Why lab testing Manuka Honey is so important

This is a very good article about Manuka Honey. It is long, but it’s a scientific publication that highlights the importance of accurate testing and labelling of Medical Grade Honeys. Since super bugs aren’t able to develop a resistance to Medical Grade Honey as they do with antibiotics, accurate testing and labelling is not only about providing consumers with re-assurance so that they can purchase wisely; in this case, accurate and transparent laboratory testing and product labelling are practical aspects of the ethical supply of medical grade honey.

For example, if the honey being offered is heated during extraction or mixed with non or less active honeys, the efficacy of the honey could be greatly diminished. When viewed in context to the grave nature of antibiotic resistance, the lack of ethics surrounding the supply of sub-standard or falsely represented Manuka honeys becomes more salient.

Here’s an excerpt from the article published by the US National Library of Medicine. Please use the source link to access the full article.

Antimicrobial agents are essentially important in reducing the global burden of infectious diseases. However, as resistant pathogens develop and spread, the effectiveness of the antibiotics is diminished. This type of bacterial resistance to the antimicrobial agents poses a very serious threat to public health, and for all kinds of antibiotics, including the major last-resort drugs, the frequencies of resistance are increasing worldwide. Therefore, alternative antimicrobial strategies are urgently needed, and thus this situation has led to a re-evaluation of the therapeutic use of ancient remedies, such as plants and plant-based products, including honey.

 

Source:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3609166/