The science of honey healing

Claude Stratford talks about his early experiences using honey to heal wounds and Alan Bougen explains how science has revealed the exceptional healing properties of Mānuka honey.

Transcript

Claude Stratford (founder of Comvita)

My first experience to… of really authentic value was when a chap came out from England with gangrene in his leg. Whangarei Hospital took his leg off and they couldn’t stop it. The doctor said that he had had contact in England with a honey that did work.

We knew nothing about the extra benefits [of honey]. Well they used the Mānuka honey and it stopped the gangrene.

The article was written up in the paper and was copied by the Herald in Auckland, and the doctor said you cannot make those sort of claims.

Alan Bougen (Comvita)

But it was science that really changed that. It was the work of Dr Molan at Waikato University that started to research a range of honeys based on anecdotal evidence and research papers that had been published over the years.

He started looking at a range of honeys for their antibacterial properties and found, surprisingly, that Mānuka stood out head and shoulders above every other variety in the world.