An Abbreviated History of Honey (and Medicine)

2600 BC -- Egyptian Medical Records list over 900 uses for honey, the majority of them medical.

2000 BC—One of the oldest written documents describing the medicinal uses of honey: a Sumerian written prescription for a honeyed healing agent to treat surgical incisions: includes honey, hot cedar oil, river dust to give the mixture a firmness

1500 – 500 BC – Vedas, Hindu Sacred Books, suggest taking honey to ease the ailments of the body

1600 – The Egyptian Ebers Papyrus: 147 of 700 medical treatment formulas use honey as the prime healing agent

1550 BC – The Egyptian Edwin Smith Papyrus (it was named after the man who bought it) lists 48 separate uses of honey as a healing agent.

1500(ish) BC – Shen Nong’s Herbal Materia Medica, one of the written bases of Chinese traditional medicine, centers honey as one of the main medicinal sources

400 BC – Hippocrates, known as the Father of Modern Medicine, recorded the many therapeutic properties of Honey

4 BC – Democritus, “the laughing philosopher”, 109 years old, credited honey for his health and happiness

5 AD – Marcellus Empiricus, of what is now Modern Day France, records that honey eases the dullness of eyesight and treats white eye spots

23-79 AD – Pliny the Elder, a Roman Pharmacist, writes of Honey cured maladies of throat, mouth, and body.

Same – Dioscorides, in De Materia Medica (Roman Medical Book), mentions the use of Honey for the aid of sunburns, ulcers, cough, lice, tonsil infection, and more.

Same—Roman centenarian Pollio Rumilius tells Julius Caesar that his secret for health is “Exterius Melle, Exterius Olio” – Inside, Honey. Outside, oil.

Bible – Honey is mentioned throughout, including a mention that Jesus was to be fed honey.

Qur’an – Muhammad says that Honey is a remedy for every illness of the body and the Qur’an is a remedy for every illness of the mind, and recommends both remedies for a wholly healthy life

Alexander the Great – embalmed in liquid honey (a method frequently used, since the antibacterial properties of honey cause it to suck out the bacteria that causes the decay of human flesh

[Hiatus of records after the fall of the Roman Empire]

924 – Leech Book of Bald by the English Monk Bald highlights honey as a salve and wound treatment

1446 – With the renaissance came a revival of the interest in medicine, and honey as such (as well as an interest in all things good –dance, art, music, you name it)

1623 – Rev. Charles Butler writes the Feminine Monarchie, a treatise on honey bee ways, mentioning many medicinal uses of honey.

1759 – Dr. John Hill writes, “The Virtues of Honey in Preventing Many of the World’s Worst Disorders”

In the 19^th century, the world entered a craving for modern synthetic medicine, and the treatments of thousands of years fell by the wayside, except for in the beekeeping circles and folktale remedies. Honey became used as a sweetener more than as a medicinal product.

In the late 20^th and early 21^st century, a revival of interest in honey’s medicinal properties occurred.

1991 – New Zealand Biochemist Dr. Peter Molan of the University of Waikato, interested in naturally antibacterial products, hears of rumors of Manuka Honey’s exceptionally good antibacterial properties, and his laboratory research shows unmistakable proof. Manuka Honey, from New Zealand’s native Manuka plant, has been researched extensively ever since.

1995- At the University of Waikato, an entire branch of the Biochemistry department is designated as the “Honey Research Unit”, and set aside to study many different aspects and properties of Honey, and nothing else. Manuka Honey is one of the main focuses, but other honeys are studied as well.

From the mid 1990s to today, Manuka Honey has taken the international spotlight. The Honey Research Unit has grown into a thriving research center, and Manuka honey has gone from a regular table honey--not even a very popular table honey due to its very strong flavor -- to a value-added commodity. People still eat it, of course, and not all Manuka Honey is "active" -- that is, displaying the extraordinary antibacterial properties (among other properties) that have come to be known as the "Unique Manuka Factor" or UMF. A standard measure of activity is being established, but for now, the UMF is labeled in basic levels of activity. Research is being conducted to understand why some Manuka Honey is active and some is not, what affects the activity level, and the extent to which the activity level increases in storage (which it does). Even though it has been nearly two decades since the first published Manuka Honey research, we are still only at the beginning. **

Continuing evidence of this honey’s properties has piqued international interest, and jumpstarted the therapeutic honey industry—not only in New Zealand, but worldwide.

This is a patchy history, and by no means contains all mentions of Honey’s medicinal properties. I think that one could devote their entire lifetime to making that timeline, and still not find everything! Every library I wander into has different books on bees or beekeeping or honey or traditional medicines, and each reveals a different secret—or two – or hundreds – about these incredible properties of what we take to be such a simple substance, sitting in our little plastic bear.

And of course, this account does not even take into consideration the properties of beeswax, royal jelly, bee bread, bee venom, propolis, or bee pollen, all of which have been used for equally as long, through as many different cultures, in thousands of different ways to accomplish as many different goals.