Although honey does not have the title of health functional food, people’s long-standing ‘beliefs’ about honey are being scientifically recognized one by one. [사진=픽사베이]
[한국영농신문 김찬래 기자]
The health functional food market is growing day by day. There are a lot of statistics, such as the size of the domestic market being around 5 trillion won or already approaching 10 trillion won.
Every year, ahead of the holidays, news comes out about crackdowns on the authenticity of various health functional foods. There have been cases where products that are not health functional foods are displayed and sold in the same sales space as health functional foods. A common sense check quiz that states that red ginseng is a health functional food but not red ginseng candy also appears on TV entertainment programs to stimulate curiosity. (For reference, red ginseng candy contains low red ginseng concentrate, so it is classified as a ‘candy’ rather than a health functional food.)
So, isn’t honey a health functional food? Aren’t you curious? The correct answer is ‘It is not a health functional food.’ Royal jelly. Manuka honey and other products are similarly classified as not health functional foods. To put it simply, honey is neither a medicine nor a health functional food. However, it is a type of traditional food that has been treated as precious for a long time, and it is a type of food that is often eaten because it is believed to be good for health.
As you know, health functional food is a type of qualification or title that the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) grants only to products that have thoroughly verified their efficacy and side effects on human health through various experiments. Representative health functional foods are the ones we are familiar with: red ginseng, vitamins, and probiotics. It is divided into the notification type and the individually recognized type, but these days, the number of companies, developers, and suppliers targeting the individually recognized health functional food market has increased significantly.
Although honey does not have the title of health functional food, people’s long-standing ‘beliefs’ about honey are being scientifically recognized one by one. In particular, it has become known to the world as a result of a recent Rural Development Administration study that it is highly effective in strengthening immunity and relieving fatigue. Research results have shown that ‘chestnut honey’ derived from chestnut flowers, which accounts for about 10% of domestic honey production, increases immunity and has a virus-suppressing effect.
As a result, chestnut honey has entered the ranks of high value-added materials that can be used as health functional foods and therapeutic foods in the future. Although it is not currently available, it has shown the potential to belong to the health functional food category by utilizing its antiviral effect. According to the Rural Development Administration, chestnut honey is a honey produced in mid-June that has a dark brown color and is characterized by a strong aroma and a slightly bitter taste. It has excellent fatigue relieving and antibacterial effects and is effective in treating bronchial diseases, so it has been used in the private sector for a long time.
In particular, as interest in strengthening immunity has increased due to the COVID-19 and flu epidemics, the efficacy of chestnut honey has been scientifically proven, which is good news for beekeepers. Experts also advise that it is advisable to use foods for preventive purposes that boost immunity rather than using viral treatments alone to defeat the virus, so the efficacy of chestnut honey is expected to attract more attention in the future.
In fact, in this experiment conducted by the Rural Development Administration, the antiviral effect of domestic chestnut honey was found to be excellent. This is because in an experiment using immune cells, chestnut honey was found to inhibit influenza A virus infection by a whopping 62.2%. In contrast, all mice infected and exposed to the virus without being fed chestnut honey died within 6 days after infection. However, 60% of mice fed domestic chestnut honey (600 mg/kg) every day for two weeks survived, showing a stark contrast. It was also found that interferon beta (IFN-β), an innate immunity-related protein, was expressed 4.3 times more in mice fed chestnut honey.
The Rural Development Administration said that the ‘kynurenic acid’ component contained in chestnut honey is involved in improving immunity, adding that kynurenic acid contains 1,168 mg per kilogram of chestnut honey, but is hardly detected in other honeys such as acacia honey. The Rural Development Administration predicts that kynurenic acid can be used as an indicator of the efficacy of chestnut honey. The Rural Development Administration published the results of this research as a paper in an international academic journal. In addition, a patent application has been completed for a composition for improving immune function and a pharmaceutical composition for preventing or treating diseases caused by the influenza A virus.
We hope that the efficacy of various honeys produced domestically will be scientifically proven in the future to create high added value.
Reporter Kim Chan-rae [email protected]
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2023-10-15 14:19:24
#honey #health #functional #food #Korea #Agricultural #Newspaper
