Medical buzz

By Fiona Rotherham

Friday 1st February 2002

Manuka means money, honey

As you idly watch the bees collecting nectar from your garden flowers this summer consider this: a renaissance is underway in the therapeutic use of honey, and at least one Kiwi company is poised to make money out of it.

Bee & Herbal of Cambridge has developed the Apimed range of honey-impregnated medical products, in collaboration with Peter Molan of Waikato University's Honey Research Unit. Its dressings are already used in 50 hospitals worldwide.

Molan's research over the past 15 years identified the powerful antibacterial qualities in New Zealand manuka honey. Honey contains an enzyme, glucose oxidase, which when diluted produces low levels of hydrogen peroxide sufficient to inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria. Some manuka honey (made from leptospermum plants) has an additional unique antibacterial component, making it doubly effective. With health professionals increasingly struggling with antibiotic-resistant bacteria, many are turning back to treating infections, burns and wounds with honey, Molan says.

New Zealand manuka honey producers have registered UMF (unique manuka factor) as a trademark rating the antibacterial potency, which Molan says can vary enormously bet-----ween different honeys. It all depends on the type of flowers to which bees take a liking. Now Molan and Bee & Herbal have patented manufacturing processes ensuring the quality and potency of products destined for use in medical dressings.

Bee & Herbal has 17 products in the pipeline. Managing director Phil Caskey says the company is close to gaining regulatory approval in the UK for its products as a medicine. This will, Caskey claims, help cement deals with one or more of the major wound care companies to pick up the products and market them as their own.

It's not just wound care. Think oral health. After gaining Technology New Zealand funding, the university and Bee & Herbal are jointly researching the use of manuka honey confectionery to prevent tooth decay and treat gum disease or mouth ulcers. The company has come up with a unique way of manufacturing the confectionery without heating the honey to the point where its antibacterial activity is lost. A just-completed pilot clinical trial at the Otago Dental School proved the freeze-dried honey confectionery was effective in stopping dental decay. Further trials are now being set up.

Imagine lying in the garden snacking on honey gum or honey toffee. Not only sweet, it will also be good for you.

Fiona Rotherham
fiona@unlimited.net.nz

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