Incredible Healing Properties Of Active Manuka Honey
Honey has been used throughout the ages as a medicinal treatment for wounds and other topical skin conditions. We don’t know virtuous when early man discovered the healing properties of honey, but evidence has been found to indicate that honey was used as an antibacterial circumstance by ancient Egyptians thousands of years before bacteria were discovered to be the cause of infections.
One of our first written accounts of using honey as a healing makin's comes from Aristotle, who wrote that well-lighted honey was a good gel for sore eyes and wounds. A Greek physician, pharmacologist and zoologist named Pedanius Dioscorides, who practiced in Rome around the time of Nero, traveled extensively throughout the Greek and Roman empires in search of medicinal substances. He is famous for writing a five locus book, De Materia Medica, which is a maestro to all modern pharmacopeias and continues to this day to be one of the most influential books on herbal remedies in history. In his writings, Dioscorides described honey as being " good for all rotten and cellar ulcers ".
Honey was still being used to treat wounds up through World War II, but with the mastery of penicillin and other Twentieth Century antibiotic drugs, the natural antibacterial properties of honey have largely been overlooked. Until recently.
Today we are through spare age of enlightenment. We are enjoying a rebirth of natural remedies and ingredients in response to the risks presented by undefined chemical ingredients in products that interpolate the food we eat, the containers we use to combination our food, and most recently the cosmetics and skin care we usually slather on our herd.
Coupled with evidence that our super drugs and soaps are actually advancing the risks to ourselves and our children by stimulating the natural upping of super - bugs – bacteria that are becoming resistant to even the strongest of our antibacterials – the shift to effective natural remedies is becoming a stampede.
Honey has been found to inhibit some 60 genus of bacteria. It also exhibits an antifungal response on some yeasts and style of Aspergillus and Penicillium, two of the most common. Dr. Andrew Weil says in his November, 2006 newsletter Self Healing “Honey’s antibacterial properties, due in part to its hydrogen peroxide content, help to quickly clear an infection and prevent new ones from developing. Honey stimulates the growth of skin tissue, reduces inflammation, and minimizes scarring, and it has the in addition benefit of creating a smoother surface between the slash and relish. Since the incision is less likely to stick to the bandage, removing it is easier and less formidable, and damage to the newly grown skin tissue is avoided. ”
“One recent review of 22 clinical blow on ice that honey typically shortened healing time on many types of wounds and provided people with better pain relief than antifungal creams or antibiotics ( International Chronicle of Lower Extremity Wounds, Pace 2006 ). In Bonn, Germany, researchers found that a product called Medihoney ( which is waiting for FDA catechism in the United States ) can heal some wounds faster than most antibiotics ( Essential Care in Cancer, January 2006 ). Medihoney is made of different types of honey native to New Zealand and Australia, including manuka honey, which has a particularly reinforced antibacterial response. Honey can also be a useful treatment for people who have built up a tolerance to certain antibiotics. ( I know of no evidence that honey helps to heal cleft when weary as a sweetener. ) ”
The study Dr. Weil refers to included 22 blow involving 2, 062 patients treated with honey, as well as an fresh 16 disaster that were performed on empitic animals. Honey was found to be beneficial as a cut condiment in the following ways:
• Honey ' s antibacterial quality not only quickly clears existing infection, it protects wounds from more infection
• Honey debrides wounds and removes malodor
• Honey ' s anti - inflammatory motion reduces edema and minimizes scarring
• Honey stimulates growth of granulation and epithelial tissues to speed healing
The review article for the study was written by Dr. Peter Molan, director of the Honey Research Unit at New Zealand ' s University of Waikato. Dr. Molan says " All honey is antibacterial, considering the bees add an enzyme that makes hydrogen peroxide, but we still sanctum ' t managed to identify the active components. All we know is ( the honey ) works on an ultra broad spectrum. "
Dr. Molan’s research has shown that honey made from the flowers of the Manuka tree ( Leptospermum scoparium ), a bushy tree native to New Zealand, has antibacterial properties that are much higher than any other honeys’. In reality, Dr. Molan estimates that active manuka honey could exhibit healing properties up to 100 times more than other honeys.
Dr. Molan says " In all honeys, there is, to different levels, hydrogen peroxide produced from an enzyme that bees add to the nectar. In manuka honey, there ' s something else besides the hydrogen peroxide. And there ' s zip like that ever been found anywhere else in the world. We know it has a very broad spectrum of response. It works on bacteria, fungi, protozoa. We refuge ' t found existent it doesn ' t work on among infectious organisms. "
After nineteen years of research, the “something else” Dr. Molan refers to remains unknown. He has been unable to identify it, even while observing its phenomenon by comparing the healing properties of other honeys with manuka honey. But he has given the unknown ingredient a name: particular manuka instrument, or UMF.
Dr. Molan says UMF manuka honey can even haft antibiotic - sinewy strains of bacteria. " Staphylococcus aureas is the most common nick - infecting type of bacteria, and that ' s the most averse to honey that we ' ve found. And that includes the antibiotic steeled strains - the MRSA - which is dependable as hypersensitive to honey as any other staphylococcus aureas. "
According to the University of Waikato, there are four main components that teach the natural antibacterial bustle of honey.
1. Osmotic upshot: The high sugar tickled of honey means that there are very few water molecules available forming it arduous for micro - organisms to start. In largely ripened honey, no yeast type are impressive to grow and the growth of many type of bacteria is quite inhibited.
2. Acidity: The pH of honey is characteristically absolutely low ( 3. 2 - 4. 5 ), which is low enough to inhibit many grotesque pathogens and whence be a weighty antibacterial board.
3. Hydrogen Peroxide: When bees are turning nectar to honey they bury a glucose oxidase enzyme. One of the by products of the virtuous turmoil is hydrogen peroxide. When honey is diluted enzyme exercise increases giving a ' quiescent repose ' antiseptic at a level which is antibacterial but not tissue regrettable.
4. Phytochemical Factors: The primary factors cannot invoice for all of the antibacterial labor empirical. There have been several chemicals with antibacterial enterprise isolated in honey ( glimpse Waikato Honey Research Unit ' s website for additional information ) by various researchers. This may define the high level of movement practical in Manuka honey.
The University’s Honey Research Unit adds “Honey has an antibacterial activity, due primarily to hydrogen peroxide formed in a " slow - release " means by the enzyme glucose oxidase started in honey, which can vary widely in potency. Some honeys are no more antibacterial than sugar, while others can be diluted more than 100 - flock and still halt the growth of bacteria. The difference in potency of antibacterial exercise found among the different honeys is more than 100 - flock. ” Active Manuka honey has the highest antibacterial enterprise ever empirical in a honey.
Apicare / Honey & Herbs Ltd of Auckland, New Zealand, recognized the healing benefits of applying manuka honey to the epidermis and created an entire line of products that incorporate the antibacterial properties to their best advantage. Apicare’s commodities of lotions, balms, creams, moisturizers, shampoos and conditioners all use Active manuka honey as a base. Not surprisingly, the results are as astonishing as the research would seem to predict.
2006 marks the first generation that Apicare’s Manuka honey personal care products are being offered in the United States. Apicare. entangle is the exclusive distributor for their entire line of products in the US – which comprises eleven separate and distinct multi - product products – all based on Active manuka honey. Consumers can find Apicare products in stores throughout the country and Apicare publician Pam Reade says, “If your store doesn’t transact our products, dependable canvass. They will soon. ”
Customers who are Internet savvy can purchase away from the one website in the US that sells at the retail level promptly to people – Vashon Organics. Senior Partner at Vashon Organics, Desiree Nelson, says “The Apicare line is neatly incredible. We have never practical a product like this before – a personal care line that can repair your skin while it soothes and smoothes. ”
