The FastDay Forum

Happy Monday everyone. I'm interested in views on manuka. OH has a cold and I'm afraid it is a bit more than a man cold.... Anyway he is being quite stubborn as he has been sugar free for a couple of months and when I suggested he took some manuka in hot water with lemon he refused. We have some 20+UMF in the cupboard and I always thought it had some kind of magical powers when it comes to healing due to its antibacterial properties etc. Is it all its cracked up to be? I'm bound to catch his cold at some point (I fought one off a couple of weeks ago though) and was wondering whether it is worth taking it (I'm sugar free too).

Nnooooo rawkaren don't do it. Step away from that honey right now. Your body is a temple,you are sugar FREE, I fear it could be the start of a slippery slope, one teaspoon of manuka and before you know it you will be snorting silver spoon granulated off your toilet cistern.

Have a lemsip.

Meh. Good topically as a wound dressing, but otherwise it's just honey.

[carorees]

I had a quick look at the scientific studies with manuka honey. As Tara25 says, it's all about use as a wound dressing and nothing about taking it internally. Product hype IMHO!

thank you everyone. That's that sorted then. Its staying at the back of the cupboard

When anyone around me has a bad cold I start taking echinacea and extra zinc. Any sign of a tickle in nose or throat and I start using First Defence.Doesn't always prevent me getting it but if I do they don't seem to last as long.

Honey is amazing stuff if you get the bug have a hot drink of lemon honey garlic ginger a sprinkle of cayenne pepper as a hot toddy .

Maybe try the hot lemon water without the honey. I have used splenda in place of honey. Could be stevia or whichever sweetener you prefer. If you have it a spoon full of coconut oil added in would be a good thing, too. You would still get the Vitamin C from the lemon and the coconut oil is antimicrobial, antifungal, and antibiotic.

[carorees]

It's hard to believe that something which kills superbugs has absolutely zero effect when taken internally. I'm with gillymary on this one.

It all depends on whether the 'something' in the honey that kills bugs in wounds is destroyed by the digestive processes. As our stomachs contain hydrochloric acid and also enzymes that digest proteins, it is quite possible that the active component in the honey would be denatured when taken orally. So, without the studies to show that it remains active, we don't know.

Further, the studies on wound healing have shown it has an antibacterial effect. As the OP's OH has a cold which is caused by a virus, there is no reason to suppose that Manuka honey would do anything to help apart from be soothing (placebo effect).

[carorees]

To follow up on the above I found this study looking at how much of the active component of Manuka passes into the body. The study found that it is destroyed by the digestion and very little passes across the intestine:

Methylglyoxal (MGO) is responsible for the pronounced antibacterial activity of manuka honey, in which it may reach concentrations up to 800 mg/kg. As MGO formed in vivo is discussed to play a role in diabetic complications, the metabolic transit of dietary MGO was studied within a 3 day dietary recall with four healthy volunteers. Determination of MGO in 24 h urine was performed with GC-MS after derivatization with O-(2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorobenzyl)hydroxylamine, and d-lactate was quantified enzymatically. Following a diet virtually free from MGO and other glycation compounds, a defined amount of MGO (500 μmol in manuka honey) was administered in the morning of day 2. Renal excretion was between 0.1 and 0.4 μmol/day for MGO and between 50 and 220 μmol/day for d-lactate. No influence on excretion of both compounds was observed following administration of MGO. To investigate the stability of MGO under physiological conditions, a simulated in vitro gastrointestinal digestion was performed with MGO-containing honey. After 8 h of in vitro digestion, only 5-20% of the initial methylglyoxal was recovered. This indicates that dietary MGO is rapidly degraded during the digestion process in the intestine and, therefore, exerts no influence on the MGO level in vivo.

So, at the moment it seems that Manuka honey is great for applying to the skin to treat infections but not much use for internal infection (unless given intravenously I suppose).

Is it a magic potion that will be the ONLY thing that will work on a cold?

No.

Is it sugar that might undo all the work you've done in getting to your current place?

Yes.

If honey is "just sugar" then it is the sugar of the gods!! It has been prized since time immemorial for good reason, it is pure nectar and delicious! A spoonful when you don't feel well will be so much nicer than a vile tasting lemsip. Oh and the latest research is pointing to heather honey being collected north of Inverness is superior to even Manuka honey for topical application to wounds (on horses legs anyway!!) And heather honey is scrumptious, especially with cream !! 5.2 for me means nothing is off limits (occasionally at least!!)

[janeg]

Hate honey- icky sticky stuff so I would advise to stay away from it.
Go for whisky instead in a hot toddy! Whisky, hot water, whisky, lemon, whisky, a wee bit of cinnamon, whisky. `And don't forget the whisky.
DOn't know if it helps the cold but after drinking it you really don't care.
And I'm sure it'll work prophylactically too...

HOpe you and hubby feel better soon

This stuff has been in and out of the cupboard all morning, but janeg's whiskey eclipses it so far. I keep telling myself it's bee vomit which puts me off. Maybe I should save it for when I come off the no sugar thing because that is about to happen at some point

I like a hot whiskey toddy too, albeit I admit I usually put honey in mine However, that is for taste. I'm pretty sure it's the lemon, ginger and cinnamon I put in that actually makes me feel better.