Manuka Fact-Sheet

One of the most amazing things about the antibacterial activity of Manuka honey is that although bacteria that cause serious infections can develop resistance to our modern antibiotics (which is how they become superbugs), they cannot develop resistance to the activity of Manuka honey (Blair et al. 2009).

The special properties of Manuka honey were first identified by Professor Peter Molan in the 1980s while he was studying L. scoparium honey from New Zealand, and we have since discovered many sources of Australian Manuka with exceptionally high levels of activity.

Manuka honey is one of the most famous honeys in the world because of its medicinal properties, including:

• Antimicrobial activity – that is, the ability to kill superbugs (antibiotic‐resistant bacteria and other difficult to treat microbes) that cause serious infections
• Wound healing and anti‐inflammatory activity.

A natural compound called methylglyoxal (MGO) is responsible for much of the unique activity of Manuka honey. The MGO comes from a component, called dihydroxyacetone (DHA), which occurs organically in the nectar of flowers of some Leptospermum plants.

Various species of the Manuka plant produce different levels of DHA that give rise to the varying antibacterial potencies of this special honey.

Scientists looking at Australian honeys have found a number of sources of Manuka with exceptionally high levels of activity. (Cokcetin et al. 2016; Windsor et al. 2012).