miel

Sanskrit: मधु (Madhu)

Never for babies under 1

A sweet syrup that bees make from nectar, used as food and, in medical-grade form, as a wound dressing.

Did you know? Bees add an enzyme to nectar that slowly makes a little hydrogen peroxide, one reason honey resists germs.

What it may help, and how strong the proof is

Sore throat & cough. May ease nighttime cough in children over one year. A 2018 review found the evidence low to moderate, and not clear enough to prove benefit.
Early proof
Wounds, burns & bites. Medical-grade honey on some wounds and burns may help healing. The evidence is low quality and mixed.
Early proof
Blood sugar. Raw honey raises blood sugar like other sugar. Claims that it lowers blood sugar are not supported.
Not supported

Parts of the body

Mouth & throat, Lungs, Skin & hair, Pancreas & blood sugar

Traditional use

Honey has a long place in Ayurveda and Chinese medicine, mostly as a soothing tonic and cough remedy. Ancient Egyptians used it on wounds.

How it is classified

Herbal actions: Demulcent, Vulnerary, Antimicrobial, Nutritive. Energy: neutral.
Ayurveda: Calms Vata and Kapha. Can raise Pitta. Taste (rasa): sweet. Energy (virya): heating. After digestion (vipaka): sweet. Kasahara (relieves cough).
Chinese medicine: 蜂蜜 Tonify Qi. Nature: neutral. Flavour: sweet. Enters the Spleen, Lung and Large Intestine channels.

How people take it

Eaten by the spoon or stirred into tea and warm drinks. Medical-grade honey is used as a wound dressing under medical care. Never give honey to babies under one year.

Food, syrup and topical.

Where to get it

Made by honey bees from nectar. Raw honey is less processed. Manuka honey comes from New Zealand and Australia, made from manuka flower nectar, and its strength is rated by MGO (methylglyoxal) or a UMF grade.

Be careful

Never give honey to babies under 12 months because of infant botulism risk. Honey raises blood sugar. People allergic to pollen may react to honey. Honey fraud is common, and some honey is mixed with cheap syrup.

Avoid if: infants under 12 months; diabetes medicines; pollen allergy.

Mixing with other things

Works well together
Traditional remedies mix the seed or its oil with honey.
Works well together
Used together in many Middle Eastern sweets and snacks.
Works well together
Ginger and honey are a classic cough and sore throat pairing in folk remedies.
Works well together
Lemon and honey are a common warm drink for sore throat.
Works well together
Honey and vinegar drinks are a long-standing folk tonic.
Use caution
Diabetes medicine (metformin, insulin, glipizide, Ozempic)
Adds sugar that raises blood sugar, which matters with diabetes medicines.

Adds up with others that may lower blood sugar: , , , , , , , , , , , , , and 39 more.

Found in these formulas

Chyawanprash (Ayurveda), Golden milk (Ayurveda), Fire cider (Folk), Elderberry syrup (Western), Cold-season kit (Modern)

The honest take

Honey is a good food with a few real medical uses, such as a cough remedy for older children and medical-grade honey on some wounds. Many health claims are overstated, and fake or mislabeled honey is common. Manuka honey has real antibacterial activity, but it costs much more and is often sold with inflated claims.