Salt in your wound? No, honey. Manuka honey to be specific. Professor Peter Molan at University of Waikoto in Hamilton has been researching the effects of this honey on treating infections. The honey comes from Manuka trees (surprisingly) which can grow pretty much everywhere, including places with poor soil. It has antibacterial properties that have proven more effective than conventional remedies in a number of different cases.
Honey is the oldest known medicine, used mainly for wounds and diseases. What makes manuka honey so special? In Molan’s presentation to us about his research, he described an experiment in which catalase was used to break down the hydrogen peroxide present in a variety of different honeys. The results showed that manuka honey still held antibacterial properties after the break down of hydrogen peroxide whereas the other honeys did not. This makes manuka honey great for treating infection. How exactly does it do this? Inflammation begins with phagocytosis, the ingestion of solids by cells. The ingestion induces redness and swelling, what we know as inflammation. What the honey does is inhibit the phagocytosis from happening in the first place.
Professor Molan shared with us his personal experience with manuka honey. He has used manuka honey dressings on his own wounds and been astonished by the quick and effective results.It greatly reduces scarring in addition to its antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties Other cases where no other antibiotic treatment has worked, manuka honey has proven to be effective. This honey treatment is on the market in a few countries, and is slowly becoming more prevalent. Treatments have evolved from basic “spread the honey your wound” to honey infused dressing. He says it is only a matter of weeks until the FDA approves the latest manuka honey treatment.
Sweet.
This was just one of the many things we learned today at Waikato. A professor from Southern California talked to us about hydrothermal vents and his many travels around the world diving deep in to the ocean. He spends half his time in New Zealand and half in time in the States. After lunch we toured the University and fantasized about how we would all come back to this university to study and get a higher degree. We toured around and saw the hi-tech laboratories used for freshmen level biology class, lucky bastards! We talked with a few others involved with research at the University. The idea of New Zealand being an island nation and concerning themselves with the conservation of native species is constantly being brought up. We learned about the clover root weevil threatening clover population which in turns effects cow feeding and milk—dairy export makes up 25% of New Zealand’s GDP. Conservationists have been hard at work introducing a parasitic wasp to control the eradicate the weevil population. So far it seems to be working. Another big research program at Waikato is bovine cloning. They look for favorable traits such as high protein/low fat milk composition to try and breed. We got to see the cows up close and personal as well as go into the lab to see the instruments used in the cloning process.
It was a long day at school, but I guess we signed up for that along with the water-rafting and base-jumping. We all learned a great deal, but at the end of the day we were all ready to head back to the Microtel and buy our own jar of manuka honey!
Jenny England
