We often prioritize the well-being of our loved ones, careers, and communities, often overlooking the importance of nurturing our own health. By incorporating a few key habits into our daily lives, we can unlock a world of vitality, resilience, and long-term wellness. We'll explore five essential habits and discover how they can positively transform our lives.
1. Quality Sleep
A good night's sleep is a powerful elixir for our overall well-being. Adequate sleep enables our bodies and minds to recharge, repair, and rejuvenate. It can also reduce stress levels, risk of chronic conditions, and improve cognitive function. One of the ways you can improve your sleep, is by establishing a regular sleep schedule, and create a soothing bedtime routine. Limiting screen time before bed, can also help with getting to sleep sooner. Prioritizing your sleep, will help your energy levels soar, improve your mood, and your health flourish.
2. Daily Movement and Fresh Air
Regular physical activity is key to maintaining strength, flexibility, and vitality as we age. Engaging in daily movement not only boosts our physical health but also enhances our mental well-being. Incorporate activities that you enjoy, such as walking, yoga, swimming, dancing, or gardening. Aim for at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise each day, and maybe even invite a friend to join in! By prioritizing daily movement, you'll hopefully feel more energetic, see improved cardiovascular health, and a sharper mind.
3. More Hugs!
Did you know that a simple hug can have profound effects on our health and happiness? Embracing those we care about releases oxytocin, a hormone that promotes bonding, reduces stress, and enhances our emotional well-being. Hugs have been shown to lower blood pressure, reduce anxiety, and boost the immune system. Take the time to hug your loved ones (including pets) every day!
4. Drinking Water: Nourishing Your Body from Within
Staying properly hydrated is vital for maintaining optimal health. Water plays a crucial role in digestion, circulation, temperature regulation, and toxin elimination. Instead of feeling overwhelmed by reaching a goal, start by trying to add an extra glass per day to what you currently drink. Carrying a reusable water bottle will help you stay hydrated on the go!. By prioritizing hydration, you'll experience improved digestion, radiant skin, enhanced cognitive function, and increased energy levels.
5. Adding Immunity-Boosting Foods
Strengthening our immune system is essential, especially as we age. Adding immunity-boosting foods to our diet can significantly improve our body's ability to fight off infections and maintain overall well-being. One such food is manuka honey, renowned for its antimicrobial properties and rich nutritional profile. Consider incorporating a tablespoon of manuka honey into your daily routine, either as a sweetener or as a topping for yogurt, oatmeal, or toast.
Our secret to ensuring every honey jar has all the benefits locked in is NEVER filtering and NEVER burning the honey. Not only does it make the honey healthier, BUT it heroes all the delicious natural flavors of the honey.
Heating
A little heat has to be applied to the honey to make it runny and separate it from the beeswax. But it's all about how you do it! Here at Airborne, we have a secret method to protect the honey. How can we tell?
The HMF score. HMF (HydroxyMethylFurfuraldehyde) is used as a measure of heat and storage changes in honey. It is usual for HMF to be below 10 mg/kg in freshly extracted honey. Levels higher than this may indicate excessive heating during the extraction process. All Airborne honey has an average score of 6mg/kg. We've measured thousands of honey samples in our lab, and consistently, Airborne has the lowest HMF score on the market!
Want to know what the HMF is of your jar? You can find it on the back of your jar.
Filtering
Filtering of honey is routinely used to remove pollen and all visible impurities. At Airborne, we strain through a mesh size that removes visible impurities such as insect parts (bees' wings, legs, etc.) and larger beeswax particles left over from the extraction process but retain all the natural pollen, as shown below.
Many honey companies filter to remove all pollen and microscopic particles which damage the natural composition. They do this because these particles can act as a nucleation point - meaning the honey starts to crystallize around the pollen. But this is because honeys that are fast crystallizing have been used to produce liquid honey. At Airborne, we solve this problem with HPLC analyses enabling us to select slow crystallizing honeys - eliminating the need for filtering the pollen out of the honey - and leaving it Undamaged! We then use the fast crystallizing honeys for creamed honey.
It might sound strange, but our bodies are home to trillions of micro-organisms, and it contains the greatest microbial density of any habitat found on earth. Our body contains many more individual microbes than it does our own cells; reportedly outnumbering them 10 to 1 [1].
This is known as the microbiome, and could be compared to a garden; with the good bugs being flowers and the bad being weeds. Up to 1000 different species have been recorded, however, only 30-40 types make up 99% of those present [2].
These microbes, normally bacteria, reside in the stomach, small intestine, and large intestine. They can provide benefit to us by stimulating the immune system, breaking down toxins, and making important nutrients for us. There is even a connection between gut health and appetite [3], mental health [4], and the prevention of disease [5, 6, 7, 8]. In short, our bugs can make us hungry, they can influence our mood, and they can affect disorders like irritable bowel syndrome and type 2 diabetes [9].
Ideally, we want to provide an environment that is more hospitable to the good versus the bad bugs. Our body is their home, and they derive nourishment from the foods we eat, including honey. Good bugs include Bifidobacteria and Lactobacilli [10]. We can assist them by providing foods and sugars that encourage their growth [11]. These are known as prebiotics:
“a selectively fermented ingredient that results in specific changes in the composition and/or activity of the gastrointestinal microbiota, thus conferring benefits upon host health” [12].
Honeydew honey contains lower amounts of simple sugars and many more complex sugars when compared to nectar honey. These complex sugars are called polysaccharides and oligosaccharides. These can account for up to 15% of the total amount of honey [13], and include ones you might never have heard of:
Some of the sugars we see are so novel that we haven’t been able to identify them!
Due to their size and how these sugars are put together, they are able to travel through the digestive tract where they can provide nourishment for beneficial bacteria [14, 15]. There are a lot of ongoing studies as to the benefits of these sugars, and our knowledge is always evolving. We’ll keep you posted.
REFERENCES
1. National Institutes of Health. (2012). NIH Microbiome Project defines normal bacterial makeup of the body. [online] Available at: https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-human-microbiome-project-defines-normal-bacterial-makeup-body#:~:text=The%20human%20body%20contains%20trillions,vital%20role%20in%20human%20health. [Accessed 10 August 2022].
2. Arumugam, M., Raes, J., Pelletier, E., Le Paslier, D., Yamada, T., Mende, D. R., Fernandes, G. R., Tap, J., Bruls, T., Batto, J.-M., Bertalan, M., Borruel, N., Casellas, F., Fernandez, L., Gautier, L., Hansen, T., Hattori, M., Hayashi, T., … Bork, P. (2011). Enterotypes of the human gut microbiome. Nature, 473(7346), 174–180. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature09944
3. Weltens, N., Iven, J., Van Oudenhove, L., & Kano, M. (2018). The gut-brain axis in health neuroscience: Implications for functional gastrointestinal disorders and appetite regulation: The gut-brain axis in health neuroscience. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1428(1), 129–150. https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.13969
4. Valles-Colomer, M., Falony, G., Darzi, Y., Tigchelaar, E. F., Wang, J., Tito, R. Y., Schiweck, C., Kurilshikov, A., Joossens, M., Wijmenga, C., Claes, S., Van Oudenhove, L., Zhernakova, A., Vieira-Silva, S., & Raes, J. (2019). The neuroactive potential of the human gut microbiota in quality of life and depression. Nature Microbiology, 4(4), 623–632. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-018-0337-x
5. Durack, J., & Lynch, S. V. (2019). The gut microbiome: Relationships with disease and opportunities for therapy. Journal of Experimental Medicine, 216(1), 20–40. https://doi.org/10.1084/jem.20180448
6. Gurung, M., Li, Z., You, H., Rodrigues, R., Jump, D. B., Morgun, A., & Shulzhenko, N. (2020). Role of gut microbiota in type 2 diabetes pathophysiology. EBioMedicine, 51, 102590. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ebiom.2019.11.051
7. Bonfrate, L., Tack, J., Grattagliano, I., Cuomo, R., & Portincasa, P. (2013). Microbiota in health and irritable bowel syndrome: Current knowledge, perspectives and therapeutic options. Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology, 48(9), 995–1009. https://doi.org/10.3109/00365521.2013.799220
8. Shreiner, A. B., Kao, J. Y., & Young, V. B. (2015). The gut microbiome in health and in disease: Current Opinion in Gastroenterology, 31(1), 69–75. https://doi.org/10.1097/MOG.0000000000000139
9. Erejuwa, O. O., Sulaiman, S. A., & Wahab, M. S. A. (2012). Honey—A Novel Antidiabetic Agent. International Journal of Biological Sciences, 8(6), 913–934. https://doi.org/10.7150/ijbs.3697
10. O’Callaghan, A., & van Sinderen, D. (2016). Bifidobacteria and Their Role as Members of the Human Gut Microbiota. Frontiers in Microbiology, 7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2016.00925
11. Mohan, A., Quek, S.-Y., Gutierrez-Maddox, N., Gao, Y., & Shu, Q. (2017). Effect of honey in improving the gut microbial balance. Food Quality and Safety. https://doi.org/10.1093/fqs/fyx015
12. Gibson, G. R., Scott, K. P., Rastall, R. A., Tuohy, K. M., Hotchkiss, A., Dubert-Ferrandon, A., Gareau, M., Murphy, E. F., Saulnier, D., Loh, G., Macfarlane, S., Delzenne, N., Ringel, Y., Kozianowski, G., Dickmann, R., Lenoir-Wijnkoop, I., Walker, C., & Buddington, R. (2010). Dietary prebiotics: Current status and new definition. Food Science & Technology Bulletin: Functional Foods, 7(1), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1616/1476-2137.15880
13. Airborne Honey Ltd. (2021). Oligosaccharride composition of honey. Internal Research Project.
14. Leite JDC, Trugo LC, Costa LSM, Quinteiro LMC, Barth OM, Dutra VML, De Maria CAB (2000) Determination of oligosaccharides in Brazilian honeys of different botanical origin. Food Chem 70(1):93–98
15. Mei, J., & Nordin, M. (n.d.). Fructooligosaccharides in honey and effects of honey on growth of Bifidobacterium longum BB 536. 5.
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The preparation for winter begins in the fall, when the bees start storing honey to keep the hive fed until spring. We also see a change in the hive family. Summer bees generally live for 4-6 weeks, whilst winter bees have a longer lifespan of 4-6 months. They are born in the fall and are a bit plumper than the summer bees.
When the temperature drops below 10° C, winter worker bees head to the hive and create a tight cluster around the Queen to keep her and themselves warm. The worker bees flutter their wings continuously to create heat, a bit like how us humans shiver. The Queen is in the center of the cluster, where the temperate reaches as high as 32°C-37°C.
The stores of honey the bees have produced in the warmer months are essential energy boosters to keep them healthy and buzzing.
Our beekeepers know the importance of keeping a good supply of honey for the health of our bees in the winter time.
Sources:
https://www.britannica.com/story/where-do-honeybees-go-in-the-winter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPj0W2eT9PM
]]>US beekeepers Sue over imports of Asian fake honey. (2021, May 01). Retrieved January 24, 2022, from https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/may/01/us-beekeepers-sue-over-imports-of-asian-fake-honey?fbclid=IwAR36IHe7Y2ZXUNaZ7V3bFOoexkm0ipGs1Z5_-ZEiYRhONxoJC7oeAuRJsjo
Yun, J. (2022, January 02). The known unknown: Inside Australia's $3 billion food fraud puzzle. Retrieved January 24, 2022, from https://www.smh.com.au/business/consumer-affairs/the-known-unknown-inside-australia-s-3-billion-food-fraud-puzzle-20211215-p59hoe.html?fbclid=IwAR2XKje42dAM9n-WTX9MqERVxg0HN4H1__f22dH3P1VLkXONRfVTx1zG9PE
Fizel Al-Himyari
University of Babylon, College of Medicine
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5424551/#ref49
Abstract
Honey is one nature's most splendid gifts to mankind. It posses unique nutritional and medicinal properties. Honey is old as written history and it was used to treat amnesia. A randomized, placebo controlled, double blind,5 year study with 2290 cognitvely intact subjects and 603 with a mild cognitive impairment (total 2893 ,aged 65 and older),randomized to one daily tablespoon of honey or placebo. Honey was given to 1493 subjects, while only1400 received placebo. Dementia assessment was done every 6 months. This study was conducted in Iraq from Nov.2003 to Nov. 2008.As a total, only 489 subjects developed dementia. It was seen in 394 of those receiving placebo and only in 95 subjects receiving honey(P-value <0.05).
Honey and it's properties is considered one of the natural preventive therapies of both cognitive decline and dementia. It has antioxidant properties and it enhances the brain's cholinergic system and circulation. Further studies are needed to investigate the role of honey in slowing the progression of dementia and if it has any antiamyloid properties.
الخلاصة
يمتلك العسل خاصية غذائية وخاصية طبية في نفس الوقت ويعود تاريخه الى زمن السومريين والاكديين كما وقد ذكر في القرآن الكريم , تمت هذه الدراسة على مدى خمسة سنوات في العراق اذ كان مجموع العينة التي اُخذت 2893 وتتراوح اعمارهم من 65 سنة فما فوق وكان 2290 منهم ذات قابلية ذهنية طبيعية والمتبقي (603) هم في مرحلة انتقالية ما بين الطبيعي ومرض الخرف . لقد اُعطي العسل بمقدار ملعقة طعام يومياً لـ 1493 شخص من العينة الكلية والمتبقي (1400) شخص اُعطوا عقار معين وكانت تجرى الفحوصات السريرية لهؤلاء المجموعتين كل ستة أشهر وكانت النتيجة انه 489 اصيبوا بمرض الخرف (95 فقط منهم ممن كانوا يتناولون العسل والمتبقي منهم 394 ممن كانوا يتناولون العقار الطبي المعين ) ومن هذه الدراسة نرى ان العسل وخصائصه الطبية يعتبر علاج طبيعي وقائي ضد مرض الخرف وضد التدهور التدريجي للذاكرة اذا يمتلك خصائص ضد التأكسد ويقوي الدورة الدموية للدماغ لذا ننصح بتناول العسل يوميا لجميع فئات المجتمع .
Introduction
Honey is one of nature's most splendid gifts to mankind. It possess unique nutritional and medicinal properties. The word honey is derived from the Arabic Han. This became Honing in German and Huning in old English. The word is used in English language as a term of endearment.
Honey is a viscid, accharine substance, semitranslucent and light yellow-brown colour, with an aromatic odour and a sweet taste. After times, it becomes opaque and crystalline. Most of us know honey as a sweet ,golden liquid. But, infact ,honey can be found in a variety of forms.
Honey is old as written history, dating back to the Sumerians(3100 B.C.) and the Akkadians (2400 B.C.).It was mentioned in the cuneiform writings and in the Hittite Code(1350 B.C.).According to the Iraqi references(Al-Jade, 1968; Al-Ahmed, 1974; Al-Baderi, 1975),the Sumerians, the Akkadians and the Assyrians used it to treat amnesia in the elderly people. It was given to the Kings in Ancient Mesopotamia offering them a longer life(Al-Jade, 1968; Al-Ahmed, 1974; Al-Baderi, 1975).
In 1989, an editorial in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine (Zumla, 1989) expressed the opinion" The therapeutic potential of uncontaminated ,pure honey is grossly underutilized. It is widely available in most of the communities and although the mechanism of action of several of it's properties remain obscure and needs further investigation, the time has come now for conventional medicine to lift the blinds off this traditional remedy and give it it's due recognition".
Methods
Selection of the study subjects: A total of 2893 subjects ,aged 65 and older were recruited in this study at both Baghdad and Babylon Teaching Hospitals of Iraq from Nov.2003-Nov.2008.Iraq or Mesopotomia (Al-Himyari-2007) is considered the heart of the middle east. It's population is 27,499,638 (2007 estimate).Iraq is comprised of four main geographical regions. First is the desert in the west southwest area of the country. Second is the rolling upland between the upper Tigris and Euphrates rivers (known as Al-Jazera).Third, the highlands in the north northeast region of the country. Finally the Alluvial plain through which the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers flow. The climate of Iraq is overwhelmingly characterized by desert or desert like arid conditions.
For this study we identified subjects using the following inclusion criteria: No dementia diagnosis at baseline and valid cognitive testing at baseline to allow diagnosis of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI).Exclusion criteria were mental retardation, known brain cancer ,parkinson's disease, severe weakness or severe sensory impairment leading to invalid cognitive testing and depression. Those with MCI were defined as those with cognitive decline ,not normal for age not demented and essentially normal functional activities according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Dissorders, Revised Third Edition Criteria(American Psychiatric Association-1987) ) for Dementia.
Characteristics of all study groups
Characteristics of all study groups
|
Normal cognition |
MCI |
Total no: Age Male no: Female no: Education years >12 years < 12 years |
2290 72 ± 6.81 1190 1100
400 1890 |
603 78.76 ± 6.8 303 300
201 402 |
At each assessment which was done every 6 months, the participants were interviewed at the hospital, at their homes and by telephone interview (Brandt et al., 1988,Welsh et al., 1993, Plassman, 1994). 75% of the participants were interviewed at home and hospital. The main instrument used was SIDAM(Structured Interview for Diagnosis of Dementia of Alzheimer type, Multi-Infarct Dementia and Dementia of other Etiology according to ICD-10 and DSM-I)( Zaudig , 1991 ).
Statistical analysis was done using the Chi square and testing of 2 population proportions (Wayne ,1998 ).
In this double blind, placebo controlled, 5 year study, the patients (2290 cognitively intact subjects and 603 with MCI) are randomized to one daily tablespoon of honey or placebo .Honey was given to 1493 subjects, while only 1400 received placebo.
Results
Of the 2893 subjects, only 489 developed dementia (235 had a previous MCI).It was seen in 394 of those receiving placebo and only in 95 subjects receiving honey (p–value< 0.05).Dementia diagnosis was seen in those with less than 12 years education years (345 subjects).Weight gain was seen in 73 subjects only and their body mass index was between 27-30.
Discussion
In a community-based cohort of 2893 individuals, we found that those taking honey were less liable to develop dementia (P<0.05) than those taking placebo. Although several studies have examined the relative risk of dementia among persons with MCI and comparable individuals without cognitive impairment (Bennett, 2002; Larrieu, 2002; Fisk, 2003; Boyle, 2006),persons with MCI had markedly lower baseline scores and declined considerably more rapidly each year on a measure of global cognitive function than those without cognitive impairment.
The test part of SIDAM consisted of 55 items, including all 30 items of the Mini-Mental State Examination(MMSE).The test covers six areas of neuropsycological function:1-Orientation,assessing the orientation of the time, place and person; 2-memory,measured by delayed verbal recall of a word list and a fictitious name and address, delayed visual reproduction, questions on biographical knowledge and on historical data unrelated to a person's life;3-intellectual abilities, assessed by items of abstract thinking (differences, explaining the meaning of idiomatic expressions), and judgement (describing pictures representing actions, and plausibilityjudgement); 4-verbal abilities and calculation, assessed by calculating serial sevens, spelling backward, and backward digit span;5-constructional abilities (visual-spatial), assessed by coping figures; and 6-aphasia and apraxia ,assessed by naming objects, reading and obeying a sentence, writing a sentence, and performing a three-stage command.
This study revealed dementia diagnosis (345 out of 489)was more in individuals with education years less than 12 years. This highlightens how education plays a role in delaying or accelerating the progression of dementia.
One might ask ,why did we use honey in our study? The answer is because our ancestors used it to treat amnesia and it's use is also recommended in the Holy Koran "There issues from within their bodies(bees),a drink of varying colours, wherein is healing for men" . We conclude that honey and it's properties is considered one of the natural preventive therapies of both cognitive decline and dementia. It has antioxidant properties and it enhances the brain's cholinergic system and circulation. Further studies are needed to investigate the role of honey in slowing the progression of dementia and if it has any antiamyloid properties.
References
Al-Ahmed (1974). The Ancient Iraqi Medicine, Sumer J.,vol.30-Baghdad;(94-98).
Al-Baderi (1975). Series of Al-Baderi of History of Iraq- Baghdad; (1-28).
Al-Himyari F. (2007). Epilepsy in Mesopotamia 3100-539 B.C. Neurology;68 Supplement-1: A7.Abstract.
Al-Jader, (1968). The Babylonian-Assyrian Medicine-Sumer J.,Vol.1-Baghdad;(191-206).
American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical manual of mental disorders, third edition-revised. Washington DC: American Psychiatric Association, 1987.
Bennett DA Wlison RS, Schneider JA, et al. (2002). Natural history of mild cognitive impairment in older persons. Neurology ;59;198-205.
Boyle PA, Wilson R.S., Aggarwal N.T., Tang Y., (2006). Mild Cognitive Impairment. Risk of Alzheimer disease and rate of cognitive decline. Neurology; 441-445.
Brandt J, Spencer M, Folstein M. (1988). The telephone interview for cognitive status. Neuropsychiatry Neuropsychol Behav. Neurol ;111-117.
Fisk JD, Merry HR, Rockwood K. (2003). Variations in case definition affect prevalence but not outcomes of mild cognitive impairment. Neurology; 61 :1179-1184.
Larrieu S, Letenneur L ,Orgogozo JM, et al. (2002). Incidence and outcome of mild cognitive impairment in a population-based prospective cohort. Neurology; 59:1594-1599.
Plassman Bl, Newmann TT, Welsh KA, Helms M, Breitner JCS. (1994). Properties of Telephone interview for cognitive status. Application in epidemiological and longitudinal studies. Neuropsychiatry Neuropsychol Behav Neurol , 7:235-241.
Wayne W. Daniel. Biostatistics (1998). A foundation for analysis in the health sciences (7th ed.)U.S. edition: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Welsh KA, Breitner JCS, Magruder-Habib KM. (1993). Detection of dementia in the elderly using telephone screening of cognitive status. Neuropsychiatry Neuropsychol Behav Neurol ;6 103-110.
Zaudig M, Mittelhammer J, Hiller W, et al. SIDAM: (199). A structured interview for the diagnosis of dementia of Alzheimer type, multiinfarct dementia and dementia of other aetiology according to ICD-10 and DSM-111-R.Psychol Med; 21 : 225-236.
Zumla A, Lulat A.(1989). A remedy redisdovered. JR Soc.Med.;82:384-85.
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Plastic tends to get a really bad rep from environmentalists - microplastics have been found from the summit of Mount Everest to in the deepest oceans.
But it doesn't have to be this way.
Some modern plastics can be recycled too. They are known as PET or rPET, and you can put these in your recycling bin. Our jars are 70% rPET, 30% PET.
So is glass better than PET/rPET?
We went in search of the answer...
WARNING: ESSAY ALERT
There's no going "half pie" on this issue. It's very important to us. We use PET and rPET currently, and for my own peace of mind I needed to know if we were doing the right thing.
We compared glass and PET/rPET (the plastic we use for our jars) from several angles.
1. Recyclability
Both plastic and glass are easy to recycle in New Zealand. They are collected by roadside in most parts of the country.
PET is a closed loop, and the recycling process turns it into many different products from containers (jars such as ours) to textiles (clothes, carpets, etc.).
Currently, New Zealand has only one main glass recycling manufacturer in Auckland.
"This can make it logistically and financially difficult for many parts of New Zealand, especially in the South Island, to get glass recycling up to Auckland.
Consequently, vast swathes of the glass that South Islanders put out to recycle never gets to Auckland and so never gets recycled back into bottles.
Although glass is infinitely recyclable, it’s quite fussy. Any contamination of the glass with other materials can make it impossible to recycle."
Sometimes Smashing, Sometimes Crushing: The story of glass in New Zealand - The Rubbish Trip
If it’s not being turned back into bottles, then what happens to all that glass collected for recycling?
Most of New Zealand’s “recycled” glass is crushed and used as a fill in road building. But once the glass is embedded in a road, you can never get it back again and you’ll need to mine more silica sand if you want more glass. For this reason, using glass in roads is considered to be ‘down-cycling’, not recycling.
The great thing about both PET/rPET and glass jars is that you can use them again and again IF recycled responsibly.
2. Energy to Manufacture and CO2 Produced
The energy to produce glass is massive. Glass melts at 1,500°C - 1,600°C it consuming 1.1 KwHr of energy to manufacture one kilogram. Another 25-30% of this energy is used in the glass factory as the glass has to be kept hot as it is moulded and annealed (when you make glass soft by heating it then slowly cooling it).
Natural gas furnaces used in glass manufacturing produce 275gms of CO2 for every kilo of glass made. The decomposition of limestone and soda in the glass making process releases another 185gms of CO2 per kilo of glass. There is 90g of CO2 produced for every 196g glass jar made. This may not sound a lot, but the glass industry in the UK in 2003 produced 900,000 tons of CO2. As much as 195,000 cars annually.
In the manufacture of PET jars there is negligible CO2 produced per kilo. And because the jars are 7.5 -10 times lighter than glass, the CO2 produced per jar is non-existent. To recycle PET, it must be heated to 250°C to melt. Because the jar is only 26gms, the total energy to recycle a PET jar is around 165 times LESS than a glass jar.
3. Weight
Our square PET honey jars weigh 26g versus the lightest available glass 500gm honey jar weighing 196g, this is 7.5 times as much as PET jars. This extra weight costs resources and energy to freight it not only to our export customers but also to us.
Glass food jars supplied in New Zealand are manufactured in Asia and Europe. The high cost in energy and resources to ship glass from these distant sources is a significant environmental issue. PET resin is imported into New Zealand in bulk in shipping containers and then blown into jars here.
If all honey packed into retail packs in New Zealand were put in PET, it would require 23 shipping containers of PET resin, but if all honey were packed in glass jars, it would require 720 shipping containers, 30 times more than PET.
When exporting our honey, we can put 3,200 cartons of honey in PET jars into a shipping container but we can only put 2,250 cartons of glass jars into a shipping container because of the extra weight of the glass jars.
If all honey packed into retail packs in New Zealand was packed into glass, it would be an extra 3,750 tons of weight to be transported. From the glass factory, to the port, on the ship to New Zealand, to the honey packer, to then be moved to the market, either local or, back onto a ship for export.
4. Sand mining impact on the World's Resources
Glass is made from all-natural resources, such as sand, soda ash, limestone and recycled glass. Anytime we take sand out of its natural habitat, you break a chain in the ecosystem. Even worse than that, when sand is removed, local communities are more susceptible to erosion and flooding.
Worldwide there is a significant problem with sand mining that is at the heart of all glass manufacture.
Neither are the ultimate answer, but we can say hand on heart that PET/ rPET is the best choice right now.
We have assessed how we can use minimal output and energy and will continue to review this as technology improves.
Now the ball is in your court to recycle responsibly!
If we can work together as producers and consumers we can be responsible plastic users and help reduce our waste footprint.
Kelsey, Airborne Honey
]]>There's numbers for MGO, UMF, Pollen Count. There's raw, pure, multifloral and blends. Every jar seems to have a different number, and most of them have two. Your instruction was to simply to pick up some manuka honey, the good stuff.
How hard could it be... A bigger number is better, right? And the more expensive ones must be better, right?
You start googling for the answers on your phone and it gets worse. You find MGO (Methylglyoxal) has been superceded by UMF (Unique Manuka Factor) because the presence of MGO on its own didn't necessarily mean its manuka, and the score could easily be manipulated by heating.
You discover the Government (MPI) bypassed UMF score and set its own standard for what qualifies as manuka. The MPI tests look for DNA and chemical markers which indicate the presence of manuka.
It separates mono from multifloral (a blend) but no more. It still doesn't tell you how much manuka - it could be a little or a lot.🤨
The tests are only required for export honey. This isn't proving very helpful...
Surely there must be an international standard?
Sure is! The gloriously named Codex Alimentarius honey standard was established almost 40 years ago by the UN International Food Standards Committee (FAO) and remains the world authority on all things honey.
According to Codex you can refer to a honey by a floral source 'if it comes wholly or mainly from that source' plus the scientific properties are consistent with that source.
We know the source of the honey, where the bees have been, because the trademark pollen has collected on their legs. From this we know if they've been feasting on the manuka plant, or not, and if so, how much.
If the honey contains 70% or more manuka pollen then it qualifies as manuka - simple.
Airborne religiously tests every batch to be sure it meets the MPI standard for manuka and to verify the pollen count. They can tell you that their honey is at least 70 percent, or even 85 percent plus manuka pollen. The exact % for the batch is printed on the label.
And if your budget wont stretch as far as the 70% Pure you can always try the manuka wildflower blend - it tastes bloody good too.
There, it wasn't so hard after all.😉
For more information on the MPI standard:
https://www.mpi.govt.nz/dmsdocument/17374-Manuka-Honey-Science-Definition-infographic
For the International Food Standard on honey:
https://www.airborne.co.nz/pages/research-literature