Sweet Solution for Burns

I wasn’t prepared to treat a burn. I stood in front of the computer, my hand wrapped in a towel after I’d burned it on the dishwasher, googling how to relieve a burn. And I wanted to know NOW. (Did you know the metal coils in a dishwasher get hot pretty much immediately after you start it? Trust me, they do.)  I didn’t find a satisfactory answer though Google and didn’t want to spend a lot of time searching.

Simply out of experimentation (and desperation!), I pulled out my jar of raw honey, spread it on my hand, and covered it with a piece of plastic wrap to help contain the mess. I left it on for a few hours and the difference was astounding. It really helped with the pain, and the burn healed quickly, with just a couple of reapplications.

Turns out that my ‘discovery’ isn’t breaking new ground in the area of healing burns with raw honey. According to a report on Natural News, complete healing of first, second, and third degree burns has been reported without the need for skin grafts and with no infection or muscle loss.   Wow!

Researchers at the Univesity of Auckland found that honey significantly reduced recovery time by 4.68 days for partial-thickness burns compared with standard wound treatments.

How It Works
The same folks at the University of Auckland explain that “honey contains a variety of amino acids, vitamins, minerals and enzymes along with three types of sugar — glucose, fructose, and sucrose — that may provide topical nutrition to enhance tissue repair.”

The sweetener also appears to draw fluid from the underlying circulation, which would keep a wound moist.

Next time there’s a burn at your house, raw honey could be a big help! Make sure you have raw honey though – the pasteurized stuff won’t do the trick.