THE MANUKA HONEY DISCREPANCY

The amount of manuka honey consumed in the UK makes for a very interesting statistic. 1,800 tons of it are consumed in the UK annually. However, only 1,700 tons of the honey are produced annually! So, not even considering the cosumption of mauka honey elsewhere in the world, the UK alone eats more than is actually produced.

Manuka honey comes from New Zealand and is derived from the nectar of a local shrub. For generations, the local Moari population had acknowledged its health benefits, but it was only following investigations at the Waikato University in Hamilton that the potential benefits became more widely-known. Now, several celebrities speak out about its health-generating properties, and the list of its benefits seems to be growing all the time.

It is important to remember that, while manuka honey may not be quite the all-encompassing panacea for health that the marketing departments of supermarkets, health food chains, and online retailers would have you believe, it does have some remarkable health benefits. The benefits of manuka honey on the digestive tract are well-documented.

However, if you are spending a lot of money on a jar of something that does not contain any of this wonderful product, then all the potential health benefits in the world are a bit irrelevant!

Personally, I think there is a good lesson to be learnt here. As a complementary therapist, I fully engage with the importance of health-generating lifestyle and dietary choices. However, it is always worthwhile to take a good look at the claims that are made about products. Sadly, there are a lot of people and businesses out there who see healthcare as an easy way to make money and have no concern or passion for what they claim to offer.

As an alternative to manuka honey, why not go and pick some nettle or buy a dried bag of it from an independent health or herbalist shop? You will not see any posters in the healthfood chains extolling its virtues or come across any marketing campaigns for the simple reason that it grows everywhere and is either cheap or free. Nettle is absolutely brimming with essential nutrients, and if it grew halfway up a mountain in Indonesia and was only available in limited quantities, rest assured there would be a massive price-tag on it and much shouting about it from the rooftops.