Royal Jelly comes from the gland of nurse bees. Ordinary worker bees eat royal jelly for three first days, while the queen bees eat royal jelly for the rest of her life. Queen bees proved can live 40 times longer than ordinary worker bees. Queen bees also produce up to 2000 eggs per day, while the other female bees do not produce eggs.

Sure, it tastes good and has a pleasant texture that coats my irritated throat, but it’s practically pure sugar, after all. What good could it possibly do me other than diminishing my perception of discomfort for a few minutes?

So I’ve been content in my belief that honey is little more than a tasty placebo. Now, ironically enough, my convictions are being challenged, as researchers are turning up new evidence of honey’s medical benefits left and right.

Historically, honey has been used as a folk remedy in cultures around the world for millennium. It has been prescribed informally as a cure for smallpox, baldness, eye diseases, and indigestion.

It’s even been used as a contraceptive. As with most natural “cures” unsupported by scientific studies, I sort of chuckle and sigh when I read about things like this—honey may be a silly substitute for real medicine, but at least it’s not bloodletting. However, in this case, the bees may have the last laugh.

It turns out that honey’s properties make it a surprisingly effective cure-all. Or, let’s say, cure-much.