With regard to the question currently being raised about honey's
therapeutic benefit(s), I offer the following information. It is not
intended to be a definitive statement of honey's healing qualities,
rather just a glimpse of honey's wonderful and fascinating qualities.
It is also not to be construed as a commercial advertisement for Maneuka
honey.
Lawrence
In the British Journal of Surgery, Vol/Iss/Pg.3/5 (343-346), ISSN;
0179-0358, a study: Clinical Observations on the Wound Healing
Properties of Honey provides the following information:
"Fifty-nine patients with wounds and ulcers most of which (90 per cent)
had failed to heal with conventional treatment were treated with
unprocessed honey. Fifty-eight cases showed remarkable improvement
following topical application of honey. One case, later diagnosed as
Buruli ulcer, failed to respond. Wounds that were sterile at the
outset, remained sterile until healed, while infected wounds and ulcers
became sterile within one week of topical application of honey. Honey
healed wounds rapidly, replacing sloughs with granulation tissue. It
also promoted rapid epithelialization, and absorption of edema from
arouond the ulcer margins".
Source: Natural Medicine from Honey Bees, Jacob Kaal, pg. 69-70, Kaal's
Printing House, Amsterdam, 1991.
http://www.eurekalert.org/releases/zfp-hah073100.html
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 1 AUGUST 2000
Contact: Mary Ann Johnson
[log in to unmask]
415-268-5421
Zuckerman Fernandes & Partners
Honey as healer
Ancient healer effective in treating infected skin lesions
Jem Bonnievale was 15 when he contracted meningococcal septicemia
caused by an infection of Neisseria
meningitidis. By the time the British teenager reached the
hospital, he had multiple purple batches on his legs and
fingers, which rapidly progressed to tissue death. Both legs were
amputated below the knee as well as fingers on
both hands. He endured multiple skin grafts and suffered for months
with non-healing infected sores. His case was
extreme and difficult to treat because of the severe pain it
caused. "I can't even begin to explain how painful it was
just to have a small piece of dressing changed. The nurses tried
everything to make it easier, like changing the
dressing in the bath, but it was agony," said Jem. Over the next
six months the success of the grafts was variable
and the sores showed heavy growth of Pseudomonas and Staphlococcus
aureus. All traditional treatments were
tried without success.
When nothing else had any effect on the chronic infected sores,
clinical nurse Cheryl Dunford and her colleagues
turned to honey. Dressing pads impregnated with sterilized active
manuka honey from New Zealand were applied
to one leg and a traditional dressing to the other leg. Within a
few days, the honey dressed leg showed a reduction
of wound bacteria. Both legs were then treated with the honey
dressings. Within 10 weeks, all lesions were healed.
Jem was released from the hospital, fitted with artificial legs and
is getting on with his life.
The use of honey as medicine is mentioned in the most ancient
written records. Today scientists and doctors are
rediscovering the effectiveness of honey as a wound treatment. Dr.
Peter Molan, Professor of Biochemisty at
Waikato University, New Zealand has been on the forefront of honey
research for 20 years. He heads the
university's Honey Research Unit, which is internationally
recognized for its expertise in the antimicrobial properties
of honey. Clinical observations and experimental studies have
established that honey has effective antibacterial and
anti-inflammatory properties. It painlessly removes pus, scabs and
dead tissue from wounds and stimulates new
tissue growth. "Randomized trials have shown that honey is more
effective in controlling infection in burn wounds
than silver sulphadiazine, the antibacterial ointment most widely
used on burns in hospitals" says Dr. Molan. The
significance of the case of the British teenager, as reported in
the June issue of Nursing Times, is that it is the first
case in which honey was used on multiple meningococcal skin
lesions. The antibacterial action was evident as the
mixed infection of Pseudomonas and Enterococcus cleared from the
lesions in a few weeks and the number of
colonizing staphylococci diminished to a harmless level.
Dr. Molan believes that if honey were used from the start in cases
of meningococcal septicemia, there would be far
less tissue damage resulting. "The remarkable ability of honey to
reduce inflammation and mop up free radicals
should halt the progress of the skin damage like it does in burns,
as well as protecting from infection setting in," said
Dr. Molan. "At present, people are turning to honey when nothing
else works. But there are very good grounds for
using honey as a therapeutic agent of first choice."
Researchers believe that the therapeutic potential of honey is
grossly underutilized. It is widely available in most
communities and although the mechanism of action of several of its
properties remains obscure and needs further
investigation, the time has now come for conventional medicine to
look at this traditional remedy. With increasing
interest in the use of alternative therapies and as the development
of antibiotic-resistant bacteria spreads, honey
may finally receive its due recognition as a wound healer.
http://www.eurekalert.org/releases/zuck-ham120699.html
E: 30 NOVEMBER 1999
Contact: Mary Ann Johnson
[log in to unmask]
415-268-5421
Zuckerman Fernandes & Partners
Honey as medicine
Australia Produces a World's First
Australia achieved a world-first on November 30, 1999 with the
release of a pure honey treatment for wounds and
sores - MEDIHONEY®
Developed in association with Capilano Honey Limited and researched
by the Agency for Food and Fiber
Sciences and the University of Waikato Honey Research Unit in New
Zealand, MEDIHONEY® is the first topical
honey product in the world to achieve Therapeutic Goods
Administration (TGA) listing in Australia.
Capilano Honey National Operations Manager Anthony Moloney said
public feedback from this initial release
would provide important information to help further research and
development. Further clinical trials are also being
proposed by a number of Australian research institutions. "Now that
consumers have the assurance of TGA listing,
a limited amount of the product is being released for public use,"
he said. "We want members of the public who try
it to tell us how the product works for them."
Scientific literature shows that highly active antimicrobial honey
from the nectar of particular Leptospermum trees
has been used to successfully heal a wide variety of wounds and
infections which have not responded to other
treatments.
Research conducted by Associate Professor Dr P.C. Molan at
University of Waikato Department of Biological
Sciences in New Zealand, has shown that the antimicrobial component
of the Leptospermum honey is particularly
effective against virulent 'Golden Staph' (Staphylococcus aureus)
bacteria - even when diluted more than 50 times.
The use of honey as a wound dressing goes back to ancient times and
has continued into present-day folk
medicine. It is used as a traditional therapy for infected leg
ulcers in Ghana, and as a traditional therapy in Mali for
the topical treatment of measles, and in the eyes of patients to
prevent corneal scarring. It is a common observation
in medical journal reports that numerous benefits result from using
honey to dress wounds:
The viscosity of honey provides a protective barrier to
prevent wounds becoming infected.
Honey creates a moist healing environment that allows skin
cells to re-grow across a healing wound flush
with the surface of the wound, thus preventing deformity of
the skin. (If a dry scab forms on a wound the
skin cells can only grow across the wound deeper down where it
is moist.)
Honey causes scabs and dead cells to lift off the surface of
the wound, leaving a clean healthy wound bed in
which re-growth of tissue can occur.
Honey stimulates the re-growth of tissue involved in the
healing process. It stimulates the formation of new
blood capillaries and the growth of fibroblasts that replace
the connective tissue of the deeper layer of the
skin and produce the collagen fibers that give strength to the
repair. In addition honey stimulates the growth
of epithelial cells that form the new skin cover over a healed
wound. Honey thus prevents scarring and keloid
formation, and removes the need for skin grafting even with
quite large wounds.
Honey does not stick to the underlying wound tissues, so there
is no tearing away of newly formed tissue,
and no pain, when dressings are changed.
Honey has an anti-inflammatory action, which reduces the
swelling around a wound. This improves
circulation and thus hastens the healing process. It also
reduces pain. The amount of fluid exuding from
wounds is also decreased by the anti-inflammatory action.
The high sugar content of honey draws lymph out of a wound,
which lifts dirt out of the wound bed.
Honey prevents the odor that is commonly associated with
serious wounds and skin ulcers, by clearing
bacterial infection, and more immediately, by providing sugar
to any bacteria present. In this environment,
lactic acid is produced instead of the smelly by-products of
the degradation of protein.
Honey rapidly clears infection from wounds. It is fully
effective even with antibiotic-resistant strains of
bacteria. Unlike antiseptics and antibiotics there is no
impairment of the healing process through adverse
effects on wound tissues.
Honey researchers feel that the therapeutic potential of honey is
grossly underutilized. It is widely available in most
communities and although the mechanism of action of several of its
properties remains obscure and needs further
investigation, the time has now come for conventional medicine to
look at this traditional remedy. With increasing
interest in the use of alternative therapies and as the development
of antibiotic-resistant bacteria spreads, honey
may finally receive its due recognition.
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