MANUKA HONEY, A NATURAL ACNE TREATMENT?

There are plenty of talks that Manuka Honey is the all natural acne treatment, and it does not leave any acne scars to boot. Plenty of reviews support this and the health industry acknowledges that it might work, but requires clinical trials to confirm its effectiveness. With no “official” medical proof, it is therefore a better way to lay out the facts and let oneself decide on what to believe.

Manuka Honey is a honey produced by European honey bees from the nectar of the Manuka tree. The Manuka tree, also known as Leptospermum scoparium or Tea Tree, is a shrub or small tree native to New Zealand and south-east Australia.

These trees are also used to make another health product, the tea tree oil, an essential oil that, like Manuka Honey, has antibacterial, healing properties and health benefits. Manuka Honey is a monofloral honey, which means it is derived from the nectar of only one plant. To be labelled Manuka Honey, at least 70% of the honeys’ pollen content must come from Manuka tree. A honey bee’s range is 2 miles from its hive, which means it can produce honey from all the different flowers found in a 4 square mile range. In honey making, this is an important consideration because it shows how difficult it is to find a monofloral honey. Coupled with the fact that the Manuka tree is only found in a few countries, there is a rarity factor to the Manuka Honey, which makes it more expensive than other honey The Manuka flowers’ pollen contains an antibacterial compound known as Methylglyoxal. The Manuka Honey, made from the Manuka flowers’ pollen, contains a high level of Methylglyoxal as its active ingredient. This gives Manuka honey a better health benefit than other honeys. Not all Manuka Honey are made equal. Each pot of Manuka Honey are tested for its antibacterial potency, and given a rating using certified systems. Some examples of these systems are UMF and MGO. Each pot will have the number result of the rating labeled on it.

What is Acne?

The skin has pores (tiny holes) which connect to oil glands known as sebacacus glands located under the skin, via small canals known as follicles. These oil glands produces an oily liquid known as sebum, which carries dead skin cells through the follicles and a small hair growing through the follicle out of the skin.

Acne is, simply put, plugged and infected follicles. The skin produces too much keratin due to various factors like hormones or stress, causing dead skin cells to stick together and not shed properly. These skin cells clumps together with sebum forming a plug which clogs follicles. The clogging enlarges the follicles, allowing the Propionibacterium acnes bacteria, which occurs naturally on the skin surface, to infect deeper layers of the skin. The infection attracts white blood cells which produces an enzyme that causes inflammation (red bumps). Thereafter, an acne is formed.