Medical uses of honey

[liff]

The use of honey as an antiseptic in managing Pseudomonas infection.

Investigating the antimicrobial activity of natural honey and its effects on the pathogenic bacterial infections of surgical wounds and conjunctiva.

The antimicrobial spectrum of honey and its clinical significance

The last one is the best as it found,"...golden syrup, a sugar syrup with similar physical properties as honey, did not inhibit any of the bacteria or fungi tested, demonstrating that honey is superior to any hypertonic sugar solution in antimicrobial activity. Honey is thus an ideal topical wound dressing agent in surgical infections, burns and wound infections."

I know from personal use also, this works.

If anyone out there knows of any ideas, let me know, I'd like to try to find references for it.

[liff]

Just found this one;

Honey dressing versus boiled potato peel in the treatment of burns: a prospective randomized study

Abstract
Honey dressing was compared with boiled potato peel dressings as a cover for fresh partial-thickness burns in two groups of 50 randomly allocated patients. In the 50 patients treated with honey, 90 per cent of wounds were rendered sterile within 7 days. In the 50 patients treated with boiled potato peel dressings, persistent infection was noted within 7 days. Of the wounds treated with honey, 100 per cent healed within 15 days as against 50 per cent in the wounds treated with boiled potato peel dressings (mean 10.4 vs. 16.2 days).

I did the bold section. Nice use of the word sterile in a medical journal . Wow.

Editing:

Modulation of alpha 1-acid glycoprotein (AGP) gene induction following honey bee venom administration to adjuvant arthritic (AA) rats; possible role of AGP on AA development. Now that is not the honey, but the bee venom. Close

[liff]

One more, then I'll quit.

This is a horrible paper from the scientific standpoint, but ....Why Pooh luvvs hunny.

Again, horrible from the scientific standpoint.

Apparently, apiarists have fewer illnesses than most other humans. They never seem to have cancer or arthritis, or other kinds of immune disease and they even live longer.

No one would write that without a ton of widely accepted studies. I hesitate to post that 'paper' but there it is. Some good background stuff.

[smoky]

This is the current thinking on why it is antiseptic: http://www.physorg.com/news73233240.html

It is also known today why honey has an antiseptic effect: when producing honey, bees add an enzyme called glucose-oxidase. This enzyme ensures that small amounts of hydrogen peroxide, an effective antiseptic, are constantly being formed from the sugar in the honey. The advantage over the hydrogen peroxide from the chemist's is that small concentrations are sufficient to kill the germs, as it is constantly being produced. As a rule much larger quantities of hydrogen peroxide would have to be used, as hydrogen peroxide loses its potency over time. However, in large concentrations it not only damages the bacteria, but also the skin cells.

[Wolfie]

Along similar lines there is a study at the University of Minnesota on propolis in immunity, outbreak control, and specifically HIV research for it's potent antiviral and preservative properties.

[Amoryl]

Anyone ever read the fantasy books Dragon's of Argonath? started with the book Bazil Broketail. basically a mideval fantasy series with wingless dragons in armour fighting on the side of good against the forces of evil. anyway it was a common part of the books to deal with the after battle dressing of wounds, and one of the most common parts of it was putting honey in the cuts and scrapes, or packing the dressings with honey after stitching to dry out and clean the wound. I'd always found it an interesting way to address the need to use some form of anti-septic in a time before we really understood what an anti-septic actually is.

[vahan]

I prefer to eat my honey, but a gynecologic oncologist I trained with in the past uses honey for surgical wounds that do not heal well (diabetics patients, obese patients, immune-suppressed patients).

My wife (a pediatrician) showed me a recent article in one of her journals where authors compared kids with upper respiratory infections to receive a dose of honey or else a dose of honey-flavored cough syrup. Those kids who got the honey recoved faster. I can get the reference if anyone wants it. I think it was buckwheat honey. Good stuff.

vahan