Until antibiotics became commonly available in the 1940s, honey was a frequently recommended remedy for disinfecting scrapes, scratches and wounds. Recently, researchers have rediscovered the benefits of honey as a medical treatment, quickly noting that different types of honey can convey different health benefits. One honey that shows health potential is manuka honey.
Identification
Manuka honey is made by bees that collect nectar from the manuka bush, a flowering plant that's native to New Zealand and some parts of Australia. The manuka bush is a member of the Myrtaceae family, which includes other plants with therapeutic benefits, including the Australian tea tree and the New Zealand kanuka tree. The manuka bush may sometimes be called a tea tree, according to Anitra C. Carr, Ph.D., a research associate with the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University, on the Linus Pauling Institute's website.
Features
Like all honeys, manuka honey contains a small amount of hydrogen peroxide. It's this hydrogen peroxide content that gives most honey its mild antiseptic powers--but manuka honey has additional antiseptic properties, biochemist Professor Peter Molan, head of the Honey Research Unit at New Zealand's University of Waikato, tells BBC News. Researchers haven't pinned down exactly what this component is, but Molan calls it unique manuka factor, or UMF.
Significance
Manuka honey seems to work by destroying proteins that bacteria need to thrive, explains Rowena Jenkins, a researcher with the University of Wales Institute who has looked into the effects of manuka honey on a type of serious staph infection called MRSA, or meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, in National Geographic magazine. Jenkins says bacteria treated with manuka honey perished because it didn't have the specific protein needed to build cell walls and structures, making it impossible for the bacteria to complete its life cycle.
Benefits
Because of its unusual antibacterial properties, manuka honey may be useful for several conditions. According to the Linus Pauling Institute, in addition to preventing infection, manuka honey may also help kill the pathogen that causes gastric or peptic ulcers, which may ultimately lead to gastric cancer.
Warning
To treat wounds with manuka honey at home, you need a medical-grade version of manuka honey that's been sterilized, says Jenkins in National Geographic. Since most commercially available forms of manuka honey aren't medical grade, manuka honey you purchase at the supermarket or farmers market can contain spores and microbes that might actually exacerbate infections, Jenkins explains.
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