Honeycomb

From the beehive straight to your kitchen. Natural honeycomb is by far the purest way to eat honey in its rawest form.

Honeybees produce honeycomb in their hives. Composed of beeswax, the structure of honeycomb consists of hexagon-shaped cells used to store honey. The wax that makes up honeycomb contains long-chain fatty acids, along with long-chain alcohols, or esters. The honey stored within the honeycomb is the purest, rawest form of honey, and the wax the honeycomb is made of has nutritional value and health benefits.

Health benefits of raw honeycomb seem to be due to the fatty alcohols found in the wax. These wax alcohols seem to have a positive effect on cholesterol and glucose metabolism. The wax alcohols also appear to have antioxidant effects that help protect your liver.

Honeycomb can significantly lower bad cholesterol and raise good cholesterol, according to a review published in the March 2004 issue of the journal Experimental Biology and Medicine. In humans, clinical data in one study showed honeycomb fatty acids and alcohols lowered low-density lipoprotein by 21 to 29 percent.

It appears that the waxy alcohols found in honeycomb promote healthy glucose metabolism. In the fatty liver study, the waxy alcohols in honeycomb significantly reduced insulin levels and markers for insulin resistance in participants. Insulin resistance can lead to type-2 diabetes and other problems.

It must be remembered that more isn’t better. Honeycomb honey and wax should be taken in moderation.