# Injecting Pure Food Products Like Honey **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 10, 2019, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/injecting-pure-food-products-like-honey/836829 "2019-07-10T13:25:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![molten](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ec9cab/32.png) [@molten](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/molten)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2019, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/injecting-pure-food-products-like-honey/836829/1 "2019-07-10T13:25:24Z")
This topic is not about boring and limiting theories, or social norms. Has anyone heard of real life cases of humans or animals being injected stuff like this (into what?) and what were the real life results? ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2019, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/injecting-pure-food-products-like-honey/836829/2 "2019-07-10T14:26:37Z")
Honey can contain botulism spores. (Hence it should not be given to babies.) Adults with fully developed immune systems plus stomach acids can usually kill them. Injecting honey would bypass a key line of defense. **Not** a good idea. (Sample [case](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3448763/).) ---
**Author:** ![brossa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brossa/32/3040_2.png) [@brossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brossa)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2019, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/injecting-pure-food-products-like-honey/836829/3 "2019-07-10T14:38:36Z")
Coconut water has been used as an [IV fluid from time to time.](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10674546) ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2019, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/injecting-pure-food-products-like-honey/836829/4 "2019-07-11T18:25:55Z")
I would predict a glob of honey acting much like a blood clot in your brain or lungs. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2019, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/injecting-pure-food-products-like-honey/836829/5 "2019-07-11T20:02:51Z")
Is dissolution/dilution allowed? Dextrose (glucose) is a “food product”, and that’s routinely infused/injected for medical reasons. [Ref](https://www.medicines.org.uk/emc/product/1825/smpc). > [@](#): > > Glucose 5% is indicated for the treatment of carbohydrate and fluid depletion. > > Glucose 5% is also used as a vehicle and diluent for compatible medicinal products for parenteral administration. Same for salt (saline), of course. I’m sure there’s a case of whiskey being infused (a medical case, not a case of whiskey), I think to treat methanol poisoning (ref: QI - can’t find a link right now). There’s [this](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3117141/) for Brandy (section 3, para 4). j ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2019, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/injecting-pure-food-products-like-honey/836829/6 "2019-07-11T23:25:17Z")
I’d guess that the methanol poisoning treatment that Treppenwitz points out is more likely to just be grain alcohol (grain alcohol with residual water). Whiskey in the role, with it’s flavoring components, seems unnecessary unless it’s an emergency and that’s all that’s at hand. As a real world example of direct injection, there’s the dad of one of my friends in high school. He was a surgeon. At some big milestone in his residency he and his peers had an ethanol IV party. Controlled dosing and no upset stomachs! They also, IIRC, followed up with saline and B vitamin IV chasers to fight the hangover. The real life results were they got pretty drunk and generally felt fine the next day. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/injecting-pure-food-products-like-honey/836829/7 "2019-07-12T03:41:22Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > I would predict a glob of honey acting much like a blood clot in your brain or lungs. If administered intravenously, that could potentially happen. However, a thick substance like honey? More likely, it would have been given sub-Q or IM, or even rectally. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/injecting-pure-food-products-like-honey/836829/8 "2019-07-12T04:33:34Z")
Not food, per se, but a cousin of mine was persuaded to have beeswax injected under his scalp, to cure baldness. He went bald anyway. For years, he looked like he had a mild case of hydrocephalus. He eventually had it removed surgically. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/injecting-pure-food-products-like-honey/836829/9 "2019-07-12T12:04:40Z")
> [@DinoR](#): > > I’d guess that the methanol poisoning treatment that Treppenwitz points out is more likely to just be grain alcohol (grain alcohol with residual water). Whiskey in the role, with it’s flavoring components, seems unnecessary unless it’s an emergency and that’s all that’s at hand… It was QI and I found a [link](https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/qi/episodes/11/6/). > [@](#): > > A bottle of whisky can save your life because if you have some form of trauma and have ethanol in your system you are more likely to survive. In one documentary case a New Zealand chef called Duthie went literally blind drunk after a vodka binge, most likely because he was on diabetic medication at the time and the vodka turned it into formaldehyde. Usually the way to cure this is using an ethanol drip, but at the hospital he went to there was no ethanol so they used a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label from an off licence instead. Actually, now I have more details, there are quite a lot of links to news reports. [Here’s one](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10851152). j ETA - though it doesn’t look like this qualifies as injected or infused. ---
**Author:** ![Alpha\_Twit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpha_twit/32/265_2.png) [@Alpha\_Twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpha_Twit)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/injecting-pure-food-products-like-honey/836829/10 "2019-07-12T12:25:14Z")
It might be pure urban legend but I seem to recall that injections of milk were though to be an effective, improvised treatment for heroin overdoses. I know I have seen this shown on the TV show [Emergency!](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency!) and I’ve heard it from a couple of other pop culture sources. That doesn’t mean that anyone ever took this seriously in real life. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/injecting-pure-food-products-like-honey/836829/11 "2019-07-12T12:31:18Z")
> [@](#): > > In one documentary (sic) case a New Zealand chef called Duthie went literally blind drunk after a vodka binge, most likely because he was on diabetic medication at the time and the vodka turned it into formaldehyde. This sounded fishy so I looked up a report in the NZ Herald on the case. Apparently doctors suspected methanol poisoning and metabolism into formaldehyde, and treated the patient with ethanol. Sounds like the guy drank bootleg booze instead of having a medication reaction. ---
**Author:** ![Dana\_Scully](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5daacb/32.png) [@Dana\_Scully](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dana_Scully)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/injecting-pure-food-products-like-honey/836829/12 "2019-07-12T16:13:52Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > I would predict a glob of honey acting much like a blood clot in your brain or lungs. as opposed to what? ---
**Author:** ![Dana\_Scully](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5daacb/32.png) [@Dana\_Scully](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dana_Scully)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/injecting-pure-food-products-like-honey/836829/13 "2019-07-12T16:16:30Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > If administered intravenously, that could potentially happen. However, a thick substance like honey? More likely, it would have been given sub-Q or IM, or even **rectally**. EEEEEEEEEEEEK! trying to give a honey enema? I don’t think so! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2019, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/injecting-pure-food-products-like-honey/836829/14 "2019-09-06T01:48:45Z")
> [@Dana\_Scully](#): > > EEEEEEEEEEEEK! trying to give a honey enema? I don’t think so! :smack: Huh, hadn’t seen this before, but milk and molasses enemas are a thing. Effective, too.