Honey is a food rich in health benefits that we tend to consume by slipping a spoon into our cups of tea, especially when we are sick in winter. A doctor explains why this is, in reality, not a good reflex!
Endowed with natural antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, the Honey is a superfood to include in your diet, especially in winter, when its properties allow it to calm coughs and soften the throat. Most often, we are used to using it as a grandmother’s remedy, by adding a good spoonful to a cup of tea warm comforting. However, it would be a mistake when preparing it, because it would then not be effective as explained in the Dr. Albert Beckerdoctor, beekeeper and president of the French-speaking Apitherapy Association (AFA), in Madame Figaro.
Indeed, the expert emphasizes that this superfood, which is particularly sensitive to oxidation, is also sensitive to heat, and that“beyond 42°C, all living activity is destroyed, it is the same thing for the human body”. When we know that the average infusion temperature of tea is between 75°C and 95°C depending on the type of tea we are preparing, honey is therefore added to a drink that is far too hot for us to be able to derive favorable effects on our health. And as if the fact that its beneficial enzymes for the body degrade upon contact with heat was not enough, this is even more the case the hotter your tea is. Adding a teaspoon of honey to your tea would therefore be as bad a habit as putting milk in your cup of coffee, even if it is not bad for your health in itself!
The rest after this ad
Tea and honey: how to combine them well to benefit from their virtues in winter?
This does not mean, however, that you cannot drink a sweet tea with honey to enjoy its pleasant taste, but to preserve its anti-inflammatory properties, it is necessary to wait until your cup of tea “cool so that the cup no longer burns your fingers and you can then add the honey in it, before drinking it”, as advised by Dr. Albert Becker. But if you want to take full advantage of all the health benefits of honey, and in particular its antibacterial effect to avoid getting sick in winter, it is not in your tea that you should consume it. Diluting honey with water alters both its acidity and its sugar concentration, which negatively impacts its anti-infective effect. It is therefore better to drink your tea before, then enjoy a small teaspoon of honey afterwards!
Makeup, skincare, hair care, manicure…, Elodie deciphers the beauty trends of the moment and finds you the best products and good deals so that you can perfect your routine…