Philippa Stevenson: Time for honey's day in the sun

If you're looking like overdone toast after too much sun, the answer may be to make like regular toast - slap on a bit of butter and honey.

The remedy goes back to the ancient Egyptians, who, when you think about it, must have known a thing or two about sunburn after toiling away building all those pyramids.

But I must admit I was sceptical of the breakfast recipe when an otherwise serious type suggested it this week.

But Waikato University biochemistry professor Peter Molan promised me he was on the level. After 20 years of research dedicated to the therapeutic properties of honey, he is most serious about it.

Whip up a lotion of two parts butter, one part honey and it will deal with the pain of sunburn and can stop the blistering.

Well, I'm willing to give it a go if I ever forget to slip, slop, slap under these too-rare summer skies and find myself with nothing closer to medical assistance than pantry contents.

Of course, Molan's remedies use medical-grade honey rather than your run-of-the-mill kitchen spread and his research has identified that manuka honey has more healing properties than most. He has dubbed its elusive special component "unique manuka factor", or UMF.

After telling you last month about another of his claims to fame - Dr Molan's Splendid Christmas Mince Pies - I went back to talk to the good doctor about his real passion and life's work.

He is particularly pleased because he believes he is finally seeing the realisation of one of his great hopes for manuka honey - that it be widely accepted and used as a healing dressing for wounds, including ulcers, abscesses, bed sores, burns and even cracked nipples and chilblains.

It's been a long haul to shift the perception of honey from folk remedy - "worthless but harmless," according to one assessment - to scientifically proven pharmaceutical.

But Molan believes the corner has been turned as requests for him to speak at medical conferences increase and honey-impregnated dressings go on the market.

Honey company Comvita launched its first-generation wound dressing in Britain last March and has quietly made the dressings available here.

Chief executive Graeme Boyd says the dressings have met the stringent controls of Britain's NHS drug tariff system but other regulatory requirements have to be fulfilled before a full global marketing push is made this year.

A $6 billion market beckons and Molan is confident honey's day in it is coming. The scientific evidence just keeps piling up on honey's protective, anti-bacterial and healing properties, including its effectiveness against antibiotic-resistant hospital superbugs such as MRSA.

Inevitably, as one generation of products with UMF goes to market, the professor and his colleagues at the Waikato Honey Research Unit are beavering away on more.

Molan waves what looks like a piece of honey-coloured fruit leather in front of me and despite his explanation that this, too, is a wound dressing, I have an almost irresistible urge to bite it. It smells great.

The richly scented "leather" is gelled honey and it is a dressing without the cloth. Instead of impregnating a fabric with honey, the plan is for the honey gel to be placed directly on the wound. It doesn't dissolve at body temperature, doesn't stick, swells when moist but, left to dry, will return to its original size.

His recommendation for tapping honey's health properties is to apply it rather than eat it. When eaten the UMF is too diluted to do much good.

The ancient Egyptians got it right. With a bit of luck we're catching up.