ABSTRACT
Honey, “a sweet and viscous uid with a unique avor” (Farooqui 2009), is a plant product that is produced by honeybees. Honeybees gather nectar and sap from various owers and trees and mix them with enzymes (transglucosylase and glucose oxidase) that are secreted from their own glands (Molan 2006). Transglucosylase breaks the glycosidic bond of sucrose and therefore catalyzes the hydrolysis of sucrose into glucose and fructose. Glucose oxidase catalyzes the oxidation of some of the glucose, forming gluconic acid and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Honeybees evaporate most of the water from the nectar by fanning the honeycomb through their wings, resulting in the concentrated solution of honey. Antimicrobial properties of honey are due to its high osmolarity, low pH, and H2O2 contents (Molan 2006). Honey is commonly used by humans as a sweetener; however, it also offers many medicinal uses described in traditional medicine. The therapeutic properties of honey depend on phytochemicals derived from nectar and sap. Honey is efcacious in various medical and surgical procedures due to the presence of a wide range of phenolic constituents that exert many biological activities, including antioxidant, anti-inammatory, and immunomodulatory activities. Thus, medicinal properties of honey depend on its chemical composition, which varies depending on the botanical
Introduction ............................................................................................................ 187 Composition of Honey ........................................................................................... 188 Classication of Honey Flavonoids ....................................................................... 192 Biological Activities of Honey ............................................................................... 194
Antibacterial Activity of Honey ........................................................................ 194 Anti-Inammatory Activity of Honey ............................................................... 196 Immunomodulatory Activity of Honey ............................................................. 197 Antioxidant Activity of Honey .......................................................................... 198 Cardiovascular Diseases .................................................................................... 199 Cardioprotective Effects of Honey .................................................................... 201 Molecular Mechanism Underlying Cardioprotective Effects of Honey............203
