HONEY IS CREATING A BUZZ IN THE MEDICAL WORLD
HATTIE ELLIS, Independent on Sunday (London), 7/18/04

A sting in its tail: even the venom from a bee can be used medicinally, as a treatment for multiple sclerosis or arthritis

We have been using honey to make us feel better for at least 4,000 years - and not just because it tastes good. This golden elixir has been used from the Ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans onwards, to treat ailments such as stomach ulcers and skin wounds. Modern medicine dismissed the healing powers of honey and other products of the hive as unproven and it fell out of favour. Now, however, we are returning to apitherapy - and this time with science to back it up.

Dr Peter Molan, a Welsh-born biochemist working in New Zealand, has pioneered the rediscovery of honey for health. "I'm a great believer that if anything is traditional then it works," he says. "There may be no rational explanation, but that's because we haven't found it." While a 1976 editorial in Archives of Modern Medicine dismissed honey as "worthless but harmless", Dr Molan has trawled existing literature and brought up more than 100 papers suggesting it is actively beneficial. Subsequent laboratory tests have proved honey to be effective against a wide range of bacteria. Honey contains an enzyme, glucose oxidase, which helps produce hydrogen peroxide to kill bacteria. It is anti-inflammatory and furthermore it has even been shown to be useful against the antibiotic-resistant "superbug" MRSA. "There's no antibiotic like it with such a huge spectrum of action," says Dr Molan.

Take manuka honey for example. Dr Molan has found the honey from the manuka plant (which Maori people use for medicine) to be especially potent. Beekeepers used to throw it away because of its powerful taste; now it can fetch five times the price of ordinary honey. Each pot is given a Unique Manuka Factor (UMF) on the label - the higher the number, the greater the efficacy, just like sun-screen. You get a whiff of the medicinal odour the moment you take the lid off. It is bought by people with stomach or throat complaints and used externally. This year, manuka-honey wound dressings - which can help speed up healing and reduce scarring - have been licensed for use in NHS hospitals.

There is plenty more in the honey story to be rediscovered. Some hay- fever sufferers believe eating honey produced locally, particularly along with the cappings from the honeycomb, will offer a degree of immunisation because it is rich with local pollens. While hay fever is more likely to be triggered by wind-borne grass pollens rather than pollens that bees like to collect, there are some exceptions (apple blossom, for example), there is plenty of anecdotal evidence that honey can help relieve hay fever.

And honey's not the only hive product coming back. Propolis, the "bee- glue" gathered by bees as an antiseptic substance to help protect the nest against infection, is used by beekeepers to ward off colds. People are now gargling the tincture in solution and even dentists are getting in on the act. Dr Philip Wander, chairman of the British Homeopathic Dental Association, uses it in his practice to clear infections, heal cuts and lessen pain. "It's almost too good to be true," he says, "It's anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal. It takes the sting out of dentistry. I wouldn't be without it."

Pollen is also on the up as a health food. Used by bees to feed their young, it contains a healthy whack of vitamins and minerals, as well as being full of protein. Abraham Lincoln was a fan, as was Muhammad Ali who ate like a bee as well as stinging like one.

One of the strangest forms of apitherapy is bee venom. This toxic substance has long been used to alleviate multiple sclerosis, arthritis and other inflammatory conditions, based on the principal that it stimulates the release of the anti-inflammatory hormone cortisone. The insects can be placed directly on the patient or, for more measurable doses, the venom can be administered by injection. There are many sceptics in the medical establishment but the first clinical trial on venom, recently conducted at Washington's Georgetown University, showed an improvement in the symptoms of three of the five people on the course. Further studies could reveal why this happened. It's the latest chapter in the long history of bees and health, to be continued... n

Sweetness & Light: the Mysterious History of the Honey Bee', by Hattie Ellis, is published by Sceptre, priced pounds 16.99