Honey: production, composition, quality, and a critical look at bioelectronics

cc. Roger Castell

Honey is a natural sweet substance produced by bees from flower nectar, as well as from plant secretions or honeydew. The bees transform these materials, dehydrate them, and then store them in the honeycomb. This definition also corresponds to the European regulatory framework applicable to honey intended for human consumption.

Honey production

The foraging bee collects nectar from flowers with its tongue and stores it temporarily in its honey stomach. It can also collect honeydew, particularly that produced by certain insects that feed on plant sap.

The transformation begins even before the bee returns to the hive. Enzymes present in the bee's secretions are involved in the transformation of sucrose into simpler sugars, mainly glucose and fructose.

Inside the hive, the nectar is then passed from one bee to another before being deposited in the cells. It still contains a lot of water. The worker bees promote its evaporation through the heat of the colony and the ventilation of the hive.

Honey thus gradually acquires its low water content, one of the factors contributing to its good preservation. For honey sold in the European Union, the water content must generally not exceed 20%, with certain exceptions provided for by regulations.

A food consumed since antiquity

Long before the development of modern beekeeping, humans harvested honey from wild colonies. The breeding of bees then made it possible to organize its production in hives and facilitate harvesting.

Honey has been used since antiquity as a food and sweetener. It has also played a role in various traditional medicinal practices, particularly for application to wounds. However, this historical use is not sufficient to demonstrate therapeutic efficacy according to current medical criteria.

Beekeeping also allows the harvesting of other hive products, such as wax, pollen, propolis or royal jelly.

For centuries, honey has been an important source of sweetness. It has been used in various culinary preparations, to accompany food or to make drinks. It is notably a key ingredient in the production of mead, which is obtained from honey and water after fermentation.

Quality and diversity of honeys

The botanical and geographical origin directly influences the color, aromas, texture and part of the composition of honey.

A honey may be labeled as floral when it comes entirely or primarily from the stated plant source and exhibits characteristics corresponding to that origin. Honeys from multiple floral sources are generally described as polyfloral or "wildflower."

Sensory differences can be considerable. Acacia honey is generally light in color and relatively mild, while honeys such as chestnut, heather, or certain forest honeys often have more pronounced flavors. These differences alone are not sufficient to classify one honey as nutritionally superior to another.

Why does honey crystallize?

Crystallization is a natural phenomenon. It depends in particular on the proportion of glucose and fructose as well as the water content.

Honey that is relatively high in fructose tends to remain liquid longer. This is often the case with acacia honey. Conversely, a higher proportion of glucose promotes faster crystallization, as is frequently observed with rapeseed honey.

Crystallized honey is therefore not necessarily spoiled honey. Its texture alone is not sufficient to assess its quality.

Heating can make crystallized honey more fluid. However, its effect depends on both the temperature reached and the duration of exposure. There is no simple threshold whereby honey automatically becomes "spoiled" as soon as it exceeds 40°C.

European regulations stipulate that honey must not be heated to the point of destroying or significantly inactivating its natural enzymes. Diastatic activity and hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) content are among the regulatory parameters used to control the effects of processing and storage.

Geographical origin and quality labels

Some French honeys benefit from protection linked to their origin. Among the examples cited, Corsican Honey (Mele di Corsica) and Vosges Fir Honey have Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status. Alsatian Honey and Provence Honey have Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status. These official designations regulate, in particular, the origin and production conditions of the product.

They do not mean that a honey possesses superior medicinal properties. They primarily provide guarantees about its origin and compliance with a set of specifications.

Honey and the glycemic index

The glycemic index of honey is not a single value applicable to all varieties. Its sugar composition varies depending on its botanical origin, which can alter its glycemic response.

However, it remains a food composed primarily of sugars. Therefore, a difference in glycemic index between two honeys does not allow us to consider one of them as neutral with regard to blood sugar.

The extremely precise values ​​sometimes attributed to a particular variety must be interpreted with caution when they are not based on the analysis of the product actually consumed.

Composition of honey

Honey is primarily a food rich in carbohydrates. Glucose and fructose make up the majority of its sugars.

It also contains water, small amounts of protein and various compounds present in minor amounts: organic acids, enzymes, phenolic compounds, aromatic substances, minerals and vitamins.

Its exact composition varies depending on the botanical origin, the place of harvest, climatic conditions, maturation and storage.

The French Ciqual table from ANSES is the national reference for consulting average nutritional composition data for foods. Its 2025 version lists 74 constituents for more than 3,400 foods.

It's important to remember that the vitamins and minerals present in honey are limited in quantity. Therefore, honey should not be considered a major source of micronutrients.

Does honey have antibacterial properties?

The antibacterial activity of certain honeys is well documented in the laboratory. It does not depend on a single substance.

Several factors can play a role: high sugar concentration, low water availability, acidity, hydrogen peroxide production, and certain specific compounds. Defensin-1, produced by the bee, and methylglyoxal, in some honeys, are among the molecules studied. Their concentration varies considerably from one honey to another.

The old notion of "inhibins" should therefore not be presented as designating two proteins responsible, on their own, for an antibiotic effect.

Similarly, there is no evidence to suggest that the absence of defensin in honey or in food causes chronic diseases such as Crohn's disease. Such a causal link cannot be established.

What about the healing process?

Honey has been the subject of research on certain wounds and burns. Data suggests that honey-based dressings may be beneficial in some situations, particularly for superficial burns or certain infected postoperative wounds.

However, the results do not allow us to generalize this effect to all wounds. For several indications, the available data remain limited or of insufficient quality.

This research concerns controlled medical uses, particularly appropriate dressings or preparations. It does not justify applying ordinary honey to a wound instead of medical treatment.

An antibacterial activity observed in the laboratory does not mean that consuming honey can treat an infection.

Can honey pose any risks?

Like any food product, honey must come from a supply chain offering traceability and satisfactory production conditions.

One point of particular concern is well established: honey should not be given to children under 12 months old . It can contain spores of Clostridium botulinum , which cause infant botulism. This recommendation applies to honey whether it is pasteurized or not.

What can we actually deduce from bioelectronics?

Vincent's bioelectronics relies in particular on physico-chemical measurements such as pH, redox potential and electrical resistivity.

Measuring a physicochemical property of a food can provide information about that food. However, this alone does not allow us to deduce any health benefits.

Honey naturally has an acidic character. This acidity, along with its high sugar concentration and other factors, contributes to conditions that limit the development of many microorganisms.

On the other hand, describing honey as "alkalizing" based on its resistivity or using bioelectronic measurements to demonstrate its therapeutic superiority over sugar is not based on the criteria currently used to assess the nutritional or medical quality of a food.

European regulations for honey are based primarily on its sugar and water content, free acidity, electrical conductivity, diastase activity, and HMF content. They do not use bioelectronic interpretation as a criterion for assigning health benefits.

The measurements attributed to Roger Castell using a Consort C3050 device can therefore be presented as falling under this analytical method. However, they are not sufficient to establish that a honey possesses superior nutritional or therapeutic properties.

Honey in everyday life

Honey can certainly have its place in the diet for its taste, aroma, and culinary uses. However, it remains a food very high in sugars.

The claim that its consumption specifically promotes the proliferation of pinworms or causes candidiasis because these organisms feed "exclusively on sugars" cannot be accepted. It establishes a causal link that has not been demonstrated.

Conversely, presenting "cold-extracted" honey as automatically possessing excellent therapeutic properties would also be an exaggeration. Limited processing may preserve some of the product's characteristics, but it does not transform honey into a medical treatment.

Its quality depends on many factors: origin, maturation, storage, any heat treatments, authenticity and compliance with regulatory criteria.

For everyday consumption, honey remains first and foremost what it is: a natural product made by bees, rich in sugars, with a wide range of aromas and specific physicochemical properties. Its actual characteristics are sufficiently valuable that there is no need to attribute to it unproven medicinal effects.

References

• Directive 2001/110/EC on honey, consolidated version applicable in the European Union.
• Anses — Ciqual 2025 Nutritional Composition Table for Foods.
• Ministry of Health — Botulism and recommendations regarding honey in children under 12 months.
• Ministry in charge of Agriculture and INAO — official quality and origin labels for French honeys.
• Kwakman PHS, Zaat SAJ — work on the antibacterial components of honey.
• Cochrane and NICE — data concerning the use of honey in the management of certain wounds and burns.

References cited in the original text

1. Geneviève Laffont, The benefits of honey, published by Michel Lafon.
2. Dr. Philippe-Gaston Besson, Acid-base, a vital dynamic, published by Trois Fontaines.
3. Measurements attributed to R. Castell with a Consort C3050 device no. 106.971.
4. Honey indicated in the original text as coming from beekeeper Joël Jean-Charles in Saint-Claude, Guadeloupe.