208. It's all about honey...

This evening i made my second trip up to the yard to tend to Spices wound and to my relief its finally healed over after 18 days! It still looks slightly puffy but the vet only saw it yesterday and seemed to think that the infection had cleared so it i am assuming it is just inflammation.

I have been cold hosing her cut every day twice a day for around 2-3 mins or until clean and then applying manuka honey which i believe has played a huge part in the healing process...

For more information on the healin g properties of honey click here

However, not all honey is of equal effectiveness...

All honey has some level of the antibacterial chemical hydrogen peroxide, which is produced by enzymes in the honey. These enzymes are easily destroyed by exposure to heat and light and also by contact with body fluids. It is now understood that some rare honeys have an antibacterial action that is separate to the peroxide effect, resulting in a much more persistent and stable antibacterial action.

Such valuable honeys are resistant to losing their antibacterial activity when used in wound treatment and even have strong activity when heavily diluted by body fluids in a wound dressing. Furthermore, such honeys are now known to have a synergistic antibacterial effect with the hydrogen peroxide activity, producing a very powerful weapon against bacterial conditions.

Since 1991 it has been recognised that not all honey is effective in its non-peroxide anti-bacterial action and in its promotion of healing - in fact the variability between different batches of honey can be as much as 100-fold.

In 1996 an organisation called TradeNZ, in conjunction with the Honey Research Unit, set about to establish a standard for the classification of antibacterial honey activity. This led to the creation of the UMF® industry standard - UMF standing for Unique Manuka Factor. The Honey Research Unit developed a procedure for rating honeys which has now been in place for some time.

Tested batches of Manuka Honey are given a UMF® rating, depending on their tested antibacterial activity. A UMF® rating of 10 is the minimum activity to gain the UMF rating and thus be considered useful in serious applications. Honey achieving this rating is commonly referred to as Active Manuka Honey, although manuka honey is often marketed as being 'active' even though it is not.

While Manuka honey is fairly widely available, it is considered that only that which carries the UMF® registered trademark should be chosen if the intended use is for therapeutic purposes, and the majority of recent medical trial have predominantly used manuka honey with a UMF strength of 10 or more.