Compounds in Honey Stimulate Immune System

Study Looks at Honey's Healing Factor
Voxy News Engine, 27 March, 2012

Comvita, the New Zealand-based global exporter of natural health and beauty products, and collaborators have identified key compounds in honey that stimulate the immune system, paving the way for a range of new wound-healing products.

The ground-breaking research, carried out at Industrial Research Ltd (IRL), Plant & Food Research and Massey University, found that different varieties of New Zealand honey appear to trigger different immune responses.

IRL's role was to provide its world-class expertise in the extraction, analysis, and purification of complex molecules that play an important role in biological systems.

Comvita's Chief Technology Officer Dr Ralf Schlothauer says the research provides the tools for understanding why honey stimulates healing of stalled wounds.

"We know a lot about the anti-microbial properties of manuka honey but had much less scientific information about the immune system-related effects of honey in wound healing.

"The findings suggest there could be a number of honeys to consider if you want to stimulate the immune system. Ultimately, it might mean we produce medical honey products that are specifically tailored for certain treatments or that we select a range of honeys for their particular properties to include in a specific blend."…

Prior to the latest work, Dr Schlothauer says published research had shown there were big carbohydrate molecules in honey that stimulated immune cells but their structure had not been analysed.

Comvita put two students, Swapna Gannabathula and Gregor Steinhorn, onto the task and their discoveries eventually led the company to Crown Research Institute IRL.

"We started separating the molecule but were puzzled about what it was. Initially we thought it was a glycan and sought appropriate analysis but they put us on to Dr Ian Sims in the Carbohydrate Chemistry group at IRL, who is a leading expert in analysing complex molecules that play an important role in biological systems," says Dr Schlothauer.

IRL has one of only three laboratories world-wide with the capability and expertise required to carry out complex research into the extraction, purification and analysis of oligo- and poly-saccharides, and glycoconjugates.

Dr Sims began his work with small-scale analyses that were conducted on Manuka, Kanuka and Clover honeys. Starting with five grams of honey, separation of high molecular weight polymers from small sugars yielded just a few milligrams of sample for analysis.

After Dr Sims completed an initial, detailed analysis of the sugars Gregor Steinhorn, who now works full-time for Comvita, spent many hours purifying buckets of honey and identified its exact nature under the supervision of Dr Sims and Dr Alistair Carr (Massey University).

Comvita is determining the commercial value of this discovery and has a range of new products under development…