http://bio.waikato.ac.nz/pdfs/honeyresearch/bioactives.pdf
Here is an interesting paper on Manuka Honey as Medicine. An extract which is interesting to Crohn's is below:
Tonks et al. (2001) also found that monocytes already activated by exposure to mitogens had their production of
reactive oxygen species reduced by honey. This is an important bioactivity of honey, as a feedback loop (see
Figure 1) allows the reactive oxygen species produced as a consequence of the inflammatory response to destroy
bacteria to initiate a greater inflammatory response which can be very deleterious to the healing process. Apart
from inflammation creating pain, it causes opening of the circulation which leads to exudation of lymph from open
wounds which can be difficult to manage, and oedema in surrounding tissue which can restrict circulation through
capillaries and increase diffusional distances from capillaries to tissue cells. This reduces the availability of oxygen
and nutrients to cells and thus restricts the cell growth necessary to replace tissues to repair wounds.
Furthermore, the reactive oxygen species, being or giving rise to free radicals, are very damaging to the
surrounding tissues, such that a wound will not heal if excessively inflamed. A further problem that comes from
prolonged inflammation, where it is not sufficient to stop healing, is that it can give rise to over-growth of
fibroblasts such that keloid scars, contractures and fibrosis can result. It is probably the very effective anti-inflammatory activity of honey that is responsible for the minimisation of
scarring by honey dressings on wounds, although it may also be the antioxidants in honey removing free radicals
that is involved. Honey has a direct anti-inflammatory effect, not a secondary effect resulting from the antibacterial
action removing inflammation-causing bacteria.
