Forget the kitchen; you may want to start stocking your medicine cabinets with honey, instead! According to a European study published in International Wound Journal, honey is an effective treatment for helping wounds heal faster, and even reduces scarring.
Researchers looked at 121 patients living with “hard-to-treat” wounds over a 2-year period. Not only did patients using the MediHoney dressings report less pain, doctors also found that 53 percent of patients saw improvement in wound healing, and 31 percent healed completely.
What makes honey such a powerful, natural healer? According to Rodale, honey contains 3 ingredients that work together to heal wounds: sugar, hydrogen peroxide, and propolis. The sugar absorbs moisture, which bacteria needs to survive, while the hydrogen peroxide content disinfects the wound, and the propolis in the nectar targets any lingering bacteria.
You don’t have to suffer from a hard-to-treat wound to reap the healing power of honey. Honey works on superficial scrapes, scratches and burns, and even reduces swelling and scarring.
Rodale recommends keeping a bottle or tube of Manuka honey from New Zealand in your medicine cabinet (leave the honey in a bear stuff for the kitchen).
