Does honey benefit burns?

Q: Does honey benefit burns?

In a 2017 Cochrane review of <a href="/glossary/randomized-controlled-trial/" class="popover" data-tooltip="<div><h6>Randomized controlled trial</h6><p>Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are the gold standard for determining whether an intervention actually causes any effects. The use of randomization and control groups helps eliminate the effects of factors other than the treatment being studied.</p></div>">RCTs , honey improved the burn healing rate (+145% increase in the chance that the burns healed; moderate certainty of evidence) and healing time (−4 days; very low certainty of evidence) compared to the <a href="/glossary/control/" class="popover" data-tooltip="<div><h6>Control</h6><p>A control provides a comparator that allows determination of the safety and effectiveness of a treatment. For example, a control group is a group of study participants that does not receive the experimental treatment. Instead, participants in the control group may receive a standard treatment, a glossary:placebo, or nothing, while keeping all other aspects of the study the same for the control group as for the group receiving the experimental treatment.</p></div>">control (topical antibiotics). In this review, honey had the strongest evidence of the interventions studied. [1]

Question

Accepted Answer

In a 2017 Cochrane review of RCTs, honey improved the burn healing rate (+145% increase in the chance that the burns healed; moderate certainty of evidence) and healing time (−4 days; very low certainty of evidence) compared to the control (topical antibiotics). In this review, honey had the strongest evidence of the interventions studied.^[1]

Does honey benefit burns?

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