The Healing Power of Honey: An Ancient Cure is New Again

New medical research has once again affirmed the healing power of honey. Since ancient times, anyplace honey bees have manufactured nature's most perfect food, people have known it as a substance good for both the inside and the outside of the body.

It's no surprise honey has always been prized as a sweet treat by itself or as an ingredient to brighten up bland or barely palatable primitive dishes. What 21st century cultures don't realize is that, from before Biblical times right up to the early 20th century before antibiotics, honey was recognized and used as a superb curative for burns, wounds and abrasions for both animals and humans.

Now, scientific studies conducted in New Zealand and Wales have confirmed the ancient wisdom. More than 16 studies on animals and 22 studies on human subjects have demonstrated that honey, applied to cuts, rashes, surgical incisions, wounds and diabetic lesions, stops infection and speeds healing in nearly all the cases studied.

When antibiotics were discovered in the early 1940's, the use of honey as medicine was largely abandoned in the developed world and replaced by the new "silver bullet." However, due to the extensive use of antibiotics since then, more and more strains of highly resistent bacteria have evolved, thwarting the effectiveness of many modern medical treatments. It is this resistance which has forced medical researchers to find something new--or very old, to outsmart the adaptive bacterial bugs.

The healing properties that make honey such an effective treatment are amazing. It is naturally antimicrobial due to its high sugar content and low moisture, which both discourage bacterial growth. In addition, it contains gluconic acid, which kills bacteria, and hydrogen peroxide, which reduces inflammation.

Honey is the only food in nature which never spoils. Jars of honey were discovered in the tomb of King Tutankhaman which were still edible after more than 3,000 years.