Honey-Impregnated Dressings Heal Diabetic Foot Ulcers Diabetic Foot Ulcers Faster

Sweet Success Healing Diabetic Foot UlcersBy Lynda Williams, Medwire News, 9/20/2012Scientists have harnessed the antibacterial properties ofManuka honey to speed healing of neuropathic diabetic foot ulcers.Foot ulcers took significantly less time to heal in the 32Type 2 diabetes patients randomly assigned to receive Manuka honey-impregnateddressings than the 31 patients given conventional dressings, at an average of31 versus 43 days.The researchers believe the enhanced healing is due to theantibacterial properties of the honey. All patients attending the specialistfoot clinic tested positive for bacterial infection at baseline but 78.1% ofulcers treated with the impregnated bandages were sterile within a week oftreatment compared with just 35.5% of those given conventional dressings.This trend continued at 2 (15.6 vs 38.7%), 4 (6.2 vs 12.9%), and 6 weeks (0 vs 12.9%) of follow up, report Georgios Panoutsopoulos(University of Peloponnese, Orthias Artemidos and Plateon, Sparta, Greece) andco-workers.Furthermore, none of the patients given impregnateddressings required antibiotics during 16 weeks of follow up compared with 29%of controls. Four patients given conventional dressings were hospitalized for28 days, with one case of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, one withPseudomonas aeruginosa, and two patients with vancomycin-resistant Enterococci.There was no significant difference in the overall rate ofhealing for the impregnated and convention dressing groups, however, at 97% and90%, respectively.The researchers note that although Manuka honey has beenshown effective against the bacteria found in their patients, it has beensuggested that the antibacterial component of Manuka honey - methylglyoxal -may impair wound closure by reacting with structural proteins to induceendothelial cell dysfunction.However, they say: "The results of this study showedexpedition of healing of diabetic foot ulcers and do not support the aboveconcerns."…