Honey is Now Sweet on Burns (Part 1)

Praised for its ancient god-quelling qualities, throat-soothing remedies, and smile-inducing taste, honey dates back to the days before records were kept. The history of honey is long and the possibilities of honey used for healing has long been documented, including most recently as a possible sinus-fighter. A new study from New Zealand proves honey’s lasting healing qualities by introducing a new topical application: honey as dressing for a burn.

The University of Auckland study used 19 small clinical trials—using less than 100 participants for each—to show that tea’s favorite sweetener can actually accelerate the healing and rejuvenation of skin affected by burns. The New Zealand researchers discovered that honey helps promote new skin tissue growth and the removal of dead tissues.

By focusing on the antibacterial qualities of honey, the University of Auckland team reviewed 2,554 patients with a variety of different wounds and found out that the healing time was reduced with the application of honey compared with commonly used wound dressings made out of gauze. Although burn wounds seem to heal faster, the researchers caution that surgical scars, ulcers or cuts didn’t seem beneficial to the use of honey.

The investigations involved applying honey to partially thick burns as well as mild to moderately superficial burns that caused damage to nerves and the blood vessels were healed up to four days faster than normal approaches to burn wounds, such as the often-prescribed cream silver sulphadiazine known as SSD.

Published in the most recent issue of the Cochrane Library one of the researchers, Andrew Jull, explains in a release, “The evidence currently does not support the use of honey on acute wounds such as abrasions and lacerations or on minor, uncomplicated wounds left to heal …following surgery." Jull goes on to say that although the trials were positive, honey is not yet released for general use yet, “health services should refrain from providing honey dressing for routine use,” and the results—as well as being re-studied by more schools—should be looked upon with caution. The number of participants in each study is significantly low to prove results as each trial used a different type of honey on a slightly different wound.