ABC Wednesday Letter H for honey

These are very good for you.

Some Manuka honey has an antimicrobial property not shared by other honeys. This property is called the Unique Manuka Factor (UMF®) antibacterial property.

The little jar is UMF 25+. and is worth it weight in gold. It is good as a balm, when you are on the onset of a flu, it will help to check it in time. Though, I find it too sweet.



Leptospermum scoparium (Manuka or Tea tree or just Leptospermum) is a shrub or small tree native to New Zealand and southeast Australia. You may have heard of the Manuka Honey or the Tea tree oil.

The honey comes from the bees who harvest the wild Manuka and the oil from the berries. I always have a bottle of Manuka or Tea tree oil which is very good for skin problems.

I took these photos in a public park in Western Auckland. My friend Ngarimu and his Maori tribe are involved on replanting native bush in his tribal land at Orakei. It has the dual purpose of planting a medicinal plant and preventing erosion.

American Mr Lloyd strongly believes that manuka honey dressings saved his leg from amputation. So convinced that he came on the cruise liner Millennium to meet the people who changed his life.
Manuka products have high antibacterial potency for a limited spectrum of bacteria and are widely available in New Zealand. Similar properties led the Māori to use parts of the plant as natural medicine.

Kakariki parakeets (Cyanoramphus) use the leaves and bark of Manuka and Kanuka to rid themselves of parasites. Apart from ingesting the material, they also chew it, mix it with preen gland oil and apply it to their feathers.^[3]


Manuka honey, produced when honeybees gather the nectar from its flowers, is distinctively flavoured, darker and richer in taste than clover honey and has strong antibacterial and antifungal properties. The finest quality Manuka honey with the most potent antimicrobial properties is produced from hives placed in wild, uncultivated areas with abundant growth of Manuka bushes. However a very limited number of scientific studies have been performed to verify its efficacy.

The University of Waikato in Hamilton, New Zealand has formed the Waikato Honey Research Unit to study the composition of honey and its antimicrobial activity. The Active Manuka Honey Association (AMHA) is the industry association that promotes and standardizes the production of Manuka honey for medical uses. They have created the Unique Manuka Factor (UMF) standard which grades honey based on its anti-bacterial strength. In January 2008 Professor Thomas Henle, University of Dresden (Germany)^[4] identified Methylglyoxal as the active compound in Manuka honey. This is now shown on products as MGO Manuka honey. E.g. MGO 100 represents 100mg of Methylglyoxal per kilogram.^[5]

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