从古至今，无论在中国还是在外国，蜂蜜的“名声”都好极了。古希腊人认为蜂蜜是神赐的礼物，在现代，蜂蜜被视为糖的健康替代品，是治疗喉痛、细菌感染的天然药物，甚至能提高生育能力。但是，蜂蜜真的有人们说的那么神奇吗？

蜂蜜热量更高

High-sugar diets raise risks for heart disease, obesity and diabetes, but we do love our sweets, so health experts have tried to suggest alternatives, and honey has been foremost among them.

高糖饮食会提高患心脏病、肥胖和糖尿病的风险，但我们又爱吃甜食，所以健康专家建议人们选择糖的替代品，而最受推崇的就是蜂蜜。

Honey is actually sweeter than sugar is, which means, in theory at least, that you could enhance flavor equally with a smaller quantity of honey.

蜂蜜其实比糖更甜，这意味着你用更少量的蜂蜜就能达到同样的甜度，至少在理论上是这样。

But honey actually has a higher calorie count. It may have more minerals, which looks better on a label but, in reality, these are such trace amounts that they don't offer any real advantages.

但是事实上，蜂蜜的热量比糖更高。也许蜂蜜含有更多矿物质，成分表更好看，但其实如此微量的矿物质不能真的给你带来什么好处。

So, while cutting sugar intake is a good idea, stocking up on raw, organic honey instead might not be.

所以，少吃糖是好的，但是转而囤积有机原蜜可能就不怎么好了。

蜂蜜抗菌功效有限

Honey's reputation as a medicine is not wholly unfounded.

蜂蜜作为药物的名声并非完全没有根据。

Some honey does indeed have antibacterial properties. One byproduct of enzymes in honey is hydrogen peroxide, a powerful germ killer.

一些蜂蜜确实有抗菌功效。蜂蜜酵素的副产品之一是过氧化氢，能够强有力地杀菌。

Plus, honey's texture and consistency are good for keeping wounds clean, and bad for bugs that might want to infect them.

此外，蜂蜜的质地和稠度都有助于保持伤口清洁，避免昆虫叮咬感染。

Honey is moist and its gooey consistency means it can easily spread over and stay over wounds while keeping the tissue from becoming dry and fragile.

蜂蜜的湿润和黏稠意味着能很容易地覆盖在伤口上，避免皮肤组织干燥脆弱。

The sticky substance is also adept at breaking up biofilms that allow bacteria to accumulate and multiply. It is particularly well-known for fighting bacteria like staph, salmonella, E. Coli and certain bacteria that can infect the gut and cause ulcers.

蜂蜜还善于分解有利于细菌聚集和滋生的生物膜，对抗击葡萄球菌、沙门氏菌、大肠杆菌和感染肠道、导致溃疡的特定细菌尤其有效。

However, scientists can only say this for sure about Makuna and Malaysian Tualang honey. We don't know yet whether local home grown honey has the same potency - or safety.

但是，科学家说，只能确定麦卢卡蜂蜜和马来西亚珍稀蜂蜜有上述杀菌功效。本土家养蜂蜜是否有同样的功效就不知道了，也不能确定是否安全。

蜂蜜缓解咽痛功效也有限

A hot cup of tea with some honey stirred in certainly sounds like it would make you feel better. But it's difficult to say for sure that it will.

喝一杯加了蜂蜜的热茶听上去能让你感觉好一些，但很难说真的会让你的病好起来。

When you have a cold, contact with warm water (from tea) may help to bust up phlegm that blocks your airways. But some suspect the real secret to the soothing qualities of a cuppa is in the honey.

感冒时，喝热水（热茶）也许有助于化解堵住气管的痰。但有些人怀疑，热茶舒缓功效的真正秘诀在于蜂蜜。

There are studies that suggest that honey does work as well or better than cough suppressant drugs like Robitussin.

有研究表明，蜂蜜和美敏伪麻溶液等止咳药的功效差不多，甚至更好。

Most of these, however were considered by the academic world to be widely misinterpreted by the media.

然而，学术界认为这些研究结果多数都被媒体普遍误读了。

One of the findings that seems to have given the honey trend some additional legs came from a study that said there was 'no difference,' statistically speaking, between honey and one particular cough suppressant.

其中一个研究结果似乎助长了蜂蜜热。该研究称，蜂蜜和某一种止咳药的功效从数据来看“没有差别”。

Some academics have argued that the cough suppressant in question, dextromethorphan, is not particularly effective to begin with, and the study reported 'no difference' in effectiveness, meaning they could simply both work poorly for treating sore throats.

一些学者指出，研究中提到的止咳药美沙芬本来对止咳就不是特别有效，而研究报告中所说的功效“没有差别”，意思是两者对于治疗咽痛效果都不好。

As is the case for its benefits for wound treatment, the moisture and viscosity of honey may be somewhat soothing to irritated tissue.

和蜂蜜对伤口的疗效一样，蜂蜜的湿润和黏稠对发炎组织可能有舒缓作用。

蜂蜜不是“液体黄金”

A few years ago, honey seemed to suddenly become a hot topic of scientific research.

几年前，蜂蜜似乎突然之间就成了科学研究的热门课题。

Studies were linking the natural sweetener to benefits for leading health concerns, including infertility and dementia, and spurring health fanatics to label honey 'liquid gold.'

有研究指出，蜂蜜有助于解决不孕、痴呆等主要健康问题，一些健康狂人甚至将蜂蜜称为“液体黄金”。

One of these, conducted in 2011, compared menopausal women taking a honey 'supplement' (it was just honey) to those taking estrogen and others taking nothing.

2011年开展的其中一项研究将吃蜂蜜“进补”的绝经女性和服用雌性激素以及什么也没服用的绝经女性相比较。

Menopause comes with an estrogen decline that often coincides with impaired memory for women.

伴随绝经而来的是雌激素水平的下降，通常还伴随着记忆力减退。

The honey-taking women seemed to have slightly better memories, and thus local, organic (and expensive) honey got a new identity as 'brain food'.

吃蜂蜜的女性似乎记忆力稍微好一点，因此昂贵的本土有机蜂蜜有了一个新称号——“健脑食品”。

It's true that honey contains antioxidants which have protective effects against cell damage that occurs as we age.

蜂蜜确实含有抗氧化剂，能抵御年龄增长带来的细胞损伤。

But after that study's publication in 2011, Dr Natalie Rasgon of the Stanford School of Medicine, who studies estrogen and cognition in women, was deeply dubious in an interview with Reuters.

但该研究在2011年发布以后，斯坦福大学医学院研究女性雌激素和认知能力的娜塔莉·罗根博士在路透社的一次访谈中对这一研究结果深表怀疑。

'This is not a scientifically rigorous study,' she said.

她说：“这项研究在科学上不严谨。”

'I can’t understand how they can compare honey to estrogen. Honey is not even a supplement.'

“我不能理解他们怎么能把蜂蜜和雌激素相比。蜂蜜甚至都不算一种补充剂。”

As for fertility, studies assert a range of possible reasons and ways honey could help - but the main thing they have in common is their small size.

在生育方面，各种研究列出了蜂蜜可能有助于怀孕的一系列原因和方式，但这些研究的主要共性只有一点——都是小型研究。