Manuka honey has been used as medicine for hundreds of years. Also, it’s been used as food. So we’ll talk about the many benefits here.
Nutrition facts
Manuka honey typically contains over 200 types of microbes. It has different antiseptic properties. It’s loaded with enzymes. It has some B vitamins and other things.
Manuka honey actually contains amino acids, so the building blocks of proteins, contains B vitamins, calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, zinc and four times that of normal flower honey of many of these nutrients especially in terms of its antibacterial agent.
So you can see here, Manuka honey is probably the most nutrient dense of all types of honey you could ever consume.
Benefits
Here are some natural treatments that might surprise you about a Manuka honey or some conditions it helps.
SIBO, low stomach acid, acid reflux
Now there are studies showing that specifically the things that are found in Manuka honey actually can keep ulcers at bay and actually kill H. pylori bacteria, bad bacteria that causes stomach ulcers. And also I would say of all the sweeteners you could consume with SIBO, this is probably the least damaging to the body. So SIBO, low stomach acid, acid reflux, Manuka honey is a great natural remedy.
Now with consuming Manuka honey, I typically just recommend a single teaspoon at a time or a loaded teaspoon and that’s it. You don’t want to do several tablespoons or a fourth of a cup or loads and loads of honey, but about a loaded teaspoon whether it’s mixed in tea or part of a dessert
Acne and eczema
Acne, my favorite natural treatment for acne is mixing Manuka honey in tea tree oil or Manuka honey and Manuka essential oil. Mixing those together, rubbing it on the face, letting it sit for two minutes and then washing it off. Actually Manuka honey fights Staph aureus, a certain type of bacteria that is the root cause of acne. It also can help balance your overall amount of the oil your skin produces and helps with sebaceous gland and things like. So again it’s a great acne fighter.
Also, it’s great for eczema. You know if somebody has eczema, I recommend mixing geranium oil with Manuka oil or with . . . geranium oil with Manuka honey, rubbing it on the area, letting it sit there for a time as well, maybe an hour or two and then washing it off. It’s a great thing to do there.
Manuka honey is often found in different types of wound treatments or wound ointments that are good for treating wounds.
Staph infections
It is great for staph infection. I mentioned Staph aureus which is a bacteria that can often cause acne. Well, staph infections are especially infections on your skin.
Now one of the things they would do in New Zealand as well as Australia is they do a natural remedy where they mix things like tea tree oil or eucalyptus oil. They mix that in with Manuka honey and put it on an area to treat burns, and wounds and cuts specifically staph infection.
Burns, wounds, and ulcers
It is one of the most powerful natural remedies in the world for, I think, it’s a natural antiseptic in keeping things from getting infected there as well. So again burns, wounds and ulcers, a great reason to use Manuka honey there.
Tooth decay and gingivitis
It is the sugar that doesn’t cause tooth decay really or one of the foods that have high amounts of sugar that doesn’t cause tooth decay because of the very unique compounds that are found in Manuka honey. Now when you buy Manuka honey, typically there’s a grade on there. It will say anywhere from 10 plus, to 12 plus, to 16, to 24 plus to even 30 plus. When I’m consuming this as a food, I tend to do it in between the 10 and 16 plus. Sometimes I’ve done as much as 24 plus. The 24 plus is typically used even more as medicine or just the maximum of a teaspoon at a time.
But again, Manuka honey can be great for even fighting tooth decay and gingivitis which could make it your go-to natural sweetener.
IBS and IBD
One of the big causes of stomach ulcers are ulcers that can actually line your intestinal wall and contribute to things like IBS and inflammatory bowel disease are these ulcers and ulcers almost like a burn.
Imagine you have a big burn on your skin or a burn. And just touching it, doing things, it aggravates it. Well, ulcers you can get those in your stomach. You can also get those in your colon and your intestines. And specifically, Manuka honey has been shown to be fantastic for naturally helping calm those ulcers and again H. pylori and certain types of bad bacteria are what cause stomach ulcers. Manuka honey, those compounds kill off the bacteria that cause stomach ulcers allowing it to fully heal removing that in interference.
Sore throats and immunity
Again when you have a sore throat and you have that virus or bacteria that’s in your throat lining and in your chest and even in your upper neck area, you want something that can sit there for a while.
What I love is doing a remedy of lemon essential oil mixed with Manuka honey and just sort of swallowing that and letting it kind of sit in your throat, doing it every hour or so, getting a little bit of Manuka honey with lemon oil. Sometimes I’ll make some ginger essential oil in there as well, so ginger, lemon and honey and maybe some cinnamon powder or oil. But doing those oils together really good for sore throat and naturally supporting your immune system by balancing out the good bacteria in your gut microbiome.
Allergies and sinusitis
Now we’ve all heard that consuming honey can actually help fight allergies. Manuka honey does it in a different way than raw local honey. Raw local honey is something you definitely want to do for allergies. But you want to be taking it year-round. What happens is that if you get raw local honey and you’re consuming it year-round, your body is being exposed to that type of pollen. And you’re building up a natural immunity over time.
Now right when you get allergies for the first time they come on, doing raw local honey isn’t as beneficial as Manuka honey. Manuka honey is the most beneficial to take the day of or if you’re in the middle of fighting something. So again year-round or building up your immunity year-round especially to your local immunity, the best thing to do is raw local honey.
When you’re sick in the middle of it, Manuka honey is one of the best to do because it will actually help kill off any bad bacteria in your body that is there as well. So great for allergies and sinusitis.
Beauty treatment and a natural health booster
So especially for scarring, one of the natural treatments for scars is doing certain types of oils like tallow or emu oil and other oils that reduce scarring such as Helichrysum oil and mixing those with Manuka honey and letting them sit there on a scar.
Again if you ever have a cut and you are worried that it’s going to turn into a scar, what I would do is take a mixture of Manuka honey, Helichrysum essential oil, pretty large amount and maybe even a little bit of, well start with that, just the honey and essential oils. And then once it’s fully formed then I would put on some other things to keep it hydrated like a tallow which is a beef fat or an emu oil, things like that to keep it really hydrated along with the essential oils afterwards.
Improve sleep
It’s also great for improving sleep. Some of those scents in Manuka honey, there’s also a Manuka essential oil, but it’s very invigorating in uplifting. It’s actually been shown to or used historically to naturally fight anxiety and depression there as well and to calm the body as you improve sleep. Doing a mixture of Manuka honey or a Manuka oil mixed with lavender, chamomile, and ylang-ylang is a great blend to support a healthy night’s sleep.
