Honey Heals All Wounds

Honey is a wonderful healing agent. Applied topically to cuts, scrapes, lacerations and even sore nipples, honey promotes rapid tissue repair and eases pain.

British researchers have proven that using honey on open wounds keeps them sterile, thus preventing infections, gangrene and other complications. This is due to a bacteria-killing agent called inhibine, found only in raw honey. Inhibine is easily destroyed during pasteurization.

Honey dressings are known to surpass all other agents in the treatment of ulcers or bed sores. The British medical journal The Lancet published studies confirming that honey-covered wounds heal faster than those treated with conventional antibiotics.

Honey works well on its own and can act as a vehicle for healing herbs. A salve is made by using one teaspoon honey with 25 drops of echinacea tincture for cuts, boils and sores. Similarly, a salve of equal parts honey and butter produces antibacterial acids. For stubborn infections which are difficult to heal, mix freshly-grated horseradish root with honey. A comfrey tincture and honey combination (four parts honey to one part tincture) applied externally will ease arthritic joints and can help the healing of sprains and fractures. After applying any of these remedies, cover with a piece of clean gauze and secure with a bandage or tape. It's a sticky treatment!

Raw honey has proven effective in the treatment of burns, including severe third-degree burns. It was first used in ancient Egypt and the Middle Ages and is still used by prominent European physicians. Deep burns can easily become infected, so honey's antimicrobial properties and barrier-like consistency are ideal. Many people who have employed this remedy have reported minimal pain with severe burns and almost no pain with minor burns. Blistering and scarring are also minimal with honey treatment.

Honey in Infant Feeding

In 1922, Dr Paul Luttinger of the Bronx Hospital, New York, used honey in the feeding of premature infants and those with various illnesses and deficiencies. Tests confirmed that honey increased both appetite and intestinal movement. Due to free acids in honey, fat absorption was increased, resulting in better weight gains and faster recoveries.

These effects were verified by Dr Paula Emerich in 1923 and several other doctors throughout the 30s and 40s. Due to its iron content, honey raises the blood hemoglobin levels in anemic children. In other children, there was constipation relief, decreased diarrhea and vomiting, increased calcium retention and higher energy levels. Children suffering from scurvy, rickets, intestinal inflammation and malnourishment also showed positive results when fed honey rather than corn syrup in their milk formula, bringing the formula closer in content to mother's milk.

Simple Sweetener

Honey has powerful anti-fatigue properties. It should be eaten by everyone, especially athletes, invalids and physical labourers. It's already 98 per cent pre-digested by the honey bee and contains two sugars: dextrose, which is a simple sugar and quickly absorbed and levulose, which must be broken down before it is assimilated. This combination of simple and complex sugars results in immediate as well as extended energy, eliminating the highs and lows characteristic of artificial sweeteners. Because of this, some doctors allow honey in the diets of diabetic patients.

Many hay fever sufferers have relieved or eliminated their symptoms by eating honey or a honey and bee pollen mixture each day. This remedy is particularly effective if the honey is locally produced. Honey also makes a soothing cough remedy and can be warmed slightly with ground cloves, cayenne pepper and lemon juice. It can be taken by the spoonful as needed to alleviate chest congestion or a sore throat. Honey is a tasty and effective vehicle for administering medications and is an excellent source of potassium, rich in C and B vitamins. It has been used on ulcerated legs due to varicose veins, swollen, festering wounds and muscle cramps and twitches.

Some mothers even swear by honey for overcoming bedwetting. Administered before bed, it imparts a calming feeling in the child and, possibly due its moisture-absobing properties, seems to aid in her retaining fluid.

So, reach for the honey jar the next time you experience one of these ailments. It's delicious, inexpensive, painless and free from harmful side effects, but make sure your honey is raw and unpasteurized. Refined "pure" honey does not work.

In many cases raw honey has proven more effective than any chemical cure our modern world has devised.