Manuka Honey Makes a Come-Back

Infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria, an abscess oozed in a woman's armpit long after it had been drained. Nothing seemed to help, and the pain prevented her from working. This persisted for 20 years but then in August of 1999, she read about the remarkable wound-healing properties of a special type of honey only found in New Zealand called, "Manuka Honey". She asked her doctors to apply some to the dressing they applied to the wound on her arm, and one month later the wound miraculously healed. Now she's back to work.

Novel as this treatment sounds, it would have bored some doctors in ancient Egypt, according to Frank Buonanotte, CEO of Honeymark International, a manufacturer of Manuka Honey-based health care products. "Honey has been used for centuries to treat a wide range of medical problems like wounds, burns, cataracts, skin ulcers and scrapes," he says. "And now various researchers worldwide are also finding strong antimicrobial properties in Manuka Honey."

Honey fell from favor as a wound dressing when antibiotic dressings were developed during World War II. However, new research and the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria are putting this old-time folk remedy into the contemporary medicine chest. Last year, the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (the equivalent of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration) approved honey as a medicine. Honeymark has been utilizing this incredible natural resource in health care products and getting amazing results.

Manuka Honey helps wounds in several ways, says Buonanotte. Its thickness provides a protective barrier. The hydrogen peroxide it contains is released slowly, killing germs in the wound. It also reduces inflammation speeds up the growth of healthy tissue. Manuka Honey even removes the malodor in wounds, possibly because when the bacteria in wounds eat the honey's sugars, they give off sweeter-smelling gases. Dozens of studies have documented such benefits.

One of the most convincing reports, published in the 1998 issue of the journal Burns, tells how researchers from the Dr. V. M. Medical College in Maharashtra, India, compared Manuka Honey with silver sulfadiazine, the standard treatment for superficial burns. The researchers first smeared Manuka Honey on gauze and used it to dress the burns of 52 patients. Another 52 patients got the same treatment but with silver sulfadiazine in place of the honey. In the 52 patients treated with honey, 87% healed within 15 days, compared with 10% of those treated with silver sulfadiazine. The honey-treated patients also experienced less pain, leaking of wound fluid, and scarring.

Dr. Peter Molan, a biochemist at the University of Waikato in New Zealand, and other researchers have found special bacteria-killing properties in Manuka Honey. In laboratory experiments, reported in the November 1992 Journal of Applied Bacteriology, Molan and his colleagues found that Manuka Honey was particularly effective in slaying staphylococcus aureus. This so-called "Golden Staph" sometimes survives the most potent antibiotics, killing its victims. "Manuka honey has worked in very desperate cases where nothing else has worked," says Molan.

Studies so far have found no negative side effects of Manuka Honey. Experts do caution that infants should not eat honey because of the botulism risk. "But it's still OK to use honey on children's (and infants') cuts, burns or scrapes," says Molan.

For more information or to purchase health care products containing Manuka Honey, go to http://www.HoneymarkProducts.com .

Honeymark International
P.O. Box 133
Eastport, NY 11941
USA
866-427-7329
HoneymarkProducts.com

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