REAL LIFE NEWS: MEAD IS MEDICINE
by Hazed
Mead is an ancient drink made from fermenting honey with water, popular in various forms all over the ancient world. It features in many fictional works, including German myths, folktales such as Beowulf, and modern fantasy works by Tolkien and so on.
Now it turns out that quaffing mead may be good for your health, because it may help to fight infections.
New research suggests that mead, also known as honey wine, was a potent medicine in ye olden days. Tobias Olofsson, a microbiologist at Lund University in Sweden, explained: “A few hundred years ago, people only lived to be 30 or 40 years old. If you had something to prevent infections, you could live much longer.” That something, he believes, was mead.
His research shows that the bacteria found in honey can fight off some really tough drug-resistant infections. He’s launched a startup called ConCellae, backed by his university, to develop a probiotic mead that has the same medicinal properties.
Given the way bacteria are becoming resistant to antibiotics, this may be a very important development.
Source: http://gizmodo.com/the-drink-of-viking-warlords-could-help-fight-disease-1759503055