Honey is best known as a natural sweetener and as an alternative to sugar. Yet, the benefits of honey extend well beyond its sweetening properties.
Researchers studying the health benefits of honey have found that it can ease coughs, soothe sore throats and provide anti-inflammatory and antioxidant benefits that, among other things, may help your cardiovascular system and other aspects of your health.
However, they’re also finding that you can gain other benefits of honey without ingesting it.
Wound-Healing Benefits of Honey
Honey—in particular, products made from the manuka plant—has enhanced antimicrobial and wound-healing properties that make it excellent at treating cuts, scrapes, infections, and burns. Manuka honey kills or inhibits more than 30 strains of common bacteria, does not contain any artificial chemicals or preservatives, and is safe to use even in the eyes. In addition, it can help to minimize scarring by speeding the healing time of cuts, burns, abrasions, and ulcers.
Honey heals because it kills microorganisms, keeps wounds moist, and provides a protective barrier against infection due to its high viscosity. It cleans and seals wounds, and also helps them to maintain blood flow by preventing them from drying out.
Other Health Benefits of Honey
Honey is also effective at killing dangerous pathogens like E. coli and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), certain types of E. coli can cause diarrhea, urinary tract infections, respiratory illness, and bloodstream infections, and MRSA can cause skin infections, life-threatening bloodstream infections, and pneumonia. Honey can be used to prevent bacteria like these from entering the bloodstream through open wounds.
Eye infections can also be treated with honey. In a study of patients with dry eyes, a medical-grade honey-based product, manuka honey, and many ordinary honeys were found to be effective at killing bacteria in the eyelids and conjunctiva. The antibacterial effect lasted for three months.
Clinical research has found honey to be up to 59% more effective at killing the herpes virus than acyclovir, the leading herpes medication. Topically applied honey outperformed acyclovir in reducing the duration of labial and genital infection, reducing pain, reducing crusting, and speeding healing time. Unlike acyclovir, honey did not cause any side effects during the study.
Furthermore, in a study on wound-healing speed, researchers found that putting honey on cuts was just as effective as a pharmaceutical-grade wound-healing gel. Both honey and the gel increased the healing speed of shallow wounds and abrasions by similar amounts, but honey resulted in fewer cases of itching and was 96% less expensive than the gel treatment. Another study, which involved mice wounds, concluded that open wounds heal significantly faster when treated with honey as a result of honey’s energy-producing, moistening, and antibacterial properties.
How to Use Honey Therapeutically
Honey can be safety applied to the surface of burns, abrasions, cuts, and eyes. It does not need to be diluted and typically does not cause side effects.
The studies into the benefits of honey experimented with a variety of commercial- and medical-grade products, but generally found that solutions of anything greater than 10% honey displayed therapeutic properties. However, the manuka honey varieties are made by bees that use Australian leptospermum flowers and have been found to have enhanced antibacterial properties. Manuka honey may be available online and at most herbal shops.
Some commercial brands dilute their honey with sugar water and other ingredients, making store-bought honey less likely to help with wound healing. If you cannot find manuka honey, look for 100% raw honey at a grocery store or farmers market.
