Prebiotic Honey Launch - ‘Beeotic’ honey

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Manuka honey, Heather honey, Pine-tree honey, Rain forest honey, Clover Honey, Lavender Honey, the list goes on. And now we have Prebiotic honey which is now being marketed in Australia by the company Capilano (http://capilano.com.au/au/our-range/beeotic) to add to the long list of honey types which are purportedly good for us.

The first question appears to be 'what is the difference between probiotic and prebiotic? So I headed off to the company's website and their FAQ's to find out.

What is the difference between a probiotic and a prebiotic?
A probiotic is a preparation of live bacteria as we find in yoghurt, dairy and supplements which can survive in the gut and thereby exert a health benefit. A prebiotic is a special type of dietary fibre which is not digested by the host and therefore reaches the colon where it is selectively utilised by the good bacteria that are naturally present in the colon, thereby improving the ratio of the good bacteria to the bad bacteria which will in turn lead to health benefits.

However, the research paper (http://www.honey.com/images/uploads/general/bifidobacteria.pdf) was based around determining the growth of bifidobacteria in milk, so exactly how does this apply to the gut?

Objectives
The objectives of this research project were:
1. To determine the effect of honey on growth and activity of bifidobacteria in milk and determine its effect on viability of bifidobacteria during refrigerated storage of the fermented milk.
2. To investigate the effect of honey on growth, activity and viability of additional commercially available bifidobacteria strains in milk.
3. To identify the compound(s) in honey that possess bifidobacteria growth-promoting activity.
4. To determine the prebiotic activity of honey and the compound(s) identified above on bifidobacteria.
5. To compare the growth-promoting and prebiotic effects of honey on bifidobacteria to that of commercially available oligosaccharides

So how much of this do we listen to? I rather like honey, but sweetness and I don't get on well after midday. I do like a hot lemon and honey drink during the day (I can see this becoming a cold lemon, cinnamon and honey drink later on as the weather warms up), but there is only so much one can consume.

Which is your preferred honey?
Would you consider a Prebiotic Honey?

 

[Cinisajoy]

It sounds like they are adding something to the honey.
Just give me my pure honey made from bees.
As to bacteria in the gut, it should all be good bacteria unless you get into something that upsets the balance.
Oh and little trivia, most bacteria that can survive in the intestines actually is gram-negative bacilli. Meaning if you need antibiotics to kill the bad bacteria, you also kill the good stuff.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

As to bacteria in the gut, it should all be good bacteria unless you get into something that upsets the balance.

sadly that bit isn't the case.

It sounds like they are adding something to the honey.

I'm not sure they are tbh. I don't know what the difference is, I would have to look into it, but it mentioned soluble fibre and insoluble fibre (perfectly possible because quantities are not mentioned) and what is contained within the soluble fibre. The bit that bugged me was the fact that they were using milk based products to grow the cultures.

The honey appears to be being markets as the first to be tested to show that it contains food for the already existing good bacteria in your gut.

 

[Cinisajoy]

That study makes no sense since they are testing in milk.
Oh and in the case of those bacteria in the intestines, they threw a fit earlier.

I do wonder sometimes how much of this food science is actual science and how much is just marketing designed to target those that believe the pseudo-sciences.
Example: yogurt hasn't really changed but the marketing has.
Honey is still produced by bees. But the marketing has changed.
Now we once knew a guy that collected honey from a local beehive. That was some nasty stuff. The honey was safe to eat but it tasted horrible. The hive was near several weed lots.

 

[jayheyhoney]

We have been raising honey for three generations and pro and pre-botic are not terms that really come up all that often. A pure honey - regardless of the pollen source should be pollen and enzyme rich - but the concentration of various enzymes will depend on where the bees are foraging.

 

[buckytom]

This is where we get our honey: http://www.ysorganic.com/honey.html

I have wanted an apiary for so long, but my wife is severely allergic to bees. Plus, the local bears would have a field day.
I'm looking into a sloar powered electric fence to stop the bears. Now I just have to convince my wife, far meaner than any ol' bear) that it will be far enough away from the house on the back of the property.