Molan: Honey is Effective in Healing Venous Ulcers

Honey Merits Questioned
Daily News (New Zealand), 7/23/2008

I fully agree with Dr Mosquera that compression bandaging is the proven, effective treatment for venous ulcers, and I would never suggest that it not be used. In all the clinical work in which I have collaborated, honey has always been used in conjunction with compression bandaging.

I am sure that Dr Mosquera will have experienced himself that a proportion of cases of leg ulcers do not heal despite compression bandaging being used.

In the pilot trial that was carried out by community nurses based at Waikato Hospital, it was only patients with non-healing venous ulcers that were recruited. Honey was found to be very effective in healing these ulcers…

It is commonly the case that patients with non-healing venous ulcers have diabetes (poor wound healing is a feature of diabetes). Diabetics were excluded from the HALT trial. The results of a clinical trial in Northern Ireland on using honey on venous ulcers will be published soon. In this trial diabetics were included.

A statistically significant improvement in the rate of healing with honey was found in this trial.

Dr Peter Molan
Professor in Biological Sciences & Director of the Honey Research Unit, University of Waikato