Berringa Bioactive Antibacterial Honey - Our Product Source and Production Methods

Leptospermum polygalifolium grows in a variety of coastal habitats along the north coast of New South Wales, and Southern Queensland in Australia.
The leptospermum polygalifolium bush commences flowering in early spring, and usually flowers throughout October.  The bush flowers later than most heaths and tee trees, ensuring that the bees harvest nearly all their honey from this particular species. 
The harvest usually starts around mid-November, when the honey is extracted from the hives.  The honey is a jelly like substance, making extraction more difficult, but producing a high quality manuka honey with low moisture content.

Factual Benefits of Honey

Berringa Honey has been tested by the Queensland Government’s Innovation Food Technologies Laboratories, and has shown that Berringa Honey has antibacterial and antimicrobial properties with the ability to inhibit staphylococcus aureus and e-coli.  Twenty five percent of the population carry one or two of the staph strains at any one time, and nature has provided us with a natural alternative.

The results also indicated that the methylglyoxal (MGO) is stable across the product range, and has great effect whether using 300MGO or 900MGO. 
Research is continuing into the amazing properties of our honey, and the variety of applications it can be used in.  Berringa Honey can be consumed as a food straight from the jar, as an ingredient to produce a functional food, in cosmetics and therapeutics.

Below are some facts about honey.

(Bogdanov et al., 2008)

Due to the variation of botanical origin honey differs in appearance, sensory perception and composition. The main nutritional and health relevant components are carbohydrates, mainly fructose and glucose but also about 25 different oligosaccharides. Although honey is a high carbohydrate food, its glycemic index varies within a wide range from 32 to 85, depending on the botanical source. It contains small amounts of proteins, enzymes, amino acids, minerals, trace elements, vitamins, aroma compounds and polyphenols. The review covers the composition, the nutritional contribution of its components, its physiological and nutritional effects. It shows that honey has a variety of positive nutritional and health effects, if consumed at higher doses of 50 to 80g per intake.

(Bardy et al., 2007) Honey has a number of properties that are believed tofacilitate the healing process.

• It is acidic with a pH ranging from 3.2 to 4.5, which serves to inhibit growth of microbes as the majority thrive at a pH between 7.2 and 7.4 (Molan 2001a,

Stephen-Haynes 2004).

• High sugar content draws water from the wound, reducing the availability of water to microbes,which further impedes microbial growth (Lusby et al. 2002).
• Honey contains an enzyme called glucose-oxidase that stimulates the release of hydrogen peroxide on contact with body tissue, which has a sanitizing effect (Hyslop et al. 1995, Anderson 2006).
• Honey facilitates an increase in lymphocytes and phagocytes and aids monocytes to release cytokines and interleukins, thus stimulating the healing process (Molan 2001a).
• Finally, phytochemicals (plant chemicals) known to have bactericidal properties are present within some types of honey (Molan 2001a, Anderson 2006).