Nutrition: milk and honey are key for a healthy life

Over the centuries legendary beauties have used milk and honey as ingredients for their skin and hair treatments. For decades medics have held fiery discussions as to the beneficial effects and the lacks of milk and honey in the daily nutrition of humans. Today the cosmetic industry uses honey and milk in the formulas of many creams, gels and masks. Also the health industry is finding new and astonishing beneficial effects of honey and milk on our wellbeing.

Honey is produced in one of the most efficient and productive factories in the world, the hive. Bees can travel 50.000 miles and visit over two million flowers to gather enough nectar for 1 pound of honey. The color and flavor of the honey depend on the source of the nectar, the flowers. Nectar, a sweet juice secreted by plants, is the base energy source for bees.

In the world there are over 300 kinds of honey, having very different sources: from clover and eucalyptus to locust and orange flowers. Light colored honey has a more discrete flavor while the more dark colored honey usually has a strong flavor. Every kind of honey has different effects. Polyfloral honey has an antiseptic and sedative action. Locust honey sooths coughing, mint honey has analgesic, tonic and antiseptic proprieties, clover honey has a diuretic action and it is a good expectorant and conifer honey has swelling reduction properties.

Milk is white because it contains casein, a protein rich in calcium, that is white. The fat form the milk is also white. The molecules that form casein and fat reflect light that is why we perceive milk as white. We all know that milk and all the other dairy products are good for our health because they ensure the better part of the calcium our bodies need. But milk is also rich in proteins and vitamins which help us develop our muscles. After many studies the researchers have concluded that milk, as honey also, is a wonder aliment. A big cup of milk contains 16% proteins, 30% calcium, 11% potassium, 20% riboflavin, 25% vitamin D and 13% vitamin B12.

Almost all types of milk are pasteurized, homogenized and enriched with vitamins. Pasteurized milk is heated at high temperatures so that all bacteria are killed. The homogenized one is mixed in such a way that fat and water don’t separate. The one enriched with vitamins, vitamins D and A for the low fat milk, is more healthy.