Honeybee Health Foods

07/21/2025

This Amino Acid Found in Green Tea Might Help You Sleep

Having trouble sleeping is frustrating, affects your quality of life and has a negative impact on your health. Green tea is a rich source of an amino acid that might help.

Like breathing, sleeping seems like the most natural thing in the world. Unbelievably, though, it is estimated that 30% of people in the world struggle with sleep problems.

And those frustrating sleep problems do more than ruin your night and affect your day. They are associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, depression, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease.

Pharmaceutical sleep aids come with the risk of dependency, side effects and daytime drowsiness. They are also not recommended as a long-term solution. Nature offers many safe, effective sleep aids. One of them might come from green tea.

L-theanine is an amino acid that is found almost uniquely in green tea. It accounts for almost 50% of all amino acids in green tea and makes up about 1-2% of its weight. It crosses the blood-brain barrier and affects a number of neurotransmitters that influence sleep and relaxation, including serotonin, dopamine and GABA.

For the first time, a meta-analysis has looked at L-theanine’s effect on sleep. It included 18 controlled studies. In 11 of the studies, L-theanine was combined with other ingredients, and in 8 of them, the L-theanine was alone. It would have been nice to see just how the L-theanine did on its own.

The results showed that L-theanine significantly improved subjective measures of sleep, including how fast people fell asleep, daytime dysfunction, and, most importantly, overall sleep quality.

There was a great variation in the studies, including the dose of L-theanine and the length of time it was given. Several objective measures became significant when just one of the studies was removed, including time to fall asleep and sleep efficiency.

L-theanine was safe, with no significant difference in side-effects between L-theanine and placebo.

A few things need to be noted about this study. Most of the studies were done on people who did not have sleep problems, meaning there was not much room for improvement. L-theanine may perform even better on people who actually struggle with insomnia.

Also, the question asked by the study may need tweaking. L-theanine improves calm by increasing alpha brain waves, which leads to relaxation and better focus, and deceasing beta brain waves, which reduces nervousness, hyperactivity and unfocussed thoughts. Its specialty may not be putting you to sleep as much as improving your sleep.

Sleep Medicine Reviews. June 2025;81:102076.

07/15/2025

Ginkgo Biloba for Stroke Recovery

When 120 elderly people who had suffered a stroke were given conventional treatment or Ginkgo biloba extract, the ginkgo group had better improvement in NIFSS stroke severity scores.

The study concluded that ginkgo benefits recuperation of neurological function, cerebral circulation and inflammation, leading to significant improvement of daily life ability.

Pak J Pharm Sci. 2024 May;37(3):705-713.

07/08/2025

Probiotics Help All Forms of IBS in a Variety of Ways

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) can seriously impair your quality of life. There are many subtypes of IBS, but this study shows that probiotics safely help them all.

IBS is characterized by abdominal pain, bloating and diarrhea and/or constipation. This 12 week, double-blind study shows that a blend of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium probiotics help people with IBS in a variety of important ways.

The study included 120 adults with a variety of subtypes of IBS. It found that, compared to placebo, the probiotics significantly improved IBS Symptom Severity Scale (IBS-SSS) scores, including abdominal pain, bloating and defecation.

Probiotics also significantly improve short chain fatty acids, including butyrate, which is important because short chain fatty acids are crucial for providing energy to intestinal cells.

Importantly, intestinal permeability was also significantly improved with the probiotics, and the probiotics were significantly more effective at reducing markers of inflammation.

The probiotics were as safe as the placebo.

This important study demonstrates that probiotics safely and effectively improve the causes and symptoms of all subtypes of IBS.

Front Cell Infect Microbiol. June 2025;15:doi.org/10.3389/fcimb.2025.1616066.

07/01/2025

06/28/2025

New pre-workout in stock!!

06/24/2025

Important New Evidence that Curcumin Helps People with Diabetes

A new massive review of the research establishes that curcumin significantly helps people with diabetes.

An umbrella analysis is comprehensive and is one of the highest levels of evidence.

Curcumin is the active ingredient in the herb turmeric. Recently, an umbrella analysis put together 14 systematic reviews and meta-analyses of the effect of curcumin and turmeric on diabetes. The analysis included research published between 2015 and 2022.

It showed that curcumin and turmeric significantly improve fasting blood glucose, insulin resistance, and HbA1c. HbA1c is the most important marker of long term blood sugar and diabetes control (PLoS One. 2023;18(7):e0288997).

Now an even larger umbrella analysis has reinforced and expanded this evidence.

This umbrella analysis included 22 meta-analyses published up until January 2024. It found that curcumin significantly improves fasting blood sugar levels, insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), HbA1c, and insulin.

The pooled findings show that curcumin can help people with diabetes. It found that the best results were achieved at a dose of at least 1g a day. It also found that curcumin should be taken for at least 10 weeks to achieve most of the benefits found in the study.

Prostaglandins & Other Lipid Mediators. December 2024;175:106908.

06/20/2025

🍼 New Arrival at Honey Bee! 🐝
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✔ Non-GMO, no palm oil, no refined sugars
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Whether you're exploring alternatives or seeking premium nourishment for your baby, Capricare is a naturally wholesome choice trusted by families worldwide. 🌍💛
Now available at Honey Bee Health Food Store—your trusted source for wellness from day one.

06/19/2025

EMP back In stock !

06/16/2025

Evidence Builds for Curcumin for Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

In nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, fats, including cholesterol and triglycerides, collect in liver tissue. It is the most common cause of chronic liver disease. It affects as many as 30% of people, but most people who have it probably don’t even know it. Many natural supplements have been shown to help. One of the most promising is curcumin. A new meta-analysis adds to the evidence.

A large body of research already suggests that curcumin is an important herb for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

Several studies have shown that curcumin improves liver enzymes in people with NAFLD. Curcumin can reduce fat in the liver (Phytother Res 2016;30(9):1540-8; Nutr Metab 2019;16:8), and ultrasound reveals that it improves the liver (Drug Res 2017;67(4):244-251) and disease activity (J Cell Biochem 2019;120(9):15989-96; Nutr Metab 2019;16:8). Providing more help, curcumin also improves cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose, insulin resistance and sensitivity, body mass index and weight circumference.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of 9 studies found that curcumin significantly improves ALT, AST, total and LDL cholesterol, insulin resistance and waist circumference: all crucial things to improve in NAFLD (Complement Ther Med 2020;48:102283).

Now a new meta-analysis has looked at all the research published up until the end of 2021 to analyze the effect of curcumin on liver enzymes in people with NAFLD. The meta-analysis included 14 studies and included 778 people.

It found that curcumin significantly reduces ALT. A closer look suggests that curcumin may reduce ALT in people under 45 but not in older people. Curcumin significantly reduces AST. Although it initially looked like curcumin had no significant effect on ALP, subgroup analysis discovered that when curcumin was given for 12 weeks or more, it did significantly improve ALP.

06/10/2025

Olive Leaf Extract for High Blood Pressure: the Evidence Grows!

It sounds impossible, but 22.6% of Canadian adults and nearly half of all Americans over the age of 20 have high blood pressure. Only 24% of Americans with high blood pressure have it under control. Here’s some safe, natural help that may come as a surprise.

Olive leaf extract, though much less known that the olive fruit, may be the really valuable part of the plant medicinally. Studies have shown, not only that it lowers high blood pressure (Eur J Nutr 2017;56(4):1421-1432), but that it lowers it as effectively as the drug captopril (Phytomed 2011;18:251-8).

Now the evidence for olive leaf extract has gotten stronger with the publication of a meta-analysis of 3 studies, including 248 people with hypertension or prehypertension.

The results confirmed that olive leaf extract lowers blood pressure. When the dose was 1000mg a day, olive leaf extract lowered systolic blood pressure by 11.45 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure by 4.65 mmHg.

This is an important accomplishment for the herbal treatment, since a 10 mmHg reduction in systolic blood pressure can translate into a 20% reduction in major cardiovascular events, including a 27% reduction in strokes, a 17% reduction in coronary heart disease and a 28% reduction in heart failure (Lancet. 2016;387(10022):957-967).

Phytotherapy Research. 2025;doi:10.1002/ptr.8509.

05/27/2025

Not Surprisingly, a Combo of Helpful Natural Menopause Treatments is Helpful!

There are lots of natural remedies that help alleviate the symptoms of menopause. So, what happens when you put a few of the best known ones together?

In, perhaps, one of the least surprising studies you’ll see, it turns out that, when you take a combination of natural supplements that improve the symptoms of menopause, it improves the symptoms of menopause!

Individually, each of black cohosh, soy isoflavones and lignans like the ones found in flaxseeds have been proven to help women with menopause. This double-blind, placebo-controlled study examined what happens when you put them together. Importantly, but not surprisingly, they helped.

90 postmenopausal women were given either a placebo or the combination supplement for 90 days with symptoms being assessed on the Menopause Rating Index.

Significant improvement was seen in the supplement group compared to the placebo in every domain, including a 54.3% difference in physical symptoms, a 54.3% difference in psychological symptoms, a 37.3% difference in urogenital symptoms and a 48% difference in total score.

The supplement was safe, and none of the women had to stop taking it.

Eur J Nutr. 2025;64:138.

05/14/2025

Sorry our phone lines weren't working yesterday, we had a hydro pole that had to be replaced after an accident

and that caused our phone lines to be out!

We are BACK this morning and ready to serve you!!!