I've just taken out a 2nd mortgage to buy - a jar of honey! Now, what do I do with it?

[MinnSpyHandCream]

£15.49!!!!!!

Now, do I eat it and how much or do I apply direct to infection?

Manuka honey, I presume?

I'd do both. We use Manuka honey for all the family, 1 or 2 teaspoons a day to ward off colds and tummy bugs. I swear it works.

What strength have you got, that is a factor in how much to use.

10+ medibee one.

It tastes great!!

Don't eat it, frame it!

Ok, why is it better than Gales.

Whats special about Manuka honey?

Google it!

Antiseptic properties, can help with heartburn and acid reflux and also, apparently, with tummy bugs and colds.

I saw it on channel 5 (I think) and thought I would give it a try on CS scar that seems to have a fungal infection (TMI! sorry)

And fed up of constant anti-biotics

I used it in a yummy scrummy smoothie!(recipe from Jason Vale, juice master)

1 mango
half a medium pineapple
2 dates
1 banana
3 tbsp live plain yoghurt
1 tsp desiccated coconut
half teaspoon manuka honey
handful ice

Peel mango, cut flesh around the stone. Peel pineapple and juice along with the mango. Remove stones from the dates. Pour the mango and pinapple juice into a blender along with the remaining ingredients. Give a good whizz, pour into a glass and enjoy!

Thats if you have a juicer.
It really is a delicious drink.

yes, but normal, cheapass honey, commen bee poo, also has antiseptic qualities that have been well known for centuries. Why is manuka honey different? What is different about the physical make up?

Coldtits And who wouldn't want to eat cheapass bee poo?

google it!

We've been eating it daily for the past two years, and I swear by it. Colds and tummy bugs significantly reduced for everyone. For example. last Christmas, my kids came down with a very mild sick bug, or atleast we thought it was very mild - over and done for us in 24 hours. However, we passed it onto the rest of the family and they were really ill with it. We all generally feel healthier.

It is very expensive, but it is an expense that it worth it, imo. I spent £75 a month on a huge bucket of 15+ manuka honey from Paynes Southdown Bee farm ( online ) and we have one or two teaspoons a day, or the kids have it on their toast. The bucket usually lasts about 6 weeks. During the summer I still use it but not so religiously.

I have some but haven't used it that much. AM intrigued by info on heartburn/acid reflux as have had 3 rennie already this morning - am really suffering at the moment.

Will give it a go.

www.dmso-use.com/honey_benefits.html

I have found this, but while the study proves that manuka honey is better than other honeys at inhibiting some species of bacterial growth, it has also shown it to be less effective than other honeys at inhibiting other species of bacterial growth.

So it seems the most effect thing to take is actually a blend of all honeys, not 1 single (very expensive) one.

The non-peroxide antibacterial activity of the typical (near median activity) manuka honey was tested against seven species of bacteria and compared with the typical (near median activity) honey with hydrogen peroxide activity. The MIC (minimum inhibitory concentration) of the honeys was found to range from 1.8% to 10.8% (v/v), indicating that the honeys had sufficient antibacterial potency to stop bacterial growth if diluted at least nine times, and up to 56 times in the presence of Staphylococcus aureus [65], the most common wound pathogen. In another study with 58 clinical isolates of Staphylococcus aureus [20] the MIC ranged from 2% to 4% (v/v). In a study of 20 isolates of Pseudomonas from infected wounds [66] the MIC of these two honeys was found to range from 5.5% to 9.0%.

Antibiotic-resistant strains have also been studied and found to be as sensitive to honey as the antibiotic-sensitive strains of the same species. The MIC for 82 epidemic strains of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was found to range from 3% to 8% (v/v) [67]. In this study 56 strains of vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) were also examined, and the MIC values were found to range from 5% to 10% (v/v) for the manuka honey and from 8% to 20% for the second honey. In a further study the MIC values for eight strains of MRSA isolated from swabs collected from acute and chronic wounds, and 16 strains of VRE isolated from the hospital environment were all below 10% (v/v) for both honeys, as were the MIC values for 15 strains of beta-haemolytic streptococci, and seven strains of vancomycin-sensitive enterococci isolated from swabs collected from acute and chronic wounds [68].

Overall in these studies, other than those with enterococci, there was no marked difference in effectiveness between the two types of honey used. However, further research is needed to fully evaluate the effectiveness of these results.

Copy-paste from a study I found on t'internet. so it seems that Manuka is slightly better at treating Staphylococcus infections, but at that price for that little difference, I would want gold plated dancing stripping bees.

I was very surprised to find that honey is actually more effective as an antibacterial agent if diluted - apparently this is because it releases hydrogen peroxide.

Well, I have tried so many antibiotics over the past three years, I thought I needed to break the cycle and try something else.

Heartburn has gone (Pepcid two manufacturers are reporting huge losses)

and my DS (child not nintendo) is at that stage of picking up a cold every other week.

and it tastes sooo good! but then I was always a fan of real pure unpasturised honey!

Now, has anyone got an old beehive in their loft that I can borrow to make my millions?