Honey: A biologic wound dressing

Molan, Peter C.; Rhodes, Tanya

Honey: A biologic wound dressing

dc.contributor.author	Molan, Peter C.
dc.contributor.author	Rhodes, Tanya
dc.date.accessioned	2015-08-21T04:20:57Z
dc.date.available	2015-08-21T04:20:57Z
dc.date.issued	2015
dc.description.abstract	Honey has been used as a wound dressing for thousands of years, but only in more recent times has a scientific explanation become available for its effectiveness. It is now realized that honey is a biologic wound dressing with multiple bioactivities that work in concert to expedite the healing process. The physical properties of honey also expedite the healing process: its acidity increases the release of oxygen from hemoglobin thereby making the wound environment less favorable for the activity of destructive proteases, and the high osmolarity of honey draws fluid out of the wound bed to create an outflow of lymph as occurs with negative pressure wound therapy. Honey has a broad-spectrum antibacterial activity, but there is much variation in potency between different honeys. There are 2 types of antibacterial activity. In most honeys the activity is due to hydrogen peroxide, but much of this is inactivated by the enzyme catalase that is present in blood, serum, and wound tissues. In manuka honey, the activity is due to methylglyoxal which is not inactivated. The manuka honey used in wound-care products can withstand dilution with substantial amounts of wound exudate and still maintain enough activity to inhibit the growth of bacteria. There is good evidence for honey also having bioactivities that stimulate the immune response (thus promoting the growth of tissues for wound repair), suppress inflammation, and bring about rapid autolytic debridement. There is clinical evidence for these actions, and research is providing scientific explanations for them.	en_NZ
dc.format.mimetype	application/pdf
dc.identifier.citation	Molan, P. C., & Rhodes, T. (2015). Honey: A biologic wound dressing. Wounds, 27(6), 141–151.	en
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/10289/9553
dc.language.iso	en	en_NZ
dc.relation.isPartOf	Wounds
dc.relation.uri	http://www.woundsresearch.com/article/honey-biologic-wound-dressing	en_NZ
dc.rights	This article has been published in the journal: Wounds. Used with permission.	en_NZ
dc.subject	biology of wound healing	en_NZ
dc.subject	components of wound healing	en_NZ
dc.subject	honey	en_NZ
dc.subject	wound dressing	en_NZ
dc.title	Honey: A biologic wound dressing	en_NZ
dc.type	Journal Article	en_NZ
pubs.begin-page	141
pubs.end-page	151
pubs.issue	6
pubs.volume	27