by Beth Oliver
I DON’T know about you but when I was younger my grandmother used to claim honey was the answer to all ailments. Sore throat? Eat some honey. Hurt your arm? Rub a bit of honey on there. Any issue whatsoever? That’s right: honey. I generally viewed this advice as an old wives’ tale.
Now, it turns out, my gran’s faith in honey was not only shared by the likes of Hippocrates and Cleopatra but has actually been validated to some extent by modern medical research.
Recently I was lucky enough to attend a talk about bees in medicine, held at the Friends of GRI Museum. Medical herbalist Nikki Biddiss delivered a fascinating insight into the history and scientific importance of honey.
“Even if people didn’t know why they used it, they just did,” she said. “They’d been taught it, they knew it worked. Therefore they did it, they repeated it, and it was passed down as knowledge in the family.
“Now research is catching up and explaining why it worked. There’s a lot of antibiotic and antibacterial properties to honey that explain why it would keep a wound clean”.
Nikki explained the benefits of honey for issues such as sore throats and wound healing. However, she stressed “people shouldn’t just slap jars of honey onto themselves” but instead make use of available products such as the honey plasters which are used in the Glasgow Royal Infirmary (GRI).
The Friends of GRI charity has a particular devotion to bees. The museum logo proudly displays a honey bee at its centre and the devotion doesn’t stop there.
They have also developed four well-maintained hives and even produce their own honey. In addition, the hospital actually offers people the chance to sponsor and name their very own bee.
Dr Hilary Wilson, a GRI rheumatologist, Friends of GRI trustee and burgeoning beekeeper, explained the success of the original bee-sponsoring programme.
“It was really popular,” she said. “One hundred and seventy members of staff and friends of trustees sponsored bees and raised £3,400.”
Of course, when given the chance to name their bees, people jumped at the opportunity to use their best possible puns. Dr Wilson took a literary approach with “Or not to bee”, the GRI gastroenterologists chose the technical “Endoscobee” and the Pharmacists went with the brilliant “Beeta blocker”.
The programme has proven to be a continued success, getting people enthused about bees, and allowing the hospital to raise funds for the hives.
After listening to Nikki’s talks, and learning about the Friends of GRI’s bee-keeping programmes I couldn’t help but reflect on the value of honey, and more importantly on how I should apologise to my grandmother.
So, as you sit and ponder what you should name your bee – I have already claimed Bee Arthur – please take heed of the importance of old wives tales. As Nikki added: “We should all be listening to our grannies; it turns out they knew what they were talking about.”
Beth Oliver
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