Family sugar remedy tested for healing people's wounds

A nurse is researching whether an old family remedy using sugar to heal wounds does actually work.

Moses Murandu, from Zimbabwe, grew up watching his father use granulated sugar to treat wounds.

Sugar is thought to draw water away from wounds and prevent bacteria from multiplying.

Early results from a trial on 35 hospital patients in Birmingham are encouraging, but more research is needed.

One of the patients who received sugar treatment on a wound was 62-year-old Alan Bayliss from Birmingham.

He had undergone an above-the knee amputation on his right leg at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham and, as part of the surgery, a vein was removed from his left leg leaving a wound which would not heal properly.

Murandu, who is studying for a doctorate at Birmingham University, was contacted and asked to treat the wound with sugar.

Fast recovery

Mr Bayliss said: "It has been revolutionary. The actual wound was very deep - it was almost as big as my finger.

"When Moses first did the dressing he almost used the whole pot of sugar, but two weeks later he only needed to use four or five teaspoons.

"I am very pleased indeed. I feel that it has speeded up my recovery a lot, and it has been a positive step forward. I was a little sceptical at first but once I saw the sugar in operation and how much it was drawing the wound out, I was impressed."