Honey contains a bacterium called Clostridium botulinum spores (CBS) that produces neurotoxins known as botulinum.
For those of you not familiar with botox, botulinum is the main paralytic component in botox which causes flaccid muscular paralysis. This prevents your muscles from contracting.
People three years old and up are able to prevent the germination process of the CBS. Unfortunately, if you have a child three years old or younger it’s best to keep them away from honey. The CBS will germinate in their gastrointestinal tract and cause botulism to develop.
Botulism is an illness caused by the toxin botulinum as discussed in the first and second paragraph.
Image provided by wikipedia.org
This could be fatal if not treated promptly. The signs of botulism are:
- weakness
- constipation
- loss of appetite and listlessness
- irritability
If medical treatment is not given, your baby may start drooling from the mouth and his/her sucking and gagging reflexes decrease. He/she may lose control of her head and respiratory arrest can occur. Website
On a lighter note, honey is sweeter than table sugar so when you use honey, comparatively you don’t need much.
The only way honey can spoil is when it’s not sealed shut. Honey absorbs moisture from the air when left open and this will allow the honey to become fermented.
Hope you enjoyed honey! Tomorrow is honey weekly round up!