Manuka Honey: 3 Health Benefits, Backed by Science

Health Benefits of Manuka Honey. September is National Honey Month — a shout-out to the bees! Honey is chock full of enzymes, minerals, and antioxidants. But what about the increasingly popular manuka type of honey? What does the research say about this New Zealand form of food?

Bees pollinating the flower Leptospermum scoparium (often referred to as the manuka bush) produce manuka, honey. I became aware of manuka honey when one of my patients indicated that she used it to manage minor scrapes and cuts.

But is this natural ointment for wounds effective? Let’s explore the science.

Beekeeping dates back to ancient Egypt. There, the ancients used honey as a sweetener for biscuits, cakes, and other foods. In addition, honey served as a base for unguents in Egyptian hieroglyphs. Egyptians, Mesopotamians, and others often buried the dead in, or with, honey. And yes, some paid their taxes with it.

The Egyptians viewed bees as sacred, with their sun god Re creating these insects from his tears. Spirits took the bee’s form after death, with the buzzing of bees often thought to be the voices of souls. Not surprisingly, Pharaohs often went to their graves with bees and honey.

By 594 BC, beekeeping around Athens had become so common that Solon passed this law: “He who sets up hives of bees must put them 300 feet away from those already installed by another”. The population of ancient India also found spiritual and therapeutic applications of honey, as written in the Vedas and Ayurveda (Indian medicine) texts.

Health Benefits of Manuka Honey

We return to my patient’s observation that honey seemed to improve her mild skin wounds. Does the evidence support her observation (and those of the ancients)?

I recall that honey has broad-spectrum activity against microbes. Honey has hydrogen peroxide and high osmolarity (the concentration of a solution).

Please go here to learn more about the health benefits of manuka honey: