Health

Early study touts honey as antibiotics substitute

by blacktryst | September 26, 2008 at 09:03 am

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Early study touts honey as antibiotics substitute
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Wed Sep 24, 2:04 PM

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OTTAWA (AFP) - Honey, used in tea or hot water in Canada for generations to soothe sore throats, could soon be substituted for antibiotics in fighting stubborn ear, nose and throat infections, according to a new study.

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Ottawa University doctors found in tests that ordinary honey kills bacteria that cause sinus infections, and does it better in most cases than antibiotics.

"It's astonishing," researcher Joseph Marson said of bees' unexplained ability to combine the nectar of flowers into a seemingly potent medicine.

The preliminary tests were conducted in laboratory dishes, not in live patients, but included the "superbug" methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA, which is highly resistant to antibiotics.

In upcoming human trials, a "honey rinse" would be used to "flush out the goo from sinus cavities," said Marson in an interview with AFP.

The researchers have so far tested manuka honey from New Zealand, and sidr honey from Yemen.

Photo of Manuka Honey courtesy of Creative Commons License from sirwiseowl's photostream on Flickr.com, link to the page,

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sirwiseowl/2751198916/

Personally, i think the properties of honey has been long overlooked. Since ancient times, honey has been used to combat lots of problems and come on, the old remedy of honey lemon tea??? Too much money and attention has been focused on drugs, drugs and more drugs. Not surprising considering that the paharmaceutical companies lobby the governments with so much money and gifts that even in Canada, the government is considering bill-C52 where the government will limit the import of natural herbal medicines.

Of course, even though the above study has been conducted, does not mean that everyone should stop taking medication and just use the Yemeni or New Zealand honey. The honey is only one tool to combat sickness.

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Barbara McPherson

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 09:22 on September 26th, 2008

blacktryst, I like this story. It's good stuff. Honey is indeed a wonder. Do you know if the honey in the research was pasteurized or raw?

blacktryst

at 17:47 on September 26th, 2008

That is a good question. I do not know, the news article did not mention it. Maybe we can access the research article in the science journal that it was published on.