Physician Jennifer Eddy of University of Wisconsin Health’s Eau Claire Family Medicine Clinic is currently conducting the first randomized, double-blind controlled trial of honey as a topical treatment for diabetic ulcers. Honey is already being used in New Zealand as a treatment for bed sores.

Eddy first successfully used honey therapy a few years ago with a 79-year-old patient who was facing amputation after all medical options had been exhausted.

“This is a tremendously important issue for public health,” explains Eddy, adding that the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization have identified bacterial resistance as one of the most important medical problems of our day.

Patients in the clinical trial will receive ulcer care and treatment by an expert podiatrist. Half will be randomly assigned to receive honey, while the other half will receive a wound-care gel that has been compounded with inert components to give it the flavor and color of honey. The ulcers will be measured to see how quickly they heal, to evaluate whether honey or the standard wound gel is better for healing.

If honey proves the more effective method, Eddy cautions patients against using it at home without a physician’s involvement. “Unfortunately, diabetic ulcers are very complicated, and honey would only be part of the solution,” she says.

Funding for the study is provided by the Wisconsin Partnership Fund for Health and the American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation. Results of the trial are expected to be published within the next two years.

See also:

• Honey could save diabetics from amputation (Yahoo! News)
• UW Press release http://www.news.wisc.edu/releases/13738 5/2/07

Thanks to CBA member Sterling Clark for bringing this story to our attention!