Taken fron the Internet is an excerpt from a September '92
New Zealand beekeeping newsletter:
MANUKA CLINICAL TRIALS SOON
Another very interesting presentation at this year's confer-
ence seminar was made by Dr. Peter Molan of Waikato Univer-
sity. All our readers probably already know about Dr. Molan
and his team and the fantastic work they are doing investi-
gating the antibiotic properties of manuka and other honeys.
The seminar gave Dr. Molan the opportunity to summarize both
his work and the substantial scientific literature on the
medicinal properties of honey.
Honey has long been used as a wound dressing, and according
to Dr. Molan it is probably the perfect substance for such
a use. Not only is it antibiotic (killing almost all bacte-
ria), it also keeps the wound from dehydrating. Almost all
other wound dressings either keep the wound dry (avoiding
infection, but leading to scarring), or moist (avoiding the
severe effects of dehydration, but making a great medium for
bacteria to grow).
Honey is also better than man-made antibiotics because such
antibiotics actually slow down the rate of cell growth. The
hygroscopic (moisture-attracting) nature of honey, on the
other hand, actually pulls body fluids and nutrients to the
wound surface where they help speed skin growth and healing.
According to Dr. Molan, honey has got everything going for
it except the acceptance of the medical fraternity. But the
recent discoveries about a second antibiotic substance in
manuka may help to change all that.
All honey gives off hydrogen peroxide, a known antibiotic.
The hydrogen peroxide is produced when the glucose in honey
reacts with oxygen. The problem with hydrogen peroxide as
an antibiotic, however, is that in large concentrations it
breaks down in the presence of a common enzyme (catalase),
producing the characteristic fizz we see when we put it on a
cut. Honey, because it produces hydrogen peroxide slowly,
at a low level, doesn't loose it's effectiveness. Provided
honey is kept away from light, the enzyme which breaks down
the hydrogen peroxide won't even activate.
Dr. Molan and his students tested the hydrogen peroxide in
honey on a range of bacteria and as a control removed the
hydrogen peroxide with catalase. That's when they discov-
ered the second antibacterial property in manuka. While not
present in all samples of manuka, some samples showed a high
level of non-peroxide inhibition over a whole range of bac-
teria, even at honey dilutions of as low as 1.8%.
The exciting thing about the manuka discovery is that this
non-peroxide antibiotic substance works against even highly
resistant bacteria such as the MSRA bacteria which is gain-
ing a reputation for closing down hospital wards. According
to Dr. Molan, doctors may soon be looking back at the last
20 years as the golden age of antibiotics. In the near fu-
ture we may have a host of bacteria resistant to synthetic
antibiotics, and the need for naturally occurring antibiot-
ics like the one found in bioactive manuka will be all that
more important.
Manuka has been shown to be effective against Helicobater
pylori, which is now thought to be the major cause of stom-
ach ulcers. And this is where the honey is finally to be
tested in a clinical trial. A large number of patients will
be given 1 tablespoon of bioactive manuka or another honey
before meal times, five times a day. The patients will then
be examined for the reduction in H. pylori bacteria. The
trials are set to begin around New Zealand once the Otago
University Hospital ethics committee approves the trial.
Theztrial will hopefully be funded by a grant from the Honey
Industry Trust Fund.
BUGLOSS SAMPLES SOUGHT
Dr. Molan mentioned that the one honey other than manuka
that might have the non-peroxide bioactive ingredient is
vipers bugloss, also known blue borage (Echium vulgare).
The plant grows in many parts of the country, and is an im-
portant honey producer in parts of Central Otago and the
MacKenzie Country.
The only problem is that Dr. Molan has only ever tested one
sample (it was positive), and despite all his efforts has
been unable to get any more. Now there's bound to be more
samples of borage honey kicking around the South Island, es-
pecially after this year's big honey crop, so if you can
supply Dr. Molan with a sample, please help him out. Send a
50 gm sample, together with as much information as possible
on where the honey was produced, to Dr. Peter Molan, Depart-
ment of Biological Sciences, University of Waikato, Private
Bag 3105, HAMILTON, ph (07) 856 2889
And by the way, a lot of people don't know that Dr. Molan's
real job actually involves teaching, supervising graduate
students, and working with the dairy industry. Believe it
or not, his work on manuka honey is just a side-line inter-
est, and he hasn't received any government research funds to
carry out the work. Our whole industry should be thankful
for the interest and enthusiasm he has shown toward our main
beekeeping product. Good on ya, Peter! Keep up the good
work!
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