Manuka Honey for gut health
The Benefits of Taking Manuka Honey for Gut Health
Manuka honey is a natural supplement used for daily wellness, immunity support, and internal gut health. The properties of manuka honey have been reported to exert antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anti-inflammatory properties. Believe it or not, these properties can actually directly support your gut health.
Studies are being performed around the globe to understand better how our digestive health affects our life, mental wellbeing, and overall health. In the 1970s, Professor Tomotari Mitsuoka published 'Intestinal Flora and Health,' leading the charge on how intestinal flora and probiotics could contribute to preventing disease.
Now 50 years later, our understanding stretches far beyond just that, thanks to two clever gentlemen, Glenn Gibson and Marcel Roberfroid, who introduced the idea of prebiotics to us. This concept of “friendly bacteria” is now accepted in the scientific community and is extensively used today in the study of gut health. Prebiotics feed the good bacteria in your gut to help them grow! Why not keep and grow all the wonderful probiotics you’re consuming and nurturing by feeding them what they need, prebiotics. Better yet, why not consume manuka honey to provide the probiotic bacteria and feed them with prebiotics as well.
All signs point to manuka honey as a beneficial natural supplement for gut health to incorporate into your life. The probiotic activity that manuka honey consists of effectively prevents bacterial overgrowth and any other undesirable pathogens. It can also help to improve immune systems, intestinal infections, and stool quality.
Why I Love Manuka Honey for Gut Health
Dr Maggie Yu is a huge advocate of Manuka Honey for gut health and recommends it to her patients who suffer from auto-immune diseases. She says ‘Honey is approximately 80% sugar. Some 25% of those sugars are oligosaccharides, an undesirable carbohydrate. So if your gut is dodgy, I recommend replacing those sugar crystals with raw manuka honey and getting the bonus of all the flavonoids and phenolics in beautiful raw honey. More studies need to be done in vivo, but the anecdotal stories keep flowing in, and it's hard to deny the role of functional foods and their part in keeping our gut in good health.
For your gut to keep smiling, we need to make sure the probiotics in your gut are thriving, and that's where the prebiotics in manuka honey comes in — it feeds and improves our health. These vital components are food for your gut microbial so that they can perform at their best.
How Manuka Honey Helps Combat SIBO, IBS, and Acid Reflux
Gastrointestinal problems such as small intestinal bacterial growth (SIBO) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) can be challenging to live with. For someone who has personal experience living with family members with gut problems, Sheryl Steens, co-founder and owner of Steens Honey knows first-hand the terrible effects it can have on one's well-being. Therefore, she believes managing one's health is key to functioning and living life to the fullest.
Using manuka honey can be an excellent addition to augment the traditional use of antibiotics and people and many practitioners will use it along with natural remedies as a replacement. With the help of science and technology, we now know that when our gut health is weakened, we are susceptible to many other health issues, such as compromised immunity, sleep deprivation, poor digestion, and impacts on mental wellbeing. It's tough to stay positive and keep smiling when we are bloated and in constant discomfort and pain.
Manuka Honey Digestive Benefits
What makes manuka honey so unique is that it contains a non-peroxide activity that is heat stable. In addition, it has been shown to have higher phenolic content. These phytonutrients are responsible for the antibacterial, antifungal, and antioxidant activity and its higher methylglyoxal content. These properties provide excellent daily immune and internal health support.
Best Grades of Manuka Honey for Digestive Problems
There is a handful of different grade manuka honey, and it is essential to select manuka honey that is Unique Manuka Factor (UMF) certified. A UMF certification guarantees the purity and quality of your manuka honey. When trying to decide what grade of manuka honey to choose for your condition, it is always an excellent option to go for a high strength grade, to begin with — UMF 20+ at a minimum — and as your gut starts to feel better, you can reduce the activity. Our family takes a spoonful of UMF 15+ grade manuka honey daily for maintenance.
Sheryl recalls ‘A while back my husband, Paul, was diagnosed with H. Pylori, the bacteria that causes stomach ulcers. I sympathize hugely with him as the discomfort he experiences day and night is horrid. However, the great news is that he has avoided antibiotics and kept the stomach ulcers at bay with his daily manuka honey intake. He takes little spoonfuls of manuka honey throughout the day and night as required, and his gut certainly lets him know when he needs it. As a result, he has seen incredible improvement in his health, and it is beyond remarkable that he can now get a good night's sleep without constantly being woken up from gut pain.’
Whatever gut health issue you may be experiencing, we offer different grades of UMF manuka honey to use for digestive support. Our targeted range UMF 24+ is one of the highest grades of manuka you can buy, and its healing properties are four times higher than those in our UMF 10+ range. The higher UMF Grade also contains a higher methylglyoxal (MGO) level. Methylglyoxal is an active ingredient in manuka honey that provides all the beneficial anti-inflammatory and antiviral components.
We recommend taking a teaspoon of Steens raw manuka honey every morning and every night before sleep. Then, depending on how your gut health is faring, increase the dosage as needed and take it throughout the day whenever required.
Using manuka honey is the perfect way to start improving your digestive problems and overall long-term health. Sheryl says ‘I know I often reference it in my writing but I always come back to that slogan I read once, "If you think staying healthy is expensive, try being sick." Staying healthy is a commitment you make to yourself and your family.'
Making minor changes in your everyday life can make a big difference to your wellness. Incorporating manuka honey into your life will help to keep on top of your gut health and allow you to live a happier life.
Shop all of Steens Honey products and begin treating your gut health issues today
