Do you feed honey to your baby? Do you know someone who does? If so, there's a slight risk associated with feeding honey to babies that you should be aware of.
It's called infant botulism, and though it's very rare, the results of a bout with botulism can be very serious.
What is Botulism? Botulism is actually a type of food poisoning.
It's caused by Clostridium Botulinum, a microorganism which can be present in honey.
When the lower bowels of infants become infected with this microorganism, a toxin can be developed.
The toxin creates a paralytic effect by blocking the transmission of nerve impulses.
(On a side note, it's the paralytic effect of the botulism toxin that makes BoTox treatments effective.
) An infant suffering from botulism poisoning may exhibit symptoms such as continuous constipation, muscular weakness, a weak appetite, and a lessened ability to cry loudly.
If your infant is displaying symptoms that you believe to be associated with botulism poisoning, seek immediate medical treatment.
Botulism poisoning can result in death in rare cases.
In fact, some medical professionals believe that botulism poisoning may be the cause of some occurrences of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
Potential Botulism Sources Honey isn't alone in presenting a potential risk of botulism poisoning to infants.
Unwashed vegetables and fruits, fresh and processed meats, and even corn syrup have all been found to contain botulism spores upon at least rare occasion.
To lessen the risk, all raw agricultural products should be washed before being served.
And though the likelihood of honey containing Clostridium Botulinum spores is very low (only about 10% of the thousands of samples tested over time), it's best to avoid feeding honey to your infant.
In fact, the National Honey Board, the Centers for Disease Control and Infection, and the American Academy of Pediatrics all recommend that you not feed honey to children less than 1 year of age.
What About Older Children and Adults? Anyone older than 1 year of age has no need to fear the possibility of botulism spores being present in the honey they consume.
That's because only very young children lack the beneficial intestinal bacteria that render the botulism spores harmless.
In fact, it's thought that there is no real risk to babies that are at least 26 weeks old.
So the recommendation of not feeding honey to children until they are 1 year old provides a significant safety buffer.
Don't Let This Spoil Your Appetite for Honey! As noted above, honey presents no risk to older children and adults.
And in fact, raw honey offers a rather amazing range of potential health benefits.
So it would be a shame to deprive yourself and your older children of the benefits of honey because of unjustified fears about botulism.
Besides, honey is such darned delicious stuff!