Hi everyone I'm Monica Reinagle and you're listening to the nutrition divas quick and dirty

tips for eating well and feeling fabulous.

As is so often the case this week's show was suggested by a nutrition

diva listener. Enya asked if I would look into the benefits of Manuka Honey. I have to admit that before I got her email I had never even heard of Manuka Honey.

Of course it took Google only a fraction of a second to return 2.9 million web pages on the stuff.

According to its proponents, Manuka Honey has powerful healing properties.

It's said to be a natural antibiotic that's anti-inflammatory, good for your digestion and able to leap tall

buildings in a single bound. Similar claims are made for other types of honey as

well, but advocates claim that Manuka honey, which is honey produced from the pollen of the

Manuka or tea tree, has something that other types of honey don't.

Specifically, Manuka honey is high in a chemical called

methylglyoxol which appears to be responsible for most of its antimicrobial

activity, but wait there's more. Apparently, the methyllyoxyl concentration in Manukah honey can vary quite a bit.

In order to help you identify the really good stuff, they've developed a rating system known as the unique

Manuka factor or U.M.F. And the higher the U.M.F, the higher the concentration of

methyl glyoxol in the honey. In order to be considered active

Manuka honey, the product must have a U.M.F of 10 or greater. And that,

ladies and gentlemen, is what marketers call a U.S.P. or unique selling point.

The best way to increase sales and or drive up the price of a product in a marketplace full of similar products

is to identify and promote something about your product that sets it apart from all the rest.

And the producers of Manuka Honey have done a masterful job in identifying and promoting

methyl glyoxol as their USP, which is why you can expect to pay 4 to 10 times more for Manuka Honey than you would for ordinary

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