How honey can help with menopause symptoms

The power of honey — as both a healing substance and a beauty product — has been recognized for centuries. Cleopatra was said to have bathed in honey-infused donkey milk for youthful and silky skin. In traditional Chinese medicine, meanwhile, honey was used to heal the body from “bacterial infections, rheumatoid arthritis, gastrointestinal distress” going back to around 2,000 B.C.

Now, some are praising honey for its ability to ease the symptoms of menopause.

Honey supports digestion and helps reduce menopausal bloating with its variety of probiotics, prebiotics and enzymes. This support, plus its mix of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, makes for a sweet cocktail to ease menopause symptoms.

For help with hot flashes and low libido, honey contains phytoestrogens — “estrogen-like compounds derived from plants, which are structurally similar to 17β-estradiol, the main type of estrogen that our body makes during our reproductive years,” explained Dr. Diana Hoppe in Woman’s World magazine.

There are reportedly more than 320 different varieties of honey but, according to Woman’s World, they fall into three large categories: regular processed honey, raw honey and Manuka honey — all of which may have significant health benefits for women.

Raw honey retains more of its nutrients and antioxidants than processed honey, according to Healthline, so it is the kind you may want to look for. Manuka honey is a type of raw honey made by bees that pollinate tea tree bushes in New Zealand and Australia.

Finding honey to buy is easy, but determining if your honey is genuinely raw will take a little work. Here’s how to tell if you have authentic raw honey:

• Read the label. Look for the words “raw” or “unpasteurized.”

• Check the ingredients. Make sure there are no additions to the honey, like sugar or corn syrup.

• Color is important. Processed honey tends to be very light in color compared to raw honey, which has various shades of darkness.

• Smell it. Raw honey will smell sweet and kind of “earthy,” while processed honey will have no smell.

• Taste it. If you take a spoonful of honey and don’t experience a distinctive flavor, it's not raw honey.

According to the Mayo Clinic, honey has long been used as an anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antibacterial agent and "people commonly use honey orally to treat coughs and topically to treat burns and promote wound healing."

Mayo Clinic also warns that babies under the age of 1 year should never be given even a small taste of honey. "Bacteria from the spores can grow and multiply in a baby's intestines, producing a dangerous toxin," the website says.