Evidence for Clinical Use of Honey in Wound Healing as an Anti-bacterial, Anti-inflammatory Anti-oxidant and Anti-viral Agent: A Review

Abstract

Context:To provide an updated review of published literature on the anti-oxidant, anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties of honey. Evidence Acquisition: CINAHL, BioMed Central, Cochrane Library, Medline and Embase data bases and reference lists were used to find randomized controlled trials and review articles. Randomized controlled trials using honey with a comparator were reviewed, along with published review articles to determine the relative benefits of tropical honey. These methods were undertaken by three reviewers. Results: Honey has anti-oxidant, anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. It can be used as a wound dressing to promote rapid and improved healing. These effects are due to honey's anti-bacterial action, secondary to its high acidity, osmotic effect, anti-oxidant content and hydrogen peroxide content. The use of honey leads to improved wound healing in acute cases, pain relief in burn patients and decreased inflammatory response in such patients. However, it has proven to be ineffective in chronic leg ulcers. Overall, studies have been done in favor of the use of honey in medicine. Conclusions: Honey has almost equal or slightly superior effects when compared with conventional treatments for acute wounds and superficial partial thickness burns. More randomized controlled trials with significant statistical power comparing different kinds of honey, are required in order to create a strong body of evidence towards definite recommendations for medical use. There is biological plausibility.Keywords: Honey; Biological Dressings; Burns; Anti-inflammatory Agents Implication for health policy/practice/research/medical education: Honey has almost equal or slightly superior effects when compared with conventional treatments for acute wounds and superficial partial thickness burns. More randomized controlled trials with significant statistical power comparing different kinds of honey, are required in order to create strong body of evidence towards definite recommendations for medical use. There is biological plausibility. Application of this topical in comparison to other current medical interventions in this field may attract attentions of third party payers, policy makers and the health system in terms of their budget and the cost effectiveness of this type of therapy.

Increasing the Effectiveness of the “Great Green Wall” as an Adaptation to the Effects of Climate Change and Desertification in the Sahel

“…Recently, the medical community has been recognizing the potential applications of honey [64][65][66][67]. Honey is the oldest wound dressing material used by humans and has traditionally been used to treat various conditions, including burns, infected and non-healing wounds, ulcers and boils [64][65][66][67]. This is due to honey's anti-bacterial capability, its high acidity, osmotic effects, anti-oxidant and hydrogen peroxide content and its stimulation of immunity, as well as other currently unidentified compounds [64].…”

“…Honey is the oldest wound dressing material used by humans and has traditionally been used to treat various conditions, including burns, infected and non-healing wounds, ulcers and boils [64][65][66][67]. This is due to honey's anti-bacterial capability, its high acidity, osmotic effects, anti-oxidant and hydrogen peroxide content and its stimulation of immunity, as well as other currently unidentified compounds [64]. Sufficient evidence exists to recommend its use in the treatment of acute wounds and mild to moderate burns [64,66,67].…”

“…This is due to honey's anti-bacterial capability, its high acidity, osmotic effects, anti-oxidant and hydrogen peroxide content and its stimulation of immunity, as well as other currently unidentified compounds [64]. Sufficient evidence exists to recommend its use in the treatment of acute wounds and mild to moderate burns [64,66,67]. These types of medical applications have been found in multiple kinds of honey, including Gelam, Medihoney, Tualang and Manuka [64].…”

“…Sufficient evidence exists to recommend its use in the treatment of acute wounds and mild to moderate burns [64,66,67]. These types of medical applications have been found in multiple kinds of honey, including Gelam, Medihoney, Tualang and Manuka [64]. Among the honeys in which medical applications have been determined, Manuka is the most researched and of the most interest.…”

El Rol de la Miel en los Procesos Morfofisiológicos de Reparación de Heridas

“…Muestra un efecto anti-bacteriano en heridas susceptibles a infecciones o infectadas, actividad anti-oxidante que reduce la alta concentración de radicales libres y especies reactivas de oxígeno (ROS) producidas en la etapa inflamatoria, actividad anti-inflamatoria, anti-edematosa y exudativa que reduce rápidamente el dolor, edema y exudado de las heridas, desbridamiento del tejido necrótico estimulando la formación de tejido de granulación sano, estimula la contracción de la herida favoreciendo el cierre de la misma y muestra propiedades cicatrizantes que reducen al mínimo su apariencia (Suguna et al, 1993;Velnar et al, 2009;Molan, 2011;Yaghoobi et al, 2013;Oryan et al, 2016).…”