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Is there any type of honey that is toxic to humans?

Question #151401. Asked by unclerick.
Last updated Jul 09 2024.
Originally posted Jul 09 2024 5:17 PM.

odo5435
Answer has 3 votes
Currently Best Answer
odo5435
13 year member
153 replies

Answer has 3 votes.

Currently voted the best answer.
It is known as 'Mad Honey' and is produced by bees collecting nectar from certain rhododendron flowers. The name is derived from the honey's intoxicating and/or poisoning effects.
Mad honey is different from commercial/marketed honey as it is contaminated with grayanotoxin; ... [which is] extracted by honey bees from the nectar and pollen of the plants of the Rhododendron genus (Ericaceae family), most commonly from R. luteum, R. flavum, R. simsii, and R. ponticum.
link https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9080652/

The same article reports that Mad Honey has been used as an aphrodisiac and also that...
...mad honey was used by King Mithradates IV (Northeast Anatolia, Turkey) as a weapon in 67 BC against Pompey the great.

See also link https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0304389421026509

Response last updated by odo5435 on Jul 09 2024.
Jul 09 2024, 8:24 PM
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