Healthy Advantages of Working in the “Bee Lab”

I was fortunate enough to spend my semester interning for the VanEngledorp lab. Throughout my internship I got a firsthand look at how a lab functions and was able to participate. Mainly I would clean and prep samples for the various services this lab provides for apiaries. However, occasionally I would help with checking apiary samples for varroa.

What I found to be most interesting to learn from this lab, was the benefits of honey for your body. This Is because I love to learn about how to achieve and maintain a healthy well-being, which is why im majoring in kinesiology. For example in a recent medical case a patient was failing to keep his wound from infecting. The prescribed antibiotics were failing to help the patient, so to think outside of the box, he tried applying honey to his wounds. as a result his infections were gone and his wounds began healing properly (Nordqvist 2013).

Additionally, honey is great for physical activity. Honey can be used as a source of a quick energy boost prior to exercise, carbs while exercising, and lastly a healthy alternative to sugar for after the workout (“Honey” 2013).

Lastly,  if you eat raw locally produced honey before allergy season hits, you can reduce your likelihood of suffering from bad allergy attacks (Duncan 2013). I also enjoyed interning here because when it came time for me to par take in labs for my classes at UMD I felt as though I had an advantage, since I’ve already been working at a lab.

This post was written by Byron Mariani, an undergraduate intern in our lab.