Manuka honey, literally spelled as Mānuka honey, has several benefits including its immunity boosting characteristics, according to its proponents.
This product comes from the Mānuka tree. The former is native to New Zealand. However, when the Europeans settled in the country, they introduced their European bees. Consequently, this hybrid pollination of a European bee with an endemic tree in the Māori lands produced Manuka honey.
These are the 4 benefits of Manuka Honey:
4. Preserves Oral Health
This may sound strange as honey naturally contains a lot of sugar. However, it is processed sugar that causes most of the damage to the teeth and gum. Therefore, the natural sweetener present in Manuka honey boosts gum health and delays periodontal disease(s).
As a result, chewing a small comb of Manuka honey has shown great benefits in improving dental properties. It helps retain the good bacteria in the mouth and fights plague and other harmful gingivitis.
3. Manuka Honey May Reduce Inflammation in Certain Body Parts
The medicinal aspects of Manuka honey still have a long journey of study. However, some characteristics are already proven efficient. These include reducing inflammation in the throat, especially during cold flu and other viral infections.
Consequently, Manuka honey helps relieving a sore throat. It provides a thin coat that protects the delicate areas of the throat. Moreover, as stated previously, it can help reduce the bacterial infections by actually attacking the bacteria.
Moreover, it can also attack the viruses causing a cold flu. With a similar mechanisim to attacking bacteria, it can eliminate viruses and relieves pain.
2. Manuka Can Treat Wounds
Honey in general has medicinal effects in treating wounds. However, when it comes to Manuka honey, this effect is magnified. As a matter of fact, the US-FDA approved Manuka honey in 2007 as one option for natural treatment of wounds.
Manuka provides the best medium of wound healing in keeping the area delicately moisturized and infection-free. Thus rapidly enhances the healing of the cut or wounded area.
Moreover, wounds can be internal or external and Manuka showed positive results on both. Internal wounds take the form of ulcers in the stomach and other intestinal wounds which Manuka honey showed several benefits in soothing their aches.
1. Manuka Honey is Effective in Preventing Cancer
As with all natural and organic foods, Manuka’s efficiency in preventing cancer comes as no surprise. However, what is special with this honey is the treatment of cancer itself.
Although empirical evidence is still to be medically supported, yet many botanical experts believe in the ability of Manuka in treatment of early stages of cancer.
Controversies Surrounding Manuka Honey
Many studies emerged in recent years around Manuka honey as its popularity grows. The challenge is with the huge demand on any product, let alone honey, makes commercializing it a pure money generating machine. Hence the authenticity of the product and its organic values diminish greatly with mass production.
Therefore, Manuka honey’s genuine producers stress on the idea of checking the product’s attributes before buying it. Moreover, the suppliers’ authorized dealers are the best places to shop for the product.
On the other hand, when it comes to the healing qualities of Manuka, some experts advise to believe them with a pinch of salt. For example, the magical qualities of healing cancer does not exist in any medicine yet. Consequently, it is unlikely that a herbal product like Manuka would be able to heal cancer, or eradicate it for that matter.
Having said that, life is about accumulation of habits, day in, day out. Therefore, Manuka might not be able to heal wounds, ulcers, cancers or tumors right away, yet there is a silver lining here. When consumed regularly and in moderate amounts, many studies support the benefits of this type of honey on the long run. The takeaway is healthy habits, a balanced diet, exercise and the moderate consumption of natural organic products like Manuka honey are the keys for longevity secrets.
