Therapeutic value of Manuka Honey v other wild honeys

June 18, 2003

Hi All, & Hi Richard,

I wrote:

> Do you know if OTHER honeys have these effects? I suspect that ALL

> natural honeys have some would-cleansing and wound-healing effects,

> if only because of their high sugar content, which should " draw "

> plasma/serum out of the wound. Is the MANUKA UMF factor just a

> blind to ensure sales of THAT particular honey?

Richard Henderson replied:

> Coming from the land of manuka honey... I think the UMF is a sales

> pitch but is *also* a scientific way of standardisng it...so it

> has credibililty with the WMS profession. Here the UMF honeys are

> about three times the price of a non-UMF honey. In my experience

> the UMF honey is definitely the best however any quality manuka

> honey is just as good. Poor quailty (ie mass-produced) are not

> quite as good...so far. In my experience there is definitely a

> difference between manuka honeys and other kinds. The theory is

> that it is due to the strong anti-septic qualities of the manuka

> tree (Leptospermum scoparium). The oil is one of my 'secret'

> herbs and fixes many skin conditions (esp fungal) that WMS has

> difficulty with. The leaves actually make a very nice (and

> healthy) tea.

It may be that Leptospermum scoparium provides specific

nurtrients/metabolites that the bees convert to agents with great

antibacterial/healing effects.

However, a Medline search (and the grapevine from colleagues in

other countries) suggests that most wild honeys have these

general effects. For example, I do not think that Leptospermum

scoparium exists in Ireland, but there is a long folk-tradition of

using honey for wounds/sepsis here and my own [limited]

experience in using Irish honey confirms this.

I agree that there may be a difference between " mass-produced "

and natural honeys. It is common practice for large commercial

apiaries to feed uge amounts of sugar to the bees. For example, it

is possible to have an apiary in thye middle of a concrete city with

few trees of flowers near it. Such honey, though maybe having a

normal sugar content, IMO could not have the same Qi or wide

range of bioproducts as wild honey

I suspect that many different species of trees/flowers/heathers

contain natural ingredients that favour antibacterial/healing action of

the resulting nectar/honey.

Consider the following plant species (at least some parts of these

plants are used to Drain Sepsis in TCM): Achyranthes, Amomum,

Andrographitis, Angelica Dahurica & Sinensis, Arctium, Arisaema,

Astragalus, Bambusa, Benincasa, Bletilla, Brucea, Chebula, Coix,

Dipsacus, Erigerontis, Forsythia, Garcinia, Glycyrrhiza, Gleditsia,

Houttuynia, Lithospermum, Lonicera, Patrinia, Pinellia, Phaseolus,

Phragmites, Phytolacca, Platycodon, Polygala, Rheum, Rhois

Sinensis Galla, Rorippa, Scutellaria, Sinapis, Taraxacum,

Trichosanthes, Viola.

There may be hundreds of such plants in natural habitats.

Indeed, wood (timber) itself has some antibacterial effect - there

was good reason for using the old butcher's wooden chopping

block in relation to meat hygiene, or the wooden bread-board

(instead of its plastic cousin) in the kitchen!

> Heating honey does destroy some of it's medicinal properties.

> *From vague memories of reading somewhere* I think it is the immune

> enhancing polysaccharides that are destroyed and perhaps some

> other 'living organisim'. I seem to remember UMF boasting that they

> never process their honey over 70 C but can't remember their

> justification. Perhaps mass-produced honey gets heated highly and

> thats why its not so good. Richard

Heating to 70 C suggests simple pasteurisation. That would not

denature proteins, or disrupt volatiles or unstable organics, to the

same degree as as might happen with boiling/cooking.

Many thanks for your reply.

Best regards,

WORK : Teagasc Staff Development Unit, Sandymount Ave., Dublin 4, Ireland

WWW :

Email: <

Tel : 353-; [in the Republic: 0]

HOME : 1 Esker Lawns, Lucan, Dublin, Ireland

WWW : http://homepage.eircom.net/~progers/searchap.htm

Email: <

Tel : 353-; [in the Republic: 0]

June 21, 2003

, " "

<@e...> wrote:

>

> > Do you know if OTHER honeys have these effects? I suspect that ALL

> > natural honeys have some would-cleansing and wound-healing

effects,

>>

> Richard Henderson replied:

> In my experience there is definitely a

> > difference between manuka honeys and other kinds.>

All honey fans,

I have finally located the article that I read in New Scientist about

honey, wound healing and manuka honey. The article goes into the

differences in honeys and the manuka in particular. It was

published in October 2000 and is in New Scientist archives where you

can get it if you are registed with them or have a subscription.

(www.newscientist.com) I saved it to a word file but I couldn't

figure out how to attach it to this group post. Those interested

could email me and I could send it to them directly or if someone

could tell me how to send an attachment to the group, I will do that.

After reading the article I bought some manuka honey for clinic but

most of it ended up in my tea where I imagine it did wonders for my

stomach and intestines!

I also read somewhere else that UMF stands for unique manuka factor.

Jill Likkel

jlikkel

June 25, 2003

The UMF does stand for Unique Manuka Factor. It indicates a measure of

antiseptic strength as measured in a lab. The lab standard for antiseptic

testing is a 4% carbolic acid solution. This is the minimum dilution that

will completely kill all bacteria in a petri dish. The UMF number relates

to the equivalent carbolic dilution. Thus 4+ Manuka honey is equivalent to

4% carbolic solution or standard antiseptic strength. Manuka honey that is

rated UMF 10+ is at least 2 1/2 times the standard for antiseptic strength

and UMF 18+ is four times standard antiseptic strength. Also UMF 18+ honey

is usually steralized.

Barry

> " Jill A. Likkel MAc, LAc, Dipl Ac, CH " <jlikkel

>

> Re: Therapeutic value of Manuka Honey v other

>wild honeys

>Sun, 22 Jun 2003 00:35:50 -0000

>

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