Clover Honey, Manuka’s Understudy

Manuka gets alot of press but what about all of the other raw honeys’s out there? All raw honey (honey not heated over 95F, hive temperature) contains anti microbial activity! However, the antioxidant and anti microbial potential of honeys varies according to their floral sources and environment giving rise to a wide variety of potentially useful honeys. These antibacterial features are distinct from classical antibiotics, including high osmolarity, low pH, and the generation of hydrogen peroxide by the bee-derived enzyme glucose oxidase. All of these attributes allow honey to have anti microbial activity towards 60 different bacterial species! Studies show that honey is at lest as effective as conventional treatments in healing wounds, particularly in diabetics, the elderly, and extensively burned patients.

In several recent studies Clover Honey was found to have a significant amount of these antioxidants and anti microbial activity. Although the concentrations were not as high as the currently popular, Manuka honey, it stood tall and proud in the studies helping to kill off bacteria such as E. Coli, Salmonella and Streptococcus. In one particular study the Clover honey was diluted with water before being applied to the infections. The addition of water actually increased the anti microbial activity and killed off the bacteria at a faster rate showing that it’s activity was indeed comparable to that of antibiotics. So maybe you have a minor scrape or you’ve burned yourself the oven, pull out the raw honey and apply! Keep your wounds healthy and happy with raw honey and don’t fret if you’ve run out of Manuka your Clover honey will keep those small wounds from infections till your next order arrives.

Sources

Lu, J., Carter, D. A., Turnbull, L., Rosendale, D., Hedderley, D., Stephens, J., & … Harry, E. J. (2013). The Effect of New Zealand Kanuka, Manuka and Clover Honeys on Bacterial Growth Dynamics and Cellular Morphology Varies According to the Species. Plos ONE, 8(2), 1-12. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0055898

Khaled Elbanna, Khaled Attalla,, Medhat Elbadry,, Awad Abdeltawab, Hosny Gamal-Eldin, Mohamed Fawzy Ramadan. (2014). Impact of Floral Sources and Processing on the Anti microbial Activities of Different uni floral Honeys. Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Disease. 4(3), 194-200. doi:10.1016/S2222-1808(14)60504-1

Gertsen,Lauren. (2014). What Does “Raw Honey” Really mean?. Empowered Sustenence. http://empoweredsustenance.com/raw-honey-definition/