Manuka, the World’s Most Coveted Honey (2018) • Hacker News Board

Re: Manuka, the World’s Most Coveted Honey (2018)

#61

Post by quixoticelixer- » Sat, Nov 07, 2020, 8:30 PM UTC

Jimmc414 wrote: post #25

lukehutch wrote: post #7

I grew up in NZ and find it hilarious when I see a tub of manuka honey in a supermarket in the US. This is the most genius marketing ripoff of all time. Most honey you could buy in NZ back then was either clover honey or manuka honey, it cost about $3 for the same amount, and there was nothing special about manuka honey. Manuka is just teatree, by the way. And all honey has the same antimicrobial properties -- it has…

>The reason honey kills microbes is it has exceptionally low water content. Do you have a source for this? A simple search on scholar.google.com for "manuka" and "MRSA" studies in 2020 and there is a substantial amount of evidence showing its unique medical properties.

There are a few reasons why honey is antimicrobial and one of them is it's high osmotic pressure. They also have some hydrogen perexide activity and some honeys such as mānuka have things like methylglyoxal.

Re: Manuka, the World’s Most Coveted Honey (2018)

#62

Post by eightails » Mon, Nov 09, 2020, 12:28 AM UTC

jelliclesfarm wrote: post #29

eightails wrote: post #27

I don't really understand the point of advertising the 'anti-microbial' properties. Antiseptic creams are far less expensive if you're applying it to wounds. Ingesting something for its anti-microbial properties seems a bit strange when there is plenty of research suggesting that having a healthy gut microbiome is beneficial[0]. People eat certain kinds of yoghurt for the very purpose of encouraging gut microbe activ…

Honey is food and cheap. And easily available. And natural. What’s not to love?

I have nothing against honey - I enjoy it as much as anyone else.

My point was more that this honey specifically costs far more than normal honey (or even other boutique honeys with a unique flavour) seemingly just because it has the marketing cachet of being 'anti-microbial', which as far as I can tell doesn't seem to be actually beneficial in any way.

Re: Manuka, the World’s Most Coveted Honey (2018)

#63

Post by 11thEarlOfMar » Mon, Nov 09, 2020, 7:01 PM UTC

spats1990 wrote: post #31

lukehutch wrote: post #7

I grew up in NZ and find it hilarious when I see a tub of manuka honey in a supermarket in the US. This is the most genius marketing ripoff of all time. Most honey you could buy in NZ back then was either clover honey or manuka honey, it cost about $3 for the same amount, and there was nothing special about manuka honey. Manuka is just teatree, by the way. And all honey has the same antimicrobial properties -- it has…

>And all honey has the same antimicrobial properties -- it has nothing to do with hydrogen peroxide and definitely nothing to do with UMF. The reason honey kills microbes is it has exceptionally low water content. Nah. It's about dihydroxyacetone and methylglyoxal, which are found in what is referred to as "active" mānuka honey, and which are not found (or at least not found in such high concentrations) in honey from…

Topical... my daughters ran around with mānuka honey on their faces for years. Word to the wise... pick your battles carefully.