破除“蜂蜜迷信”：蜂蜜沒有你想的那麼健康

從古至今，無論在中國還是在外國，蜂蜜的“名聲”都好極了。古希臘人認爲蜂蜜是神賜的禮物，在現代，蜂蜜被視爲糖的健康替代品，是治療喉痛、細菌感染的天然藥物，甚至能提高生育能力。但是，蜂蜜真的有人們說的那麼神奇嗎？

蜂蜜熱量更高

High-sugar diets raise risks for heart disease, obesity and diabetes, but we do love our sweets, so health experts have tried to suggest alternatives, and honey has been foremost among them.

高糖飲食會提高患心臟病、肥胖和糖尿病的風險，但我們又愛吃甜食，所以健康專家建議人們選擇糖的替代品，而最受推崇的就是蜂蜜。

Honey is actually sweeter than sugar is, which means, in theory at least, that you could enhance flavor equally with a smaller quantity of honey.

蜂蜜其實比糖更甜，這意味着你用更少量的蜂蜜就能達到同樣的甜度，至少在理論上是這樣。

But honey actually has a higher calorie count. It may have more minerals, which looks better on a label but, in reality, these are such trace amounts that they don't offer any real advantages.

但是事實上，蜂蜜的熱量比糖更高。也許蜂蜜含有更多礦物質，成分表更好看，但其實如此微量的礦物質不能真的給你帶來什麼好處。

So, while cutting sugar intake is a good idea, stocking up on raw, organic honey instead might not be.

所以，少吃糖是好的，但是轉而囤積有機原蜜可能就不怎麼好了。

蜂蜜抗菌功效有限

Honey's reputation as a medicine is not wholly unfounded.

蜂蜜作爲藥物的名聲並非完全沒有根據。

Some honey does indeed have antibacterial properties. One byproduct of enzymes in honey is hydrogen peroxide, a powerful germ killer.

一些蜂蜜確實有抗菌功效。蜂蜜酵素的副產品之一是過氧化氫，能夠強有力地殺菌。

Plus, honey's texture and consistency are good for keeping wounds clean, and bad for bugs that might want to infect them.

此外，蜂蜜的質地和稠度都有助於保持傷口清潔，避免昆蟲叮咬感染。

Honey is moist and its gooey consistency means it can easily spread over and stay over wounds while keeping the tissue from becoming dry and fragile.

蜂蜜的溼潤和黏稠意味着能很容易地覆蓋在傷口上，避免皮膚組織乾燥脆弱。

The sticky substance is also adept at breaking up biofilms that allow bacteria to accumulate and multiply. It is particularly well-known for fighting bacteria like staph, salmonella, E. Coli and certain bacteria that can infect the gut and cause ulcers.

蜂蜜還善於分解有利於細菌聚集和滋生的生物膜，對抗擊葡萄球菌、沙門氏菌、大腸桿菌和感染腸道、導致潰瘍的特定細菌尤其有效。

However, scientists can only say this for sure about Makuna and Malaysian Tualang honey. We don't know yet whether local home grown honey has the same potency - or safety.

但是，科學家說，只能確定麥盧卡蜂蜜和馬來西亞珍稀蜂蜜有上述殺菌功效。本土家養蜂蜜是否有同樣的功效就不知道了，也不能確定是否安全。

蜂蜜緩解咽痛功效也有限

A hot cup of tea with some honey stirred in certainly sounds like it would make you feel better. But it's difficult to say for sure that it will.

喝一杯加了蜂蜜的熱茶聽上去能讓你感覺好一些，但很難說真的會讓你的病好起來。

When you have a cold, contact with warm water (from tea) may help to bust up phlegm that blocks your airways. But some suspect the real secret to the soothing qualities of a cuppa is in the honey.

感冒時，喝熱水（熱茶）也許有助於化解堵住氣管的痰。但有些人懷疑，熱茶舒緩功效的真正祕訣在於蜂蜜。

There are studies that suggest that honey does work as well or better than cough suppressant drugs like Robitussin.

有研究表明，蜂蜜和美敏僞麻溶液等止咳藥的功效差不多，甚至更好。

Most of these, however were considered by the academic world to be widely misinterpreted by the media.

然而，學術界認爲這些研究結果多數都被媒體普遍誤讀了。

One of the findings that seems to have given the honey trend some additional legs came from a study that said there was 'no difference,' statistically speaking, between honey and one particular cough suppressant.

其中一個研究結果似乎助長了蜂蜜熱。該研究稱，蜂蜜和某一種止咳藥的功效從數據來看“沒有差別”。

Some academics have argued that the cough suppressant in question, dextromethorphan, is not particularly effective to begin with, and the study reported 'no difference' in effectiveness, meaning they could simply both work poorly for treating sore throats.

一些學者指出，研究中提到的止咳藥美沙芬本來對止咳就不是特別有效，而研究報告中所說的功效“沒有差別”，意思是兩者對於治療咽痛效果都不好。

As is the case for its benefits for wound treatment, the moisture and viscosity of honey may be somewhat soothing to irritated tissue.

和蜂蜜對傷口的療效一樣，蜂蜜的溼潤和黏稠對發炎組織可能有舒緩作用。

蜂蜜不是“液體黃金”

A few years ago, honey seemed to suddenly become a hot topic of scientific research.

幾年前，蜂蜜似乎突然之間就成了科學研究的熱門課題。

Studies were linking the natural sweetener to benefits for leading health concerns, including infertility and dementia, and spurring health fanatics to label honey 'liquid gold.'

有研究指出，蜂蜜有助於解決不孕、癡呆等主要健康問題，一些健康狂人甚至將蜂蜜稱爲“液體黃金”。

One of these, conducted in 2011, compared menopausal women taking a honey 'supplement' (it was just honey) to those taking estrogen and others taking nothing.

2011年開展的其中一項研究將吃蜂蜜“進補”的絕經女性和服用雌性激素以及什麼也沒服用的絕經女性相比較。

Menopause comes with an estrogen decline that often coincides with impaired memory for women.

伴隨絕經而來的是雌激素水平的下降，通常還伴隨着記憶力減退。

The honey-taking women seemed to have slightly better memories, and thus local, organic (and expensive) honey got a new identity as 'brain food'.

吃蜂蜜的女性似乎記憶力稍微好一點，因此昂貴的本土有機蜂蜜有了一個新稱號——“健腦食品”。

It's true that honey contains antioxidants which have protective effects against cell damage that occurs as we age.

蜂蜜確實含有抗氧化劑，能抵禦年齡增長帶來的細胞損傷。

But after that study's publication in 2011, Dr Natalie Rasgon of the Stanford School of Medicine, who studies estrogen and cognition in women, was deeply dubious in an interview with Reuters.

但該研究在2011年發佈以後，斯坦福大學醫學院研究女性雌激素和認知能力的娜塔莉·羅根博士在路透社的一次訪談中對這一研究結果深表懷疑。

'This is not a scientifically rigorous study,' she said.

她說：“這項研究在科學上不嚴謹。”

'I can’t understand how they can compare honey to estrogen. Honey is not even a supplement.'

“我不能理解他們怎麼能把蜂蜜和雌激素相比。蜂蜜甚至都不算一種補充劑。”

As for fertility, studies assert a range of possible reasons and ways honey could help - but the main thing they have in common is their small size.

在生育方面，各種研究列出了蜂蜜可能有助於懷孕的一系列原因和方式，但這些研究的主要共性只有一點——都是小型研究。