The use of honey to increase general well-being and flourishing

Abstract

Honey is a sweet, viscous food substance produced by honey bees and related insects from floral nectar or insect secretions through regurgitation, enzymatic activity, and water evaporation. Bees store honey in wax honeycombs to support metabolic activity during foraging and to serve as a long-term food supply for adult and larval bees during cold weather or resource scarcity. Through apiculture, humans semi-domesticate bee colonies comprising a queen, male drones, and thousands of female worker bees to harvest excess honey. Foraging bees collect nectar, process it with salivary enzymes in their honey stomach, and transfer it to hive bees, who further digest and evaporate the liquid to convert sucrose into glucose and fructose.