Australia’s Manuka Bioactive Honey and New Zealand’s Manuka Honey, comes from bees that forage the Leptospermum plant. This honey has special (scientifically proven) properties not found in “conventional” honeys, making it useful for healing and improved health.

Some well known uses of Australia’s Manuka Bioactive Honey include relieving the symptoms of sore throat, combating Golden Staph related infections and assisting with digestive health.

But this remarkable gift of nature has also been proven useful on a wide range of ailments. Here’s a list of some of the less known applications:

Digestive Health

A collaborative study by Department of Microbiology, University of Wales Institute Cardiff and Department of Microbiology, University of Ghana Medical School proved that medical grade honey is effective in disrupting Clostridium difficile, a particular strain that’s been implicated as a cause of acid reflux and low stomach acid.

MRSA’s

Also known as Superbugs, MRSA’s or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus have earned their “Super” title because of their ability to resist pretty much every conventional antibiotic known to medical science. This is alarming considering how damaging staph infections can be; often spreading very quickly and necessitating more extreme interventions such as surgery. Cardiff University researchers have now demonstrated that medical grade honey from the Leptospermum plant has the capacity to fight staph infections where conventional antibiotics can’t. There is still more research to be done to identify exactly how New Zealand’s Manuka Honey and Australia’s Manuka Honey (Active Jellybush) work against MRSA’s, however their effectiveness at breaking down biofilms are implicated in the Cardiff research.

Ulcers

A study published by the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health concluded that (Medical Grade Honey) “…increased incidence of healing, effective desloughing and a lower incidence of infection than the control. Manuka honey has therapeutic value and further research is required to examine its use in other wound aetiologies”. This study compared medical honey over conventional wound gel especially for treatment of Ulcers and found it to be considerably more effective.

Burns & Wounds

Another study published in the same journal demonstrated.. “Evidence for Clinical Use of Honey in Wound Healing as an Anti-bacterial, Anti-inflammatory Anti-oxidant and Anti-viral Agent.” and “Honey has almost equal or slightly superior effects when compared with conventional treatments for acute wounds and superficial partial thickness burns.”

Inflammatory Bowl Syndrome

Although this research by the Department of Pharmacology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in India was conducted on rats, the results were so dramatic that it certainly bares mentioning. Please be aware though that these findings are yet to be confirmed in humans:

Manuka honey at different doses provided protection against TNBS-induced colonic damage.
There was significant protection with Manuka honey 5 g/kg as well as with 10 g/kg body weight compared with the control (p < 0.001).
All the treated groups showed reduced colonic inflammation and all the biochemical parameters were significantly reduced compared with the control in the Manuka honey treated groups (p < 0.001).
Manuka honey at different doses restored lipid peroxidation as well as improved antioxidant parameters.
Morphological and histological scores were significantly reduced in the low dose Manuka honey treated group (p < 0.001).
In the inflammatory model of colitis, oral administration of Manuka honey 5 g/kg and Manuka honey 10 g/kg body weight significantly reduced the colonic inflammation.
The present study indicates that Manuka honey is efficacious in the TNBS-induced rat colitis model, but these results require further confirmation in human studies.

Immune Strengthening

Medical Grade Honey has been shown to stimulate immune cells. The Department of Medical Microbiology, School of Medicine, Cardiff University found that the “A 5.8-kDa component of manuka honey stimulates immune cells via TLR4.” This confirms the possibility that medical grade honey’s like Active Jellybush Honey enhance and strengthen the bodie’s own immune system.

Sinusitis

A research project by St. Paul’s Sinus Centre, ENT Clinic, St. Paul’s Hospital, Vancouver, BC showed that some of their study group showed significant improvement when treated with a Medical Grade Honey nasal spray for their allergic fungal rhinosinusitis. While the majority of the study group showed no significant improvement, the study concluded that more research is required to identify the mechanisms that lead to improvement in the group that did show improvement.

Gingivitis & Tooth Decay

In 2004 a study by School of Dentistry, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand proved the effectiveness of Medical Grade Honey for the treatment of Gingivitis and for the prevention of tooth decay.

“Analysis of the results indicated that there were statistically highly significant reductions in the mean plaque scores (0.99 reduced to 0.65; p=0.001), and the percentage of bleeding sites (48% reduced to 17%; p=0.001), in the manuka honey group, with no significant changes in the control group….” Futhermore…”These results suggest that there may be a potential therapeutic role for manuka honey confectionery in the treatment of gingivitis and periodontal disease.”