Can Honey Be Our Cure For Cancer?
As you probably already know cancer is something that in the last few decades has been a growing problem, and more so than it ever was before as we are now expected to live longer than previous generations.
Right now where it stands for the top causes of death, cancer is only in 2nd place right behind heart disease. But this is what got me, the world health organization is now stating that they expect to see a 77% increase in people diagnosed with cancer during the next 20 years, that means 35 million people will be diagnosed with cancer. So I know you may be thinking that you will be the lucky one to dodge that bullet but here’s a quick stat. in the united states they are projecting 1 in 2 males and 1 in 3 women will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. So at some point cancer will touch if not you or me then it will touch a loved one if it hasn’t already. Scientists have been working really hard on finding treatments that are said to work….sometimes. We currently take the cut, poison, burn, or melt approach.
If the cancer has not progressed to begin entering other parts of the body we start by cutting it out. And if that’s not enough we go to chemotherapy and radiation which is how we attempt to poison and burn the cancer but still killing all of the good cells surrounding the location, thats why it’s referred to as poison. And if that doesn’t work then there are new immunotherapy options to try and train you immune system to attack the cancer cells.
I don’t know about you but all of these options sound very scary, especially when there is no guarantee that they actually work. Right now the survival rate of cancer is listed at anywhere between a 70% survival rate for 5 years after your diagnosis, to only 19% survive for 20 years. All linking to how early in the cancers progression one is diagnosed and what type of cancer you’re diagnosed with.
There’s no denying that early detection is crucial in beating cancer but
What if there was a way to prevent cancer from the start?
That is the question I asked google after seeing the newest press release about a vaccine that has been designed to train your immune system to attack cancer.
It has been known for quite some time now that beekeepers are said to have one of the longest lifespans of any profession.
“ John Anderson, Professor of beekeeping, University of Aberdeen, unequivocally declared: Keep bees and eat honey if you want to live long. Beekeepers live longer than anyone else.”1965
But why??
And that lead me to a study that was published just 10 years ago investigating the mechanisms of honey and it’s potential to be anti cancerous. Could this be why beekeepers are known to live longer?
So cancer can be really tricky in that normally the body’s immune system could detect anything that goes awry but what makes cancer so deadly is that it has a way of tricking your body so that it never even knows that it’s there to begin with…
There are two characteristics of cancer cells 1. Is that it has uncontrolled cellular proliferation (new cells) and 2. It has inadequate apoptotic turnover. Aka cell death.
So to try to explain this in the simplest terms…
Apoptosis aka “programmed cell death” is a series of molecular steps that break down the cell's DNA and cytoskeleton. This process is activated by enzymes but the problem with cancer is that it disguises itself by binding to these proteins in your body that would typically tell your body to attack.
What does this mean when it comes to honey?
Honey contains antioxidants known as polyphenols. Think of these guys as the clean up crew in your body that go around combating any environmental harm or stress that is detected in the body. Their job is especially important today since you and I are coming in contact with external stressors on a daily basis. These stressors are in the air we breathe, the food we eat, even in the tap water that we drink. But, thru those polyphenols honey is able to activate a gene known as p53. P53 is normally responsible for sending proteins to attack cancer and attack cells with damaged DNA. But, most types of cancer form mutations in this gene, disabling it so that its unable to bind DNA effectively. Unfortunately this means the cells are able to divide uncontrollably and form tumors. But…. that’s where honey comes to the rescue, honey doesn’t only interfere with any mutations cancer tries to make in that p53 gene but honey also interrupts cancer’s processes with mutating more genes.
But this is just brushing the surface of what honey can do in the fight against cancer. Honey has been regarded to in ancient culture as being a gift from the Gods and now I am starting to wonder if they knew its power all along. How is it that this sticky and sweet substance that the bees create by collecting nectar from flowers and spitting it back out from bee to bee, be responsible for stopping cancer cells from replicating while also giving your body the nutrients it needs to keep normal cell production moving along smoothly all while reducing inflammation so that your body lives in an environment that supports your immune system? Omg all of the scientific details behind this is mind blowing.
But…there’s one problem…when you go to the grocery store 90% of the honey that you find on the shelves isn’t even real honey anymore. And a lot of this is because ion the US most of the honey in supermarkets are from other countries. And these other countries mix their honey with corn syrup so that they can sell it to us at a cheaper price so that honey packaging facilities are forced to outsource their product just so they can improve their bottom dollar. I have seen that more light has been shed on this topic through randomized trials pulling honey off the shelves and sending it thru a spectrometry test to see how much of a bottle is actually pure honey. Unfortunately, this is how we know that 90% of the honey you find in your local supermarket is fake.
So how are we supposed to get these health benefits if access to honey is limited?
In 2020 there was a beekeeping boom, and it is still currently taking place with the direction our world is taking today is heading to more people wanting to live sustainable lives that involves supporting our own food. I would love to see a website or even a packaging company dedicated to selling only American honey and where to find it. But until then beekeepers like me are out there in fact we are easy to find on social media or even in just a simple Facebook post. So access to honey’s restorative effects is still there but right now awareness of the problem is still our biggest issue.
So if you want to make a difference there is something that is currently brewing in beekeeping and the laws around honey as a whole. So if you want to learn more about how you can help check out this video that will explain everything you need to know about what is happening and what you can do about it.
Links to articles discussed:
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3865795/#:~:text=Though%20the%20full%20mechanism%20is,modulates%20the%20body%20immune%20system.
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9106964/
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6225430/
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772753X23001958
HONEY IS UNDER ATTACK!!! This is not a joke. Beekeeping 101 #beekeeping
