How Mānuka Health’s investment in research, sustainable beekeeping and land preservation is transforming the beauty & wellness category.
Across 160,000 hectares in remote and pristine corners of New Zealand, Mānuka Health has discovered the perfect conditions for mānuka trees and honeybees. The mānuka tree is a powerful provider and protector of the environment; its role in the environment is that of a nursery plant. Its job is to provide shelter for the native forest and stabilize the land to regenerate itself. The mānuka tree provides an abundance in its own right, but it wasn’t until the European honeybee met the mānuka tree did something truly magical happened.
Discover Nature’s Wellness Secret: Mānuka Health’s Harmonious Beehive Solutions
Two hundred years ago, destiny brought the European honeybee to the New Zealand mānuka tree. From this improbable union bloomed three of nature’s most precious gifts; the potent nectar of mānuka honey, the protective essence of propolis, and the regenerative power of royal jelly.
By observing this complex ecosystem between the mānuka trees and the honeybees, Mānuka Health took inspiration and action. Starting in 2008 with the groundbreaking discovery of methylglyoxal (MGO) testing, which they soon realized was the “magic mānuka ingredient”. The antibacterial properties which are found in the mānuka tree, were also found in mānuka honey, resulting in so much more than a traditional ingredient. Thanks to Mānuka Health’s discovery, MGO has now become the international standard of mānuka.
Embrace Natural Wellness: Mānuka Health’s Beehive-inspired Product Collections
Understanding how truly special this ingredient was, Mānuka Health formed a 50-year partnership with the owners of Rimunui Station to plant mānuka trees helping to restore and replenish the native bush and in turn harvest this magical ingredient. Together, with the world’s most skilled scientists, Mānuka Health then pioneered the process of extracting and testing the unique bioactives imbued within New Zealand propolis. This solidified a seminal standard for propolis. Certifying beyond compare the bioactive properties of New Zealand propolis, and guaranteeing the potency and purity of Mānuka Health’s propolis-infused products.
Combining all this research and understanding, Mānuka Health has launched a new line of wellness and beauty products, which masterfully encapsulate the complete spectrum of benefits from the entire New Zealand beehive – using mānuka honey, propolis and royal jelly as the central ingredients. The new product collections mirror the intricate relationship between the European honeybee pollinating amidst the blooms of the New Zealand mānuka tree starting with how the bees see, in ultraviolet spectrum. The bee’s world is completely foreign to the human eye, full of electric colors and vibrant light which is what grounds the aesthetic of Mānuka Health’s brand.
This wellness system, designed by the honeybee and the mānuka tree, provides us with the opportunity to renature and experience the sweetness of nature’s most profound love story for years to come.
Find out more about Innovation & Disruption 2024