Honey does not significantly increase healing in venous leg ulcers, research suggests.

A study at The University of Auckland has been looking at the effect of honey as well as compression as a potential treatment for venous leg ulcers. The research found that honey did not significantly increase the rate of healing, was probably more expensive and caused more adverse effects than conventional treatment.

Venous leg ulcers are unhealed wounds on the lower leg and are the most common type of leg ulcer. Treatment is by applying tight compression bandages to help move fluid back up to the heart. Compression has been shown to heal venous ulcers in numerous trials since it was first advocated by the British surgeon, Richard Wiseman, in 1642.

"Old remedies like honey have received a lot attention recently and such treatments should be tested in clinical trials before they are taken up by health services", says Dr Andrew Jull, a Senior Research Fellow at the Clinical Trials Research Unit. "Our trial suggests that treatment with honey dressings is unlikely to improve on standard treatment. It is also likely to cost health services more and cause ulcer pain in about 1 in 4 patients."

The trial is one of the largest leg ulcer trials in the world and was run in four centres around New Zealand (Auckland, South Auckland, Waikato and Christchurch). 368 patients were randomly divided into two groups. Both groups had compression bandaging. One group also had dressings impregnated with honey while the other group had conventional dressings. After 12 weeks treatment by district nurses there was no significant difference between the rates of healing in the two groups. However, the honey treatment was likely to be more costly, and people in that group reported significantly more adverse events than in the conventional group.

Dr Jull says, "The key message is that compression should remain the focus of treatment," a view shared by Julie Betts, Nurse Practitioner in Wound Care at Waikato District Health Board. "Good compression is the critical element in venous ulcer treatment," says Ms Betts, a co-investigator in the trial. "Dressings are a secondary concern."

The results of the trial are published in January’s edition of the British Journal of Surgery.