Manuka honey beats others against wound bacteria

A team of Australasian researchers studying the effect of manuka, kanuka and clover honey on common wound infecting bacteria have published new findings in PLOS ONE science journal that supports the theory bacteria won’t become reistant to honey - unlike antibiotics.

The research undertaken by The University of Technology Sydney examines the way in which honey from different floral origins impacts upon the structure and growth of different bacteria.

New Zealand natural health company Comvita supplied the manuka and kanuka honey used in this research.

The research team looked at two key honey ingredients known to inhibit bacterial growth: methylglyoxal (MGO) which is naturally highly concentrated in manuka honey and hydrogen peroxide which is in many honeys at varying concentrations, including manuka.

Lead research Professor Liz Harry said, “Honey has long been known to have anti-bacterial activity. We wanted to compare the effectiveness of different honeys on various bacteria to determine how the different MGO and hydrogen peroxide levels in these honeys relate to bacterial growth inhibition,”

“What we saw was that the manuka honeys were the most effective at inhibiting growth of all the bacteria,”Prof Harry said.

Comvita’s MEDIHONEY® medical grade honey wound products are manufactured with manuka honey.