Honey has been used throughout the ages as a medicinal treatment for wounds and other topical skin conditions. We don’t know just when early man discovered the healing properties of honey, but evidence has been found to indicate that honey was used as an antibacterial agent 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 agent comes from Aristotle, who wrote that light honey was a good salve for sore eyes and wounds. A Greek physician, pharmacologist and botanist 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 volume book, De Materia Medica, which is a forerunner 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 hollow ulcers”.

Honey was still being used to treat wounds up through World War II, but with the arrival of penicillin and other Twentieth Century antibiotic drugs, the natural antibacterial properties of honey have largely been overlooked. Until recently.

Today we are entering another age of enlightenment. We are enjoying a rebirth of natural remedies and ingredients in response to the risks presented by questionable chemical ingredients in products that include the food we eat, the containers we use to package our food, and most recently the cosmetics and skin care we regularly slather on our bodies.

Coupled with evidence that our super drugs and soaps are actually increasing the risks to ourselves and our children by stimulating the natural development 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 species of bacteria. It also exhibits an antifungal response on some yeasts and species 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 added benefit of creating a smoother surface between the wound and dressing. Since the wound is less likely to stick to the bandage, removing it is easier and less painful, and damage to the newly grown skin tissue is avoided.”

“One recent review of 22 clinical trials concluded that honey typically shortened healing time on many types of wounds and provided people with better pain relief than antifungal creams or antibiotics (International Journal of Lower Extremity Wounds, March 2006). In Bonn, Germany, researchers found that a product called Medihoney (which is waiting for FDA approval in the United States) can heal some wounds faster than most antibiotics (Supportive 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 strong antibacterial effect. 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 wound when consumed as a sweetener.)”

The study Dr. Weil refers to included 22 trials involving 2,062 patients treated with honey, as well as an additional 16 trials that were performed on experimental animals. Honey was found to be beneficial as a wound dressing in the following ways:

• Honey’s antibacterial quality not only rapidly clears existing infection, it protects wounds from additional infection
• Honey debrides wounds and removes malodor
• Honey’s anti-inflammatory activity 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, because the bees add an enzyme that makes hydrogen peroxide, but we still haven’t managed to identify the active components. All we know is (the honey) works on an extremely 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 fact, 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 nothing like that ever been found anywhere else in the world. We know it has a very broad spectrum of action. It works on bacteria, fungi, protozoa. We haven’t found anything 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 presence by comparing the healing properties of other honeys with manuka honey. But he has given the unknown ingredient a name: unique manuka factor, or UMF.

Dr. Molan says UMF manuka honey can even handle antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria. “Staphylococcus aureas is the most common wound-infecting species of bacteria, and that’s the most sensitive to honey that we’ve found. And that includes the antibiotic resistant strains - the MRSA - which is just as sensitive to honey as any other staphylococcus aureas.”

According to the University of Waikato, there are four main components that explain the natural antibacterial activity of honey.

1. Osmotic effect: The high sugar content of honey means that there are very few water molecules available making it difficult for micro-organisms to establish. In fully ripened honey, no yeast species are able to grow and the growth of many species of bacteria is completely inhibited.
2. Acidity: The pH of honey is characteristically quite low (3.2-4.5), which is low enough to inhibit many animal pathogens and therefore be a significant antibacterial factor.
3. Hydrogen Peroxide: When bees are turning nectar to honey they secrete a glucose oxidase enzyme. One of the by products of the resultant reaction is hydrogen peroxide. When honey is diluted enzyme activity increases giving a ’slow release’ antiseptic at a level which is antibacterial but not tissue damaging.
4. Phytochemical Factors: The above factors cannot account for all of the antibacterial activity observed. There have been several chemicals with antibacterial activity isolated in honey (see Waikato Honey Research Unit’s website for additional information) by various researchers. This may explain the high level of activity seen 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” manner by the enzyme glucose oxidase present in honey, which can vary widely in potency. Some honeys are no more antibacterial than sugar, while others can be diluted more than 100-fold and still halt the growth of bacteria. The difference in potency of antibacterial activity found among the different honeys is more than 100-fold.” Active Manuka honey has the highest antibacterial activity ever seen 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 lines 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.

2007 marks the first year that Apicare’s Manuka honey personal care products are being offered in the United States. Apicare.net is the exclusive distributor for their entire line of products in the US – which comprises nine separate and distinct multi-product lines – all based on Active manuka honey. A therapy line for those with damaged or extremely sensitive skin will be announced later this year.

Consumers will soon find Apicare products in stores throughout the country. Apicare owner Pam Reade says, “If your store doesn’t carry our products, just ask. They will soon.”

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The Apicare Story

Apicare / Honey and Herbs is a New Zealand company that was founded in 1992. For many years prior to that the founder, Pam Reade, had been making skin care products using natural ingredients from her beehives.

In 1992 Ms Reade attended the first of many trade shows with the original Apicare products – honey, beeswax candles, Gardner’s Handcream and two honey soaps. Shortly after that trade show, Reade’s husband Chas (the beekeeper) joined her in the business. From that original tradeshow and those few products, Apicare / Honey & Herbs (N.Z.) Ltd have developed an extensive range of natural skin care products using Active Manuka honey, which continues to be loved and enjoyed around the world.

Apicare’s skin care products are based on the healing power of 100% Active Manuka honey. “Our Manuka honey is not heat treated, allowing all the goodness to be retained. All the Manuka honey we use in our skin care has been tested by an independent laboratory and passed as being active.”

Apicare is proud of being the first company in the world to use Manuka honey in skin care — and then first again in using Active Manuka honey in skin care.

Manuka Honey

New Zealand Manuka honey is unique to New Zealand and is collected by the bees from the native Manuka tree.
There are many great things about Manuka honey:

• Active Manuka honey is a natural antioxidant and helps act as an anti- inflammatory agent for sensitive skin
• Is highly moisturizing and helps improve cell regeneration
• Has natural antibacterial ability
• Has been proven to have thirty times the antibacterial ability as regular honey
• Helps improve skin texture and retain moisture in the skin

The Apicare Difference

• Natural plant oils and antioxidant vitamins (All essential oils are certified organic)
• Hypo-allergenic and pH balanced
• Never tested on animals
• Active Manuka honey that has been tested and certified as Active at the UMF 16+ level
• No mineral oils
• No added colors in any of our skin care products
• Certified organic essential oils
• 10 different lines to choose from that smell and feel beautiful

Apicare is the registered trade mark of Honey & Herbs (N.Z.) Ltd

Research undertaken by Dr Shona Blair, at Sydney University’s School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences, has shed some light on the unusual antibacterial activity of certain types of honey, leading to a greater understanding of the ability of some honeys to kill pathogenic bacteria and promote wound healing.

In a study, the potent Leptospermum honey, commonly found in Australia and New Zealand and made from jelly bush flowers found in isolated parts of northern New South Wales and from a related plant known as Manuka from New Zealand, was effective against many different drug resistant clinical isolates, including the notorious Golden Staff bacteria.

Selected Leptospermum honey attacked bacteria via several different mechanisms.

A test organism, E. coli, was stressed with honey and the genes it used to cope with the attack were identified using microarrays. Microarrays are a relatively new tool in molecular biology that allows us to study the behaviour of thousands of genes at once. After E. coli was treated with Leptospermum honey it reacted in a unique way. Some of the genes E. coli turned on were the same as those it uses to deal with stresses such as exposure to acid, salt, or heat. However, the entire gene expression pattern after exposure to

Leptospermum honey was unique when compared to any other known response. As honey “attacks” bacteria from several different angles they are overwhelmed and unable to develop resistance. This is extremely important as antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest problems faced by modern medicine, with little relief in sight.

There has been evidence for the medical use of honey throughout the history of the human race. Almost every culture that had access to honey has utilised it as a therapeutic agent, with its use as a wound dressing being particularly popular and persistent across many different cultures. It is likely that the prevalence in the use of honey as a wound dressing stems from its antibacterial activity, usually due to the production of hydrogen peroxide. However, the Leptospermum honey used in these studies has considerable antimicrobial activity of unknown origin.

Honey not only possesses significant antibacterial activity, it has also been shown to actively promote healing, regardless of the infection status of the wound. This study found that honey, but not sugar, directly stimulates human cells that are important in the immune response and in wound healing. Although further investigations are needed this stimulation begins to explain some of honeys therapeutic benefits.

Commenting on her findings, Dr Blair said that: ‘Despite the ancient and modern evidence suggesting an enormous potential for honey as a wound dressing, it is largely ignored. The broad aim of the study was to investigate the therapeutic potential of honey using various in vitro techniques. This work was undertaken to generate a greater understanding of the range and mode of action of honey and help to increase its acceptance and use as an economical and effective wound dressing.’

http://www.usyd.edu.au