Manuka Honey

"The secret of my health is applying honey inside and oil outside." Democritus who lived to be 109.

The wide ranging beneficial properties of honey have long been recognised by many societies and cultures for thousands of years. It was used by the Romans to assist with digestive disorders, by runners in the original Olympic Games in ancient Greece as a source of energy and by the wider Greek population as a cure for skin disorders.

Honey is made of fructose, glucose, water and other sugars, and has a range of enzymes, vitamins, minerals and amino acids that the body needs. Honey also contains many antioxidants that are used by the body to eliminate free radicals.

Considerable research has been carried out that indicates that honey can assist with the healing and sterilising of wounds and ulcers, and in the growth of new skin. Honey possesses a powerful antibacterial property called hydrogen peroxide that is released when honey comes into contact with the skin.

New Zealand Manuka Honey is made using honey made exclusively from New Zealand manuka bushes that grow wild across New Zealand (see the photos on this page). The manuka bush is the New Zealand equivalent of the Tea Tree and has many of the anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-fungal properties associated with the Tea Tree.

Manuka Honey is felt to possess enhanced healing properties. In New Zealand the hospitals use a specially developed form of manuka honey to treat wounds. This form of manuka honey is available from Health Shops in the UK.

The potency of manuka honey has been scientifically tested by one of New Zealand's universities. Professor Peter Molan, working in his Honey Research Unit at Waikato University, has quantified the active properties of manuka honey. He has developed a scale to measure these properties called the Unique Manuka Factor or UMF. This UMF scale is now used as part of the labelling of manuka honey food products to identify their potency.

The manuka honey products from MyNatural Planet use active manuka honey to obtain the benefits of manuka honey properties.

• BBC - Harnessing honey's healing power
• BBC - Honey trialled on cancer patients
• BBC - Honey 'weapon against superbugs'
• Waikato Honey Research Unit