Sweet Success In Hunt For Honey's Healing Factor

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.

Comvitas 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.

Headquartered in Paengaroa in the Bay of Plenty, Comvita is the worlds largest manufacturer and marketer of Manuka honey and produces natural health products for the wound care, health care, personal care and functional foods markets. It also produces Medihoney wound care products that are sold through a global licensing deal with US-based Derma Sciences.

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.

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Sweet Success In Hunt For Honey's Healing Factor