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Manuka: The biography of an extraordinary honey
New Zealand's manuka honey is known around the world. It fetches extremely high prices, and beekeepers do everything in their power to produce as much of it as they can. Wound dressings containing manuka honey are used in leading hospitals, and it has saved the lives of patients infected with disease-causing bacteria that are resistant to standard antibiotic drugs. In so doing, it has forced the medical profession to re-think its position on the therapeutic properties of natural products. This book chronicles the remarkable 'rags-to-riches' story of manuka honey, as seen through the eyes of a beekeeping specialist who watched it unfold from the very beginning. It's a great science tale of an unassuming university lecturer and his hardworking lab assistant who found something totally unexpected in a product everyone had written off. And it's an entertaining account of the way that simple discovery magically caught the international media's attention, helping some enterprising New Zealanders with a love of bees to develop manuka honey-based products and take them to the rest of the world. The book describes the remarkable antibacterial and therapeutic properties of manuka and the range of uses it has.
256 pages, Paperback
First published October 8, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 21, 2018
Interesting book on a substance most people know of but don't know much about.
Would recommend skipping the chapter with the history lesson of the manuka plant though.
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One of those wonderful gifts to the world of science that the English seem to produce in abundance - the talented (and obsessed) amateur.
Honey is a super-saturated solution, with about 20% moisture. A saturated sugar solution is 36% moisture. This means that honey attracts moisture to itself, and this osmotic pressure is deadly to most bacteria.
Honey is made by the bees spreading out nectar and fanning/heating it to 34 degrees with their wings, pulling moisture out of the nectar. After 15-20 minutes the half-ripened honey is then deposited into cells and left to ripen before being sealed.
Honey bees live off nectar (carbohydrate source, converted to honey and beeswax) and pollen (protein and minerals source, used to grow their larval brood.
Honey bees are also species constant, meaning that they generally only visit flowers of the same species on a given foraging trip. It gives the honey produced some consistency of taste and flavour, and it helps the plants themselves through pollination. This ability, other pollinating insects don't have.
It is the glucose in honey that solidifies (crystalises).
For every scientist, the job is only half done if you can't explain your results in plain language in a way the rest of the world can understand.
When bees 'cook' their food, this process of preservation produces some special benefits that can be especially useful to humans in a very 'unfoody' way.
When a scab forms it protects the cells below, but the wound heals more slowly, and a scar remains at the end, since those skin cells haven't been able to grow right across.
Honey heals in several ways:
-pH of 4-5 improves the rate at wounds heal by moderating inflammation and stimulating red blood cells to release more oxygen.
-nourishes the new cells, glucose contained used by WBCs to create the respiratory burst needed to destroy bacteria.
-Debrider, loosens up dead tissue so it can be removed, and absorbs pus through osmotic pressure
-Odor prevention as odor-producing bacteria feeding on the honey's glucose don't give off a bad smell
-Antibacterial effect from osmotic pressure, glucose oxidase producing hydrogen peroxide.
Honey can do two things together most modern systems of woundcare cannot: provide a moist environment for the best tissue re-growth, while simultaneously ensuring that environment remains sterile.
The term evidence-based medicine only entered common usage in 1992. Only in 1962 did the US government require drug manufacturers to show 'substantial evidence of effectiveness".
44% of systematic reviews found the procedure or drug likely to be beneficial. 7% deemed the treatment to be harmful, but 96% recommended more research needed to be done.
Honey is so effective against bacteria because it is a system, and like all natural systems it has withstood the test of time because it has a number of overlapping elements. (This incidentally is the basis for a naturalistic bias, as applied to biological systems. Minus kludges.)
Antioxidants (like honey) have an extra electron that it can donate to free radicals (molecules that are missing an electron). Skin cells are one of the real battle grounds of oxidation. Which is why a lot of cosmetic products have honey in them.
Bees don't play a direct role in putting bread on the table (the staples and animal feed are wind pollinated). They instead make it possible for us to have a bountiful cornucopia of other foods. They do this indirectly in many instances by helping to create the seeds planted to grow a range of vegetables we put on our plates.
Would recommend skipping the chapter with the history lesson of the manuka plant though.
__
One of those wonderful gifts to the world of science that the English seem to produce in abundance - the talented (and obsessed) amateur.
Honey is a super-saturated solution, with about 20% moisture. A saturated sugar solution is 36% moisture. This means that honey attracts moisture to itself, and this osmotic pressure is deadly to most bacteria.
Honey is made by the bees spreading out nectar and fanning/heating it to 34 degrees with their wings, pulling moisture out of the nectar. After 15-20 minutes the half-ripened honey is then deposited into cells and left to ripen before being sealed.
Honey bees live off nectar (carbohydrate source, converted to honey and beeswax) and pollen (protein and minerals source, used to grow their larval brood.
Honey bees are also species constant, meaning that they generally only visit flowers of the same species on a given foraging trip. It gives the honey produced some consistency of taste and flavour, and it helps the plants themselves through pollination. This ability, other pollinating insects don't have.
It is the glucose in honey that solidifies (crystalises).
For every scientist, the job is only half done if you can't explain your results in plain language in a way the rest of the world can understand.
When bees 'cook' their food, this process of preservation produces some special benefits that can be especially useful to humans in a very 'unfoody' way.
When a scab forms it protects the cells below, but the wound heals more slowly, and a scar remains at the end, since those skin cells haven't been able to grow right across.
Honey heals in several ways:
-pH of 4-5 improves the rate at wounds heal by moderating inflammation and stimulating red blood cells to release more oxygen.
-nourishes the new cells, glucose contained used by WBCs to create the respiratory burst needed to destroy bacteria.
-Debrider, loosens up dead tissue so it can be removed, and absorbs pus through osmotic pressure
-Odor prevention as odor-producing bacteria feeding on the honey's glucose don't give off a bad smell
-Antibacterial effect from osmotic pressure, glucose oxidase producing hydrogen peroxide.
Honey can do two things together most modern systems of woundcare cannot: provide a moist environment for the best tissue re-growth, while simultaneously ensuring that environment remains sterile.
The term evidence-based medicine only entered common usage in 1992. Only in 1962 did the US government require drug manufacturers to show 'substantial evidence of effectiveness".
44% of systematic reviews found the procedure or drug likely to be beneficial. 7% deemed the treatment to be harmful, but 96% recommended more research needed to be done.
Honey is so effective against bacteria because it is a system, and like all natural systems it has withstood the test of time because it has a number of overlapping elements. (This incidentally is the basis for a naturalistic bias, as applied to biological systems. Minus kludges.)
Antioxidants (like honey) have an extra electron that it can donate to free radicals (molecules that are missing an electron). Skin cells are one of the real battle grounds of oxidation. Which is why a lot of cosmetic products have honey in them.
Bees don't play a direct role in putting bread on the table (the staples and animal feed are wind pollinated). They instead make it possible for us to have a bountiful cornucopia of other foods. They do this indirectly in many instances by helping to create the seeds planted to grow a range of vegetables we put on our plates.
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March 4, 2024Read this for my research project. Lots of little details I hadn’t found anywhere else. I found the chapters about honey/bees and people to be the most interesting. Lots of good info for new beekeepers or honey fans.
August 14, 2018
A gem of a book - amazing introduction to the chemical workings, historical origins (biological, sociological, and palate-wise), and the accidental scientific discovery, persevering research, and the process of commercialization of this wonder.
I enjoyed every minute of the book and recommend it for any general reader looking to brush up on botanical/Oceania/honey/biochemical knowledge, and anyone (so, everyone) who enjoys honey and wishes to understand the enigma of the Manuka honey.
I enjoyed every minute of the book and recommend it for any general reader looking to brush up on botanical/Oceania/honey/biochemical knowledge, and anyone (so, everyone) who enjoys honey and wishes to understand the enigma of the Manuka honey.
March 30, 2020
A very informative book that tells you mostly everything you need to know about the History, benefits and uses of Manuka honey. The author is an expert in the beekeeping field and also an advisor; however, the good thing about this book is that it is very simple and easy to understand by novice in the field. I highly recommend this book to anyone who would like to know more about Manuka honey and the challenges facing the beekeeping industry in the future.
August 14, 2018
I discovered this book on the shortlist for the 2015 Royal Society of New Zealand Science Book prize. As a manuka honey fan, as well as a fan of 'biographies of things' I couldn't wait to read it. It's an ideal story for a popular non-fiction book as it combines: ancient history, New Zealand history, natural history, health, food, scientific discoveries, marketing, enterprise. And I'll be recommending it to people who find these topics interesting. The author brings a chatty tone to the topic and his enthusiasm shines through. With some sharper editing and design, I'd be giving this book 5 stars.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews