A clinical trial published in the British Medical Journal Open has found that using kanuka honey topically is efficacious in the treatment of rosacea, a chronic rash affecting the face.
Participants in the trial used Honevo, a formulation containing 90% medical-grade kanuka honey – which has potent antibacterial and anti-inflammatory activity – and 10% glycerine, developed by New Zealand company HoneyLab.
The study, undertaken by the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand,
found that 65% of participants saw an improvement in their rosacea when using Honevo, 34% had a large improvement, and 13% saw the condition disappear completely. Improvements were seen within two weeks and these increased at the end of the eight-week study.
Dr Shaun Holt, science director at HoneyLab, said that the results are statistically and clinically significant and at least as good, if not better, than those that have been achieved for standard prescription-only treatments. “People with rosacea often seek natural treatments rather than prescription drugs, but there are very few natural products that have successfully undergone rigorous clinical trials,” he said. “This medical-grade kanuka honey formulation delivers the best of both worlds. It’s not only a natural and safe product, but it’s also one that is proven to be effective to the standards of a pharmaceutical medicine,” he says.
Holt says that recent developments in the understanding of the cause of rosacea explained why the kanuka honey formulation was so effective. “It’s now thought that the underlying causes of rosacea are mites and associated bacteria living deep in the skin in the affected area, and the rosacea symptoms are an inflammatory reaction to these. As medical kanuka honey is effective at killing micro-organisms and reducing inflammation this is an excellent explanation as to why kanuka honey works so well.”
