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Science or Snake Oil: is manuka honey really a ‘superfood’ for treating colds, allergies and infections?

Manuka honey is often touted as a “superfood” that treats many ailments, including allergies, colds and flus, gingivitis, sore throats, staph infections, and numerous types of wounds. Manuka can apparently also boost energy, “detox” your system, lower cholesterol, stave off diabetes, improve sleep, increase skin tone, reduce hair loss and even prevent frizz and split ends. Some of these claims are nonsense, but some have good evidence behind them. Honey has been used therapeutically throughout history, with records of its cultural, religious and medicinal importance shown in rock paintings, carvings and sacred texts from many diverse ancient cultures.

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 The Science of Manuka Honey

What makes Manuka unique among honey is that, in addition to hydrogen peroxide, it also contains a powerful compound called methylglyoxal. Methylglyoxal that may be an even stronger antibacterial agent than hydrogen peroxide. In fact, there’s support that it may even be effective at fighting particularly strong bacteria, like the staph bacteria MRSA or even e.coli.

Articles of Interest

The Benefits of Manuka Honey, Explained

Honey isn’t just sweet—it’s also good for you. It has proven natural antibacterial and digestive properties, and can even treat acne and help speed up the healing of wounds. But not all honey is created equal. There’s one type that rises above the rest—especially when it comes to health benefits. And that honey is Manuka honey.

Everyone's Buzzing That Honey Can Help Clear Up Acne, but Is It True?

Manuka honey comes from bees who make honey from the flowers of a specific plant found in New Zealand and Australia called the manuka tree. The manuka tree is actually a relative of the tea tree—and tea tree oil has long been touted for its antiseptic qualities and ability to fight acne. There have also been studies and anecdotal evidence to show that honey has natural anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, and wound-healing properties, so it makes sense that this super-charged manuka honey could be a viable acne remedy. (If you're interested in learning about manuka honey in great detail, go here.) To get the facts, I asked Dr. Heidi

How Manuka honey could soon be used to fight hospital infections

Its antibacterial properties are proving to be even more powerful than originally thought.

How NZ’s own law helped Australia win the Manuka Honey trademark war

The recent decision in “one of the most complex and long running” trademark cases in New Zealand was a loss for the country’s mānuka honey producers. But it also served to highlight just how ill-equipped our laws are for protecting Māori taonga (treasures) and mātauranga Māori (traditional knowledge).

I Washed My Face With Manuka Honey for a Week—Here’s What Happened

There’s even some research that suggests honey has antioxidative, antimicrobial, and anti-inflammatory properties. But what even is manuka honey? Native to New Zealand, manuka honey is a variety of honey with a high concentration of methylglyoxal (MG), a component derived from the nectar of manuka flowers. Though MG may be found in other types of honey, the compound is particularly rich in manuka honey, purportedly giving it greater antibacterial properties than other honey varieties.

Manuka Honey and Pediatric Patients: A Review

Manuka is a monofloral honey with New Zealand and Australian origins. It takes its name from the L. scoparium or tea-tree (manuka or tea tree) plant, whose flowers rich in pollen and nectar feed the bees during the production of honey. To be labeled as "New Zeland manuka honey", bees must use at least 70% of the pollen and nectar from manuka.

Manuka Honey – What’s All The Fuss About?

Manuka honey is automatically associated with medicinal qualities and a hefty price tag, and is also often assumed to be solely a product of New Zealand. Manuka honey is not strictly from New Zealand alone, but it’s benefited from strong marketing campaigns by the honey council in the ‘land of the long white cloud’.

Manuka Honey: What the Science Says

Just 50 years ago scientific journals dismissed Manuka honey as a “worthless and harmful substance”. In fact, few researchers were willing to take it seriously due to a belief that honey was merely an alternative medicine. Within the past few years however, new evidence has been turning opinions. Recently, Manuka honey has been shown to posses benefits for wound treatment, to dental hygiene and skin care.

New Zealand drowning in mānuka honey after a boom in beekeeping

New Zealand is drowning in honey after a boom in beekeeping collided with slowing international demand to create towering stockpiles. Over the past five years, global desire for mānuka honey and demand for home-based honey remedies during the pandemic helped push up prices, creating a kind of honey gold rush on New Zealand farms. Now, however, demand is slowing, leaving New Zealand with reserves of honey far exceeding the amount it could usually sell in a year.

New Zealand Honey Could Be Handy In Fighting Superbugs

Microbiologist Rose Cooper of the University of Wales Institute has been on the cutting edge of honey research for the last few years. But her report this week at a big microbiology conference that just a tiny amount of Manuka honey seems to help fight MRSA — at least in a petri dish — is creating a bit of a buzz.

The History of Original Manuka Honey

Manuka Honey can only be produced by the introduced European Honey Bee. An English beekeeper by the name of Mary Bumby is thought to be the first European settler to bring these precious bees to our shores in 1839. Mary set up her hives on the East Coast of the North Island where there was an abundance of Manuka bushes. Strong evidence supports that first honey ever produced in New Zealand was in fact Manuka Honey. It wasn’t until 1980 that the unique antibacterial benefits of Manuka was confirmed by biochemist Peter Molan. Although its healing properties had already been known in traditional Maori medicine.

What is Manuka Honey? + 7 Incredible Benefits

Over the years, however, Manuka honey would face difficult challenges in the market at large. Manuka honey struggled to compete against the wildflower-based honey sought all around the world. For nearly a century, Manuka honey would sit on the sidelines. But all this would change in the 1980s.

What’s All the Buzz About? The Health Benefits of Manuka Honey

New Zealand mānuka honey is a powerful functional food. For centuries, the unique and powerful healing properties of the mānuka tree (Leptospermum scoparium) have been understood by the indigenous Māori people of New Zealand. With more than 2,300+ natural compounds identified in New Zealand mānuka honey it has captured the attention of scientists and health professionals across the globe.