Snipped from SciAm.com.

Wow, has honey got some press to be proud of?! It seems that there really is some truth to the old wives tales that honey really is a cure all. In November, honey seemed to get some very late, but not forgotten, recognition that it can be successfully used as an antibiotic ointment for small cuts, abrasions and sores. The in December, it got the recognition for being a better nighttime cough medicine for children (older than 1 year old of course).

Here is a small portion of the article:

When compared to the cough syrup ingredient dextromethorphan or no treatment, honey came out on top.

“The results were so strong that we were able to say clearly that honey was better than no treatment and dextromethorphan was not,” Dr. Ian M. Paul of Pennsylvania State University in Hershey, one of the study’s authors, told Reuters Health.

There is currently no proven effective treatment for cough due to an upper respiratory infection like the common cold. While dextromethorphan is widely used, there is no evidence that it works, and it carries risks.

Honey is used around the world as a folk remedy for cough, and might provide a safe, effective alternative to cough medicine, Paul and his colleagues note in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

To investigate, they compared buckwheat honey, a honey-flavored dextromethorphan preparation, and no treatment in 105 children who had sought treatment for nighttime coughs due to colds. Parents were surveyed on the day of the doctor’s visit and on the next day, after those in the treatment groups had given their kids honey or dextromethorphan at bedtime.

Among the three groups, children given honey had the greatest reduction in cough frequency and severity, and the most improved sleep, as did their parents.

AND…

Actually, honey’s been used to treat wounds for thousands of years. But it fell out of favor in the 1940s when antibiotics came on the scene. Today, though, people are worried about antibiotic resistance and are also looking to natural remedies. Honey works because of a number of properties that inhibit bacterial growth. There’s its low moisture content. And as the glucose in honey breaks down in air, it naturally forms hydrogen peroxide, an antiseptic agent. Scientists say that the research suggests that honey might be particularly useful when a wound becomes infected or fails to close or heal after surgery. Honey was even shown to reduce amputation rates among diabetes patients suffering from open, infected sores.