medical powers of honey
source
Published Date: 29 September 2010
Honey has long been known as the food of the gods, but just how magical are its healing powers? Catherine Scott met queen beekeeper Gloria Havenhand.
"It's going to be a hard winter. If you thought last year was bad, well, it has nothing on this year," says Gloria Havenhand, staring at one of her 400 beehives.
It is a glorious early autumn day in the orchard of Gloria's stunning home in Troway, a hidden gem of a hamlet in North Derbyshire just four miles from junction 30 of the M1. The sun is shining through the laden plum trees and thoughts of snow drifts are far away.
When I query her prediction, she tells me to look at the bees. Hundreds of them are busy blocking up a gap in the bottom of one hive. "I have never ever seen them do that before in 50 years of knowing about bees. They know something we don't know," says 65-year-old Gloria.
Gloria may be eccentric with her wild hair and bright lipstick, from which she is never separated, but the microbiologist knows a thing or two about bees.
"They are my obsession," she confesses. It is not just the taste of honey which fascinates Gloria, although that is an added bonus, it is the medicinal properties the honey has which made her give up her day job as a microbiologist to concentrate on her bees. She now runs Medibee, her company making and selling everything from skin cream to hayfever relief – all, of course, which come from honey. Gloria's book, Honey: Nature's Golden Healer,
out this week, contains everything you ever need to know about honey and bees.
"Bees are fascinating creatures. They collect tree resins and gums to make propolis, which is the greatest antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal system in the world. They use it to plug every crack in the hive. Florence Nightingale used it in the Crimea for healing wounds."
Gloria first got into bees as a child living in a poor mining community in Bolsover. "My grandmother was a herbalist. She had one hive which she kept in next door's garden because she didn't have the space. She'd use the honey to treat wounds and I learnt everything from her. She didn't even have a proper suit; she'd wear a net curtain to protect herself."
Being bright, Gloria passed her 11-plus and went to grammar school which she says was the making of her.
She studied botany, zoology and genetics at Leicester University and initially went into teaching before moving on to the Ministry of Agriculture and then a number of different jobs.
Widowed young with a son, Giles, Gloria met and married steel magnate Donald
and they had a son, Julian, and 25 years ago bought Troway Hall. As well as bees, they grow Christmas trees, which they supply to the Chatsworth estate and others. Donald has an aviary where he keeps budgies.
"The birds and the bees," hoots Gloria.
As well as the gums and resins from the Christmas trees, Gloria's bees get to feast on wild flowers, orchard blossom and heather. "It really is like Fortnum and Mason for bees."
It is this combination which Gloria believes gives her bees' honey such high antibacterial properties.
The entire family is honey mad. Gloria tells me how she got both boys to breast feed by putting honey on her nipples. "Of course, you can't do that any more as regulations say children under one shouldn't have honey," she says in a way which implies that she doesn't think too much of the concerns over the possibility of honey causing infant botulism. It means that nine- month-old granddaughter Unity has yet to experience Granny's honey.
"I have four teaspoons of raw honey a day," says
Gloria. This hasn't gone through the heat treating process of many supermarket honeys.
As a result, it has a slight crust and marbling, which she says is the really good bit where all the antibacterials are, but the supermarkets don't like.
You get the feeling Gloria doesn't have much time for the supermarkets.
She isn't in it for the money. She is in it because of her love of bees and a desire to spread the word. Much of
the profit she makes and some of the proceeds of her book go to Sheffield Children's Hospital after she was moved by a customer whose little girl was dying there. "I think everyone should have a teaspoon half- an-hour before they go to bed. It helps bring your heart rate down and helps you sleep," she says slipping a teaspoon into my coffee.
And it seems to work for her. With boundless energy Gloria employs three people at Troway and still does most of the harvesting herself.
Dressed in a special bee suit, gaffer tapes at the
wrist and ankles, still wearing her lipstick of course, Gloria lifts the lid of her hives to harvest the golden honey within.
Unlike many beekeepers Gloria leaves half of the honey for her bees. "You have to look after your bees. You will lose some, of course you will, but my bees are very healthy because we know how to look after them."
Gloria is concerned about the rise in the number of people taking up bee- keeping as a hobby.
"I am not against people becoming beekeepers but they think if they get a hive, fill it with bees and go on a two-day course then they know how to keep bees. I have been keeping bees for decades and I am still learning. If people want to become beekeepers then I think they should be mentored by an experienced beekeeper for at least a year. They are wonderful creatures but they are also lethal."
Gloria tells me how just a few weeks ago she got stung around 70 times from an angry hive.
"I had to harvest the honey that day as it was full to bursting. But I shouldn't have done it, the bees weren't happy."
The angry bees chased Gloria for half a mile and despite her best endeavours she was stung.
But some people see the sting as a good thing. As well as people coming to Troway Hall to buy honey and various medicinal creams and ointments or ailments including eczema and arthritis, Gloria is also visited by MS sufferers.
"Some people believe the sting can help. In some countries apitherapy is registered as a medicine."
She recalls how one young woman with MS visited her and put her arms and face in the hive, only for the bees to move away from her and refuse to sting her.
"They didn't want to catch whatever she had. They knew," says Gloria. It is the scientist in her which is fascinated by this type of occurrence as well as the current desire of her bees to block up their hive in preparation for winter.
And she is not the only scientist to add weigh to her belief in the bee. Dr Milton Wainwright, senior lecturer in molecular biology at Sheffield University, is a fan and has written the preface to her book and is even quoted on her jars of honey.
"The academic profession should pay more attention to enthusiasts like Gloria," says Dr Wainwright.
Gloria believes the discovery of penicillin sounded the death knell for honey as a medicine. But she is now seeing a resurgence
in demand.
"Society has a lot to learn from bees," concludes Gloria, looking adoringly at her hives.
I for one will be buying extra jumpers this winter, just in case Gloria's bees have got it right.
www.medibee.co.uk
Honey: Nature's Golden Healer by Gloria Havenhand (£12.99, Kyle Cathie) is available from the Yorkshire Post Bookshop. To order a copy from the Yorkshire Post Bookshop, call free on 0800 0153232 or go online at www.yorkshirepostbookshop.co.uk. P&P is £2.75.
It is a glorious early autumn day in the orchard of Gloria's stunning home in Troway, a hidden gem of a hamlet in North Derbyshire just four miles from junction 30 of the M1. The sun is shining through the laden plum trees and thoughts of snow drifts are far away.
When I query her prediction, she tells me to look at the bees. Hundreds of them are busy blocking up a gap in the bottom of one hive. "I have never ever seen them do that before in 50 years of knowing about bees. They know something we don't know," says 65-year-old Gloria.
Gloria may be eccentric with her wild hair and bright lipstick, from which she is never separated, but the microbiologist knows a thing or two about bees.
"They are my obsession," she confesses. It is not just the taste of honey which fascinates Gloria, although that is an added bonus, it is the medicinal properties the honey has which made her give up her day job as a microbiologist to concentrate on her bees. She now runs Medibee, her company making and selling everything from skin cream to hayfever relief – all, of course, which come from honey. Gloria's book, Honey: Nature's Golden Healer,
out this week, contains everything you ever need to know about honey and bees.
"Bees are fascinating creatures. They collect tree resins and gums to make propolis, which is the greatest antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal system in the world. They use it to plug every crack in the hive. Florence Nightingale used it in the Crimea for healing wounds."
Gloria first got into bees as a child living in a poor mining community in Bolsover. "My grandmother was a herbalist. She had one hive which she kept in next door's garden because she didn't have the space. She'd use the honey to treat wounds and I learnt everything from her. She didn't even have a proper suit; she'd wear a net curtain to protect herself."
Being bright, Gloria passed her 11-plus and went to grammar school which she says was the making of her.
She studied botany, zoology and genetics at Leicester University and initially went into teaching before moving on to the Ministry of Agriculture and then a number of different jobs.
Widowed young with a son, Giles, Gloria met and married steel magnate Donald
and they had a son, Julian, and 25 years ago bought Troway Hall. As well as bees, they grow Christmas trees, which they supply to the Chatsworth estate and others. Donald has an aviary where he keeps budgies.
"The birds and the bees," hoots Gloria.
As well as the gums and resins from the Christmas trees, Gloria's bees get to feast on wild flowers, orchard blossom and heather. "It really is like Fortnum and Mason for bees."
It is this combination which Gloria believes gives her bees' honey such high antibacterial properties.
The entire family is honey mad. Gloria tells me how she got both boys to breast feed by putting honey on her nipples. "Of course, you can't do that any more as regulations say children under one shouldn't have honey," she says in a way which implies that she doesn't think too much of the concerns over the possibility of honey causing infant botulism. It means that nine- month-old granddaughter Unity has yet to experience Granny's honey.
"I have four teaspoons of raw honey a day," says
Gloria. This hasn't gone through the heat treating process of many supermarket honeys.
As a result, it has a slight crust and marbling, which she says is the really good bit where all the antibacterials are, but the supermarkets don't like.
You get the feeling Gloria doesn't have much time for the supermarkets.
She isn't in it for the money. She is in it because of her love of bees and a desire to spread the word. Much of
the profit she makes and some of the proceeds of her book go to Sheffield Children's Hospital after she was moved by a customer whose little girl was dying there. "I think everyone should have a teaspoon half- an-hour before they go to bed. It helps bring your heart rate down and helps you sleep," she says slipping a teaspoon into my coffee.
And it seems to work for her. With boundless energy Gloria employs three people at Troway and still does most of the harvesting herself.
Dressed in a special bee suit, gaffer tapes at the
wrist and ankles, still wearing her lipstick of course, Gloria lifts the lid of her hives to harvest the golden honey within.
Unlike many beekeepers Gloria leaves half of the honey for her bees. "You have to look after your bees. You will lose some, of course you will, but my bees are very healthy because we know how to look after them."
Gloria is concerned about the rise in the number of people taking up bee- keeping as a hobby.
"I am not against people becoming beekeepers but they think if they get a hive, fill it with bees and go on a two-day course then they know how to keep bees. I have been keeping bees for decades and I am still learning. If people want to become beekeepers then I think they should be mentored by an experienced beekeeper for at least a year. They are wonderful creatures but they are also lethal."
Gloria tells me how just a few weeks ago she got stung around 70 times from an angry hive.
"I had to harvest the honey that day as it was full to bursting. But I shouldn't have done it, the bees weren't happy."
The angry bees chased Gloria for half a mile and despite her best endeavours she was stung.
But some people see the sting as a good thing. As well as people coming to Troway Hall to buy honey and various medicinal creams and ointments or ailments including eczema and arthritis, Gloria is also visited by MS sufferers.
"Some people believe the sting can help. In some countries apitherapy is registered as a medicine."
She recalls how one young woman with MS visited her and put her arms and face in the hive, only for the bees to move away from her and refuse to sting her.
"They didn't want to catch whatever she had. They knew," says Gloria. It is the scientist in her which is fascinated by this type of occurrence as well as the current desire of her bees to block up their hive in preparation for winter.
And she is not the only scientist to add weigh to her belief in the bee. Dr Milton Wainwright, senior lecturer in molecular biology at Sheffield University, is a fan and has written the preface to her book and is even quoted on her jars of honey.
"The academic profession should pay more attention to enthusiasts like Gloria," says Dr Wainwright.
Gloria believes the discovery of penicillin sounded the death knell for honey as a medicine. But she is now seeing a resurgence
in demand.
"Society has a lot to learn from bees," concludes Gloria, looking adoringly at her hives.
I for one will be buying extra jumpers this winter, just in case Gloria's bees have got it right.
www.medibee.co.uk
Honey: Nature's Golden Healer by Gloria Havenhand (£12.99, Kyle Cathie) is available from the Yorkshire Post Bookshop. To order a copy from the Yorkshire Post Bookshop, call free on 0800 0153232 or go online at www.yorkshirepostbookshop.co.uk. P&P is £2.75.
www.yorkshirepostbookshop.co.uk. P&P is £2.75.
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