A cup of tea with honey has long been linked to health benefits, including its ancient status as a soother of sore throats and more recent findings that green and black teas can help reduce cancer risk.

Scientists are now beginning to realize there are strong potential medicinal properties in the honey, too, especially outside of the cup or even the stomach for that matter.

A growing number of studies on people and animals shows honey can help wounds heal faster. The most impressive study was performed on burn victims in India. The study compared 52 patients whose wounds were dressed with honey-smeared gauze bandages to 52 patients treated with the conventional salve of silver sulfadiazine. The results, published in the professional journal Burns, showed 87 percent of the patients with honey bandages healed within 15 days while 10 percent of the silver sulfadiazine group healed in the same time. The honey-dressed patients also reported less pain, fluid leaking and scarring than the standard group, said the researchers.

In 1999, the Australian government agency equivalent to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved honey as a medicine. A commercial product, Medihoney, is now available as a wound dressing in pharmacies there.

Medihoney is made from the honey of bees that tap into the nectar of the tea tree (Leptospermum). Biochemists at the University of Waikato in New Zealand have found this particular tree has a nectar with bacteria-fighting properties.

To date, the only reported side effects of using honey as wound dressing is a slight burning sensation upon application. Honey is not recommended to be consumed by anyone with compromised immune systems, including infants, because it can sometimes contain spores of bacteria that cause botulism. But there are no associated concerns with honey as a wound dressing.