Energy-rich Honey Helped Develop the Human Brain


Scientists now think that pure honey has played a role in the development of the human brain. What we do know about honey is that it's been around a lot longer than we have. We also know that it's packed with nutrients of all kinds, which are beneficial to the health of humans. But the “ultimate” brain food? Well, there are certainly lots of educated people joining the conversation that's for sure. This includes scientists and doctors who can speak with some authority on the subject. In this video, the presenter talks about how he considers honey to be the ultimate brain food, and he explains why.

My Notes

Can honey really be the ultimate super-food for the human brain? There are certainly plenty of authority figures who think so. Some scientists think that it helped hominids (apes) to develop big brains. Let's look at what makes this sticky, golden product of bees so special.

To begin with, honey is very energy dense, which can help to nurture brain development. Wild honey comprises smidgens of bee larvae too. These add fat, protein, vitamins and minerals into the mix. Honey is also very easy to digest. No one can deny the nutritional benefits of pure honey. Despite this, there is no concrete evidence to date which suggests hominids ate honey as part of their diet. That doesn't mean they didn't, it just means there is no hard evidence. The reason for this perhaps has something to do with how honey doesn't fossilize in the same way as other substances do. This leaves scientists making informed guesses based on other data they do have for their research.

Man's Association with Pure Honey

Honey has been around a lot longer than we have, and humans have good reason to like it. It's a nutrient-rich, energy-dense and easily digestible food found all around the world. It makes perfect sense to suggest it has been an important staple in the evolution and development of mankind. Even today, the people of The Aché in Paraguay consider honey to be their second most important food after game meat. The Aché are traditional hunter-gatherers who live in the Atlantic coastal forests on the eastern side of Paraguay. Honey provides them with more than 1,000 calories per day. There are plenty of other tribal peoples from around the world where honey is an important staple. There are there Efe pygmy people (pygmies) of the Congo and the Hadza of Tanzania to name two more.

Ancient art proves that honey consumption is nothing new. Rock art found in Africa, Europe, Asia and Australia illustrates this. It portrays swarms of bees, honeycombs, and honey collecting. Some of this rock art dates back as far as 40,000 years ago or even longer.



Primates Love Honey Too

Our primate cousins add yet another piece to the puzzle of evidence. There is a variety of monkeys and apes that love to consume honey. Some of these include:

  • Baboons
  • Macaques (a forest-dwelling Old World monkey)
  • Orangutans
  • Gorillas
  • Chimpanzees

Macaques and baboons scoop up the honey using their mouths and hands to rob the hives. They're not quite as brave as they seem though as this is from the nests of stingless bees. Chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans enjoy both the honey and the bee larvae. Because primates are quite capable of procuring honey, there is no reason to think that early hominids didn't do the same.

An abstract from the scientific report bellow points out the following:

Honey is the only insect-derived natural product with therapeutic, traditional, spiritual, nutritional, cosmetic and industrial value.

That's just the start. The article highlights some other fascinating facts about this golden, ancient food. Many of these points are not well-known and therefore make an intriguing read.

Neurological Effects of Honey: Current and Future Prospects
Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Volume 2014 (2014), Article ID 958721



Summary

Honey has always been in abundance. Add to this the fact that it tastes pleasant and is a powerhouse of nutrition. Any living thing that could procure and consume honey as part of its diet, most probably would have done, just as creatures continue to do today. It makes sense that honey might have been a critical food for brain expansion. But it would be unwise to suggest that it was the only food responsible for the development of the human brain. Meat and animal fat would also have played a major role and perhaps a few other foods too.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *