Raw Honey vs Manuka Honey: What You're Actually Paying For
Share
Manuka honey has become the world's most marketed honey. A single jar can cost SGD 40–SGD 80, justified by its MGO (methylglyoxal) content and antibacterial claims. But is it actually the best honey you can buy? The answer is more complicated than the marketing suggests.
What MGO Actually Is
MGO is a compound that forms when dihydroxyacetone (DHA), naturally present in manuka nectar, converts over time. Higher MGO ratings (100+, 250+, 500+) indicate higher levels of this specific antibacterial compound. The problem: MGO is just one of hundreds of bioactive compounds in honey. Focusing on it alone is like judging a wine solely by its alcohol percentage.
What Manuka Marketing Doesn't Tell You
Most commercial manuka honey is heat-treated during processing. Ironically, the very enzymes that give all raw honeys their broad-spectrum antibacterial activity — glucose oxidase, defensin-1, and others — are destroyed by this processing. You get high MGO but lose everything else.
There's also a supply problem. New Zealand produces roughly 1,700 tonnes of genuine manuka honey per year. Yet an estimated 10,000 tonnes of "manuka" honey are sold globally. The maths doesn't work.
Wild Forest Honey: The Overlooked Alternative
Genuinely raw, wild-source honey offers a broader spectrum of antimicrobial compounds than any single-origin monofloral honey. Multi-floral wild honey contains:
- Natural hydrogen peroxide production (from glucose oxidase — only present in unheated honey)
- Low pH and high osmolarity — hostile to bacteria
- Bee defensin-1 — an antimicrobial peptide
- Polyphenols and flavonoids from diverse wild plants
A 2018 study in Frontiers in Microbiology found that some raw multi-floral honeys matched or exceeded manuka's antibacterial performance against clinical wound pathogens.
The Real Question
The best honey isn't the one with the highest MGO number. It's the one that's genuinely raw, genuinely wild, and hasn't been processed into a standardised product. Laclubar honey is never heated, never blended, and comes from forests where the bees forage on hundreds of different wild species — not a single cultivated crop.