Honey as a Dressing for Wounds, Burns, and Ulcers (Part 9).

Apitherapy has been around since the early Egyptians used bee products for a variety of ailments, but in recent years, complementary medicine has been experimenting more with the potential benefits of honey, beeswax, royal jelly — and even bee venom delivered directly from the insect.

Honey Bee Lore.

Honey bees have been closely associated with human beings for a long time. More than 9000 years ago, in a rock shelter in the mountains of eastern Spain, an early artist recorded the exploits of a brave individual surrounded by bees reaching inside a cavity to steal honey. Robbing honey from the nests of wild bees is still practiced by some Asian cultures. The oldest alcoholic beverage, mead, a drink made from fermented honey and water has been found in an Iron Age tomb in Scotland.

Many in the medical establishment are sceptical of claims of medical benefits from bee products, especially apitoxin (bee venom). However, apitherapy has quite a following in eastern Europe and the Far East, and enthusiasts say it is slowly gaining popularity in Canada. In fact, they've even designated World Apitherapy Day on March 30 — the birthday of Phillip Terc, a European physician who was born in 1844 and was the first scientific researcher to investigate the medical uses of apitoxin.

Honey bees appear in the temple and tomb art of Egypt as far back as 2400 B.C. The honey bee was the symbol of Lower Egypt. In the solar cult of Ra, the tears of Ra were honey bees.

Bee-keeping shows up in Greek mythology. Aristaeus, a keeper of bees who lost his hives to disease, compelled Proteus, a shape-changer who was also the wise god of the sea, to tell him how to avoid such a loss in the future. More diseases have been described for honey bees than any other insects. The earliest written descriptions were made by Aristotle around 325 B.C.

Annie van Alten — who lives north of Hamilton in Carlisle, Ont. — is one of the believers. She and her partner have been beekeepers for 26 years. As an apitherapist, she uses bee venom therapy to treat people suffering from arthritis or multiple sclerosis.

The honey bee, a sacred symbol of Artemis, was an important design on Ephesian coins for almost 6 centuries. (Ephesus was the center of worship of Artemis.)

After his death in 323 B.C., Alexander the Great was embalmed in a coffin filled with honey.

"When you have an inflammation, you use bee venom to get the blood flowing. It releases tension in the joints," she explained.

Over the centuries, bees have been used many times as weapons of war. In the thirteen century, residents of the Aegean island of Astipalaia hurled beehives onto pirates storming the castle gates.

Van Alten administers bee stings to her family members and tried them out on herself when she suffered from severe arthritis…

During W.W. I, Belgians trapped in an apiary used bees against the Germans.

Honey, too, has been used as a weapon.

University of Guelph entomology professor Gard Otis said he has seen people benefit from using bee venom, but warned of the dangers of allergic reactions.

Certain members of the heath family produce grayanotoxins, chemicals that act as breathing inhibitors and hypnotics. Honey from these plants is referred to as toxic or "mad" honey. Three squadrons of Pompey's Roman troops were slain while under the influence of toxic honey provided by local tribesmen.

Honey, on the other hand, got a much sweeter review. Otis said honey can be used quite effectively for wound dressings on burns and cuts.

In small amounts, toxic honey has been used in alcohol, as an additive to increase its punch, and in medicine.

Honey bees are not native to the Americas, Australia or New Zealand.

"It creates a barrier on wounds," he said. "Something in it stimulates wound healing — it moisturizes and once the fluids mix with the wounds, one of the enzymes becomes active and breaks down the sugars and creates hydrogen peroxide."

Settlers had established colonies in Virginia by 1622, but California had to wait until the 1850s. Because of their close connection with the advancing colonists, Native Americans referred to honey bees as the "white man's flies".

Today, honey bees perform a vital role in agribusiness, pollinating many of our food crops.

The curative powers of honey depend on which plants bees have been visiting, which is never a sure thing… [read more]

The honey and wax produced are significant. According to May Berenbaum in her book "Bugs in the System", it takes 130,000 loads of nectar or about 10 million flower visits to produce one kilogram of honey (about 2.2 pounds).

Honey as a Dressing for Wounds, Burns, and Ulcers (Part 8).

Proponents of this method of treating allergies recommend you try this theory out for yourself – it cannot hurt you. Buy locally collected honey at your nearby farmer’s market or health food store, and take one tablespoon each day. Please note however, if you have diabetes, heart disease, or another serious illness, talk to your doctor first.

Selection and Use of Honey on Wounds.

Honey is one of the oldest known medicines that has continued to be used up to present times in folk-medicine. Its use has been "rediscovered" in later times by the medical profession, especially for dressing wounds. The numerous reports of the effectiveness of honey in wound management, including reports of several randomised controlled trials, have recently been reviewed, rapid clearance of infection from the treated wounds being a commonly recorded observation.

Buy the darkest honey you can find and you will be getting the most antioxidant bang for your buck. The antioxidant properties of honey have been thoroughly tested. The findings show that many varieties are full of phenols and flavonoids – known cancer fighters even more powerful than vitamin E.

In almost all of these reports honey is referred to generically, there being no indication given of any awareness of the variability that generally is found in natural products. Yet the ancient physicians were aware of differences in the therapeutic value of the honeys available to them: Aristotle (384-322 BC), discussing differences in honeys, referred to pale honey being "good as a salve for sore eyes and wounds"; and Dioscorides (c.50 AD) stated that a pale yellow honey from Attica was the best, being "good for all rotten and hollow ulcers".

Honey is extremely effective in reducing oxidation in meat. Normally, oxygen in the air starts a chain reaction in meat, creating a horde of free radicals. Not only are they unhealthy, but these free radicals steal your food’s flavor. To stop them in their tracks, lightly coat cold cuts, leftovers, or ground meats with honey. The best time to add antioxidants is when the meat is fresh.

Any honey can be expected to suppress infection in wounds because of its high sugar content, but dressings of sugar on a wound have to be changed more frequently than honey dressings do to maintain an osmolarity that is inhibitory to bacteria, as honey has additional antibacterial components. Since microbiological studies have shown more than one hundred-fold differences in the potency of the antibacterial activity of various honey, best results would be expected if a honey with a high level of antibacterial activity were used in the management of infected wounds.

If you are exercising to stay healthy, you need extra energy to stick with your workout routine. Carbohydrates are a great source. They also help your muscles get stronger, repair any tissue damage and help maintain a strong immune system.

Other therapeutic properties of honey besides its antibacterial activity are also likely to vary. An anti-inflammatory action and a stimulatory effect on angiogenesis and on the growth of granulation tissue and epithelial cells have been observed clinically and in histological studies. The components responsible for these effects have not been identified, but the anti-inflammatory action may be due to antioxidants, the level of which varies in honey.

Honey can serve as a good carbohydrate source for people who are even moderately active. Adding it to a drink is a good way to get some natural carbohydrates. The sweet treat works just like expensive power gels athletes use, but at a fraction of the cost. You can take honey before a walk or aerobics class, but it is more important after exercise, when your body needs the carbohydrates to replace the ones you burned.

The stimulation of tissue growth may be a trophic effect, as nutrification of wounds is known to hasten the healing process: the level of the wide range of micronutrients that occur in honey also varies.

Until research is carried out to ascertain the components of honey responsible for all of its therapeutic effects it will not be possible to fully standardise honey to obtain optimal effectiveness in wound management. However, where an antiseptic wound dressing is required then standardisation for this effect is possible.

Before you spend hundreds on anti-wrinkle creams and moisturizers, try an easy, home-made tonic first. Foods in your kitchen cupboard are some of the main ingredients in those expensive store-bought creams.

Several brands of honey with standardised levels of antibacterial activity are commercially available in Australia and New Zealand, but even where these are not available it is possible to assay the level of antibacterial activity of locally available honey by a simple procedure in a microbiology laboratory.

For instance, banish crow’s feet with a few dabs of olive oil before bed. Or blend 2-tablespoons of honey with 2-teaspoons of milk. Smooth this moisturizing mask over your face and throat and leave it on for ten minutes. Rinse and you will have a soft glow.

The antibacterial activity of honey is due primarily to hydrogen peroxide generated by the action of an enzyme that the bees add to the nectar, but there are some floral sources that provide additional antibacterial components. The body tissues and serum contain an enzyme, catalase, that breaks down hydrogen peroxide - how much of the honey antibacterial activity is lost through this is not known.

Also try experimenting with yogurt, lemon or lime juice, papaya, cucumber and even mayonnaise.

The antibacterial components that come from the nectar are not broken down by this enzyme. Until comparative clinical trials are carried out to determine which type of antibacterial activity is the more effective, it may be best to use manuka honey, as this contains hydrogen peroxide activity as well as the component that comes from the nectar.

Every type of honey, whether its blueberry, clover, or eucalyptus, comes from a different flower and thus has a different taste. Just remember that darker honeys tend to be stronger.

Because the enzyme in honey that produces hydrogen peroxide is destroyed by heating and exposure to light, unpasteurised honey should be used, and it should be stored in a cool place and protected from light. If it is necessary to warm honey to liquefy it, it should be heated to no more than 37 C.

Store your honey bear or jar in your pantry or on your kitchen counter at room temperature and away from sunlight. Colder temperatures, like in your refrigerator, make honey crystallize. Even worse, direct sunlight saps its healing powers.

If it is considered necessary to sterlise honey, this can be done by gamma-irradiation without loss of antibacterial activity. Gamma-irradiated manuka honey is available commercially. (In none of the clinical reports of use of honey on wounds was the honey used sterilised.No case of infection resulting from the use of honey has been reported.)

Honey is healthy and safe for most children and adults, but babies less than 12 months old do not have resistance to certain bacteria in it. To be safe, save the honey until children can ask for it by name... [read more]

Manuka honey can have a uniquely high level of an antibacterial component from nectar that is not broken down by catalase. This antibacterial component is particularly effective against Staphylococcus aureus. Like all honeys, manuka honeys vary very much in their potency. A 'UMF' rating ('Unique Manuka Factor', equivalent to the % phenol with the same activity against Staphylococcus aureus) is being used by producers of manuka honey to show the potency of this antibacterial component, as more than half of the manuka honey on sale does not have any significant amount of this component present.

Hay Fever.
Chewing the tops of comb honey stimulates the immune system due to minute amounts of pollen. During the season chew for 20 minutes a teaspoon of bee capping (tops) five to six times per day. Highly effective and useful for asthma sufferers as well.

Some practical considerations are:

Ensure that there is an even coverage of the wound surface with honey. Honey can be made fluid by stirring or warming. Cavities may be filled by pouring in fluidised honey, or more conveniently by using honey packed in squeeze-tubes. (Gamma-irradiated manuka honey in tubes is available commercially.)

Insect Bites.
For cases of bite or stinging of poisonous insects, a paste made of one part unsoaked limestone, four parts honey & four parts olive oil applied on the affected part will give immediate relief.

Spread honey on the dressing pad rather than on the ulcer - it is much easier to do and causes less discomfort for the patient.

The amount of honey needed depends on the amount of fluid exuding from the wound - the benefits of honey on wound tissues will be reduced if honey becomes diluted a lot: typically, 20 ml of honey is used on a 10 cm X 10 cm dressing.

Cover with absorbent secondary dressings to prevent honey oozing out from the dressing. Change the dressings more frequently if the honey is being diluted a lot - otherwise change every day or two.