Prior to modern times, sugar was absent from the diet of most humans because few natural sources existed. Honey has been known to man since Sumerian times, where tablets record its use as a medicine and food. Honey contains constituents that may have health benefits, which explains its use as a medicine. As a food, honey would have been the only sweetener available to man until industrial sugar production began in the 19th century. However, its use was not without risk, as it required skill to collect, although early man clearly possessed this ability. The medicinal properties of honey have been historically recorded and today a branch of medicine called apitherapy uses honey and bee products as a treatment for disease. Honey is now produced on an industrial scale with Worldwide production exceeding 1 million tons annually, although this amounts to less than 1% of total sugar production.
Honey differs in its chemical composition depending on the source, as geographical location, bee species and local flora can have an influence on the final composition of the honey. For example, acacia honey has high fructose content, whereas rape honey has a high glucose content. Generally, honey is rich in the monosaccharides glucose (30-45 g/100g) and fructose (20-30g/100g). Honey also contains smaller amounts of disaccharides such as sucrose (1-5g/100g) and trisaccharides such as melezitose, erlose and others (1-5g/100g). Honey is therefore composed primarily of carbohydrates (~80g/100g), but also contains minerals (0.1-0.5g/100g), amino acids and proteins (0.2-0.4g/100g), and acids (0.2-0.8g/100g). Around 25 different oligosaccharides have been detected in honey including lesser know ones such as trehalose, turanose, panose, 1-kestose, 6-kestose and palatinose. The proteins are mainly present as enzymes such as diastase (amylase), invertase (sucrase, α-glucosidase) and glucose oxidase.
The concentrations of vitamins and minerals in honey is small relative to the required intakes of humans, and the mineral components depend on the soil mineral content of the area surrounding the bee colony. Honey can contain sodium, calcium, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, copper, iron, manganese, chromium, selenium, molybdenum, nickel, vanadium, chloride, fluoride, iodine and sulphur. Honey also contains the vitamins phylloquinone (vitamin K), thiamine, riboflavin, pyridoxine, niacin, pantothenic acid and ascorbic acid. Honey can also contain choline (0.3-25mg/kg) and acetylcholine (0.06-5mg/kg). Total polyphenols also make up around 50-500mg/kg honey, mainly the flavonoids quercetin, luteolin, kaempferol, apigenin, chrysin and galangin. Phenolic and phenolic acid derivatives are also found in honey. The main polyphenols in honey can vary depending on the climate, geographical area, bee species and surrounding flora. Alkaloids can also be found in honey if poisonous plants surround the hive, but poisoning from honey is very rare.
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