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Introduction
The honey has been described as Madhu, Makshika by the Ayurveda scholars with different nutritional and medicinal values. Although its description is also found in different traditional systems of medicine in the world.1-3 However, Ayurveda has described eight varieties of honey with different medicinal properties produced by eight types of honey bees. But very few scientific research studies have been done on the varieties and properties of honey as well as there are no studies on the eight varieties of honey as mentioned by the scholars of Ayurveda. Honey (Madhu) is one of the natural untreated food productsproduced from nectar by honey bees. It is sweet in primary taste and astringent in secondary taste; dry, cold, kindle digestion, good for color and voice, light (easily digestible), bestows softness to the body, is scarificant, good for heart and eyes, pro-constipating, enters into minute channels, reduces fat(Meda); indicated in diabetes, hiccup, dyspnoea, cough, diarrhea, vomiting, thirst, worms infestation and poison; alleviates all the three Doshas -mitigates Kapha by its easy digestibility Vata and Pitta by its sliminess, sweetness, and astringency. Honey aggravates Vata, is heavy, cold, alleviates disorders of Rakta, Pitta, and Kapha; is union-promoter, expectorant, rough, astringent, and sweet.4, 5 Honey, if heated or taken by a person suffering from heat becomes fatal, due to its association with poisons. It is useful in small quantities due to its properties- heavy, rough, astringent and coldproperties.4, 6 Honey has many nutrients and acts as an immunomodulator (LehanKarma),7-9 gives the effect of the drug with which it combines(Yogavahi),10, 11 adjuvant to enhance drug absorption or bioavailability of drug (Anupana),12 antibiotic,13-15 anti-oxidant,16 anti-fungal,17-21 anti-inflammatory,1 use in the management of diabetes (Prameha),5 obesity (Sthaulaya)5, 12 and dyslipidemia,22 etc.
Ayurveda has also mentioned certain factors such as time, the vessel of storage, combination with food, exposure to heat, with which there are changes in properties of honey and its effect on the body. Just after the procurement, honey is named as new honey(NavaMadhu) and after the passage of one year of time is called...