Healing Honey Available in Malaysia

Honey with a Punch
Sun2Surf (Malaysia), 6/2/2009

Manuka honey has long been renowned for its health-giving properties, ­especially since the early 1990s when University of Waikato ­professor Dr Peter Molan demonstrated that it had ­reliable anti-­bacterial activity.

Molan’s test measured the non-peroxide anti-bacterial activity in honey compared to a common disinfectant. A marketing term was ­developed to describe this activity – the Unique Manuka Factor (UMF).

In July 2006, a research group at the University of Dresden led by Prof Thomas Henle identified a naturally occurring compound known as methylglyoxal as the ­dominant anti-­bacterial ­constituent of manuka honey.

The team also evaluated 45 commercial honey brands and found that they contained methylglyoxal concentrations from 1 to 8mg/kg whereas in manuka honey, it ranged from 30 to over 700mg/kg.

Following this discovery, Manuka Health New Zealand developed a certifiable and ­dependable standard for manuka honey based on its methylglyoxal content…