Q: When I worked in a nursing home three decades ago, the nurses would use a mixture of A&D Ointment and a packet of table sugar to heal bedsores.  It worked like magic!

Now I hear manuka honey is the best way to go.  I keep it in the medicine cabinet for treating wounds and sores.

A: Honey has been used to aid wound healing since ancient times.  In the past few decades, scientists have found that manuka honey (made by bees visiting the flowers of a New Zealand plant, Leptospermum scoparium) has potent antibacterial activity (PLOS One, Dec 28, 2016).

Some Italian honey from bees visiting honeydew flowers is comparable to manuka honey in antimicrobial activity (Schweizer Archiv fur Tierheilkunde, July 2016).

The most recent research found that a combination of honey and citrus pectin resulted in the fastest wound healing (BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, May 16, 2017).  The scientists prepared their concoction by mixing liquid manuka honey with an equal amount of sterile deionized water.  They then added an equal volume of powdered pectin little by little, stirring continuously.  The resulting foam was spread on a backing and dried with hot air.  In an experimental rat study, this topical formula was surprisingly effective for healing wounds.

• article by Joe and Teresa Graedon
• copyright The Seattle Times