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Manuka honey

A pot of hype or the bizzzzznazzzz?

Article by : SpunOut.ie

Buzzzzzzzz! It’s hard to ignore the latest noise swarming Manuka honey. What is this health craze stinging health food shops, pharmacies and grocery stores nationwide? How can a jar of honey, ahem... bees’ regurgitation of nectar, cost so much, you may ask? We wanted to find out too.

Here’s the low down:

Manuka honey is a special type of honey from New Zealand. It has awesome anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties. When honeybees chow down on the Manuka bush, the same amazing plant that produces tea tree oil, the honey they produce from this plant’s nectar goes into the jars of Manuka honey being mass shipped to store shelves around the world. It has a stronger taste and darker colour than the clover honey that most of us are used to, but it is still as sweet as can be. It can be eaten right off the teaspoon, used in tea, eaten with yoghurt and enjoyed any other way you’d have regular honey. It can also be applied directly to the skin.

Fans of Manuka honey praise it for its numerous health benefits, to the extent that one excited health food shop worker referred to it as “sticky gold”. Wow. Over the last few decades, there have been countless studies done on Manuka honey, so as to learn more about it and verify its benefits. However, it seems that from what we know so far, this natural food packs a lot of healthy punch.

Benefits of Manuka honey:

  1. Manuka honey has natural antibacterial, antimicrobial, antiviral, antioxidant, antiseptic, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties... germs of all types- beware!
  2. Manuka honey rapidly clears infection by destroying bacteria.
  3. Manuka honey repairs damaged skin and regenerates new skin growth.
  4. Manuka honey speeds up the healing process.
  5. Manuka honey stimulates the growth of tissue involved in the healing process.
  6. Manuka honey has an anti-inflammatory action that relieves pain.
  7. Manuka honey has antifungal properties that can cure ringworm and other fungal conditions such as athlete's foot, jock itch and nail fungus.
  8. It tastes so schweet!!!

 

Manuka and MGO or UMF:

If curiosity prompts you to pick up a pot of Manuka honey, you’ll notice numbers such as MGO 100+ or UMF 50, for example. MGO refers to Methylglyoxal, Manuka honey’s active ingredient. UMF stands for Unique Manuka Factor, its anti-bacterial strength. MGO and UMF are essentially the same thing, with the UMF or MGO number referring to the number of milligrams of active Manuka power buzzing in each jar, e.g. MGO 100+ equals 100mg of methylglyoxal and UMF 50 equals 50mg of methylglyoxal.

If you decide to give Manuka honey a try, it’s important to make sure you buy some with a MGO strength high enough to address your health concern. The price of Manuka honey will vary depending on how much MGO it contains, so you may want to ask someone in the shop what MGO level is best for you and your budget.

Just remember, health is wealth, as they say, so really consider your natural and traditional health and wellbeing options when deciding how to best care for your fine self.

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