
Honey, I killed the superbug - jackchristopher
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25653017-5013404,00.html
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tkiley
I can't find any mention of this in medical news sources; it sounds
interesting, but the fact that it's being reported primarily by general
interest media leaves me a bit skeptical.

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electromagnetic
I've read many things about the usage of honey to treat wounds, the most
impressive that I'm aware of is its use to treat necrotic tissue. They can use
it on some of the largest wounds because the honey is naturally antiseptic and
allows a prolonged open wound to not catch infection, and they use laboratory
bred maggots that are completely sterile and insert them into the wound. The
whole thing is then bandaged up and the maggots will clean the wound of dead
tissue better than any surgeon could and for much, much cheaper. After about a
week the maggots should have removed all the dead tissue and your body can
completely heal the wound, sometimes with very little scar tissue
proportionate to the wound. I believe one of the most common uses is on
motorbike fall-off accidents due to people losing huge chunks of their leg and
stuff.

It's an extremely impressive treatment and exceptionally cheap and successful
compared to the alternatives.

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pasbesoin
A year or two ago, there was some reporting on its effectiveness (presumably
backed by a study, but I no longer recall) in limiting further peripheral
tissue damage and the need for amputation, in diabetics suffering from that
problem. Applied topically; not ingested.

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jackchristopher
Get raw honey. The processed kind loses these properties.

You can tell the quality, just turn over a jar you'll see a water bubble float
up. The faster it rises the lower the quality. The raw type has none of that,
just the good stuff.

Humans have been eating honey for the longest time. It's probably the best
sweetener.

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jnorthrop
Good advice in picking a good raw honey, and I agree that honey is a great
choice for a sweetener. BTW, farmers markets and local produce stands are
great places to find good raw honey cheap.

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jackchristopher
For convenience, it's at Whole Foods Market too. But I'm unsure of the
quality.

I agree about artificial sweeteners, they can cause problems. They seems to
trigger psychological effects that cause overeating [1]. The super sweet taste
might signal, _binge_. Humans never ate highly concentrated super sweet foods.
Fruit was seasonal. But even the fruit we eat today has been bred for
sweetness for centuries.

[1]
[http://www.purdue.edu/UNS/html4ever/2004/040629.Swithers.res...](http://www.purdue.edu/UNS/html4ever/2004/040629.Swithers.research.html)

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biohacker42
Honey is hygroscopic. It sucks the water out of bacteria and kills them. But
anything hygroscopic does that, honey is not special in that way.

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lyso
The article seems to conflate antibiotics (which kill bacteria living _inside_
you) with topical treatments (which kill bacteria on you). You can't replace
antibiotics with this.

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ars
As far as I know all honey does this, not just Manuka honey.

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torpor
To some degree, but the more voracious kind is based on honey made by bees
feasting on Australian Tea Tree .. which is, itself, a pretty wonderful source
of all kinds of protective substances.

<\-- grew up in Australia, was constantly healing my scrapes and bumps with
Tea Tree oils and Manuka honey .. glad its all finally getting some science.

~~~
wildjim
My family used to do similarly, even though "modern" medicines like neosporin
were popular then, but IIRC bark and sap from the Manuka tree is supposed to
be good, too.

+1 for raw honey being better, but it's pretty hard to get it in big cities
(without paying ridiculous prices!).

