A small jar of this sticky stuff can cost anything from around ten pounds to over a thousand. Some brands claim it can help with sore throats, skin problems, hay-fever and poor sleep. Other producers curiously make no health claims at all about their manuka products. So what’s the buzz about and is there any science behind it? Listener and beekeeper David got to get in touch to ask whether manuka honey can boost the immune system, and if it has any benefits over and above the ordinary honey from his bees produce. Greg Foot gets stuck in to find out, talking with two microbiologists to learn why manuka honey is different and if there’s any truth to some of those sweet sounding claims. This series, we’re testing your suggested wonder-products. If you’ve seen an ad, trend or fad and wonder if there's any evidence to back up a claim drop us an email to sliced.bread@bbc.co.uk or you can send us a voice note to our new WhatsApp number: 07543 306807Presenter: Greg Foot
Producers: Julian Paszkiewicz & Kate Holdsworth
Researcher: Darcy Tapley

A small jar of this sticky stuff can cost anything from around ten pounds to over a thousand. Some brands claim it can help with sore throats, skin problems, hay-fever and poor sleep. Other producers curiously make no health claims at all about their manuka products. So what’s the buzz about and is there any science behind it? Listener and beekeeper David got to get in touch to ask whether manuka honey can boost the immune system, and if it has any benefits over and above the ordinary honey from his bees produce. Greg Foot gets stuck in to find out, talking with two microbiologists to learn why manuka honey is different and if there’s any truth to some of those sweet sounding claims. This series, we’re testing your suggested wonder-products. If you’ve seen an ad, trend or fad and wonder if there's any evidence to back up a claim drop us an email to sliced.bread@bbc.co.uk or you can send us a voice note to our new WhatsApp number: 07543 306807 Presenter: Greg Foot Producers: Julian Paszkiewicz & Kate Holdsworth Researcher: Darcy Tapley

A small jar of this sticky stuff can cost anything from around ten pounds to over a thousand. Some brands claim it can help with sore throats, skin problems, hay-fever and poor sleep. Other producers curiously make no health claims at all about their manuka products. So what’s the buzz about and is there any science behind it? Listener and beekeeper David got to get in touch to ask whether manuka honey can boost the immune system, and if it has any benefits over and above the ordinary honey from his bees produce. Greg Foot gets stuck in to find out, talking with two microbiologists to learn why manuka honey is different and if there’s any truth to some of those sweet sounding claims. This series, we’re testing your suggested wonder-products. If you’ve seen an ad, trend or fad and wonder if there's any evidence to back up a claim drop us an email to sliced.bread@bbc.co.uk or you can send us a voice note to our new WhatsApp number: 07543 306807Presenter: Greg Foot
Producers: Julian Paszkiewicz &amp; Kate Holdsworth
Researcher: Darcy Tapley

Manuka Honey

While Sliced Bread takes a break we serve up Toast. A study of the spectacular failures of brands which had promised so much to consumers. In each episode, the presenter and BBC business journalist Sean Farrington examines one big idea. What did it promise? Why did people back it? Why did they get burnt? Some of the world’s most successful businesses have also brought us some of the world’s most remarkable failures. So, what led them to be toast? And what can we learn from their stories today? Sean unpicks all the early optimism, hype and ambition. He learns about the tremendous success of a brand before hearing how it faltered, with help from expert commentators and people who were directly involved. How do they view things now and what, if anything, could have been done differently? The self-made millionaire and serial entrepreneur, Sam White, is alongside him, analysing the missteps that changed a brand’s fortunes and reaching her own, often instructive, conclusions. From big tech to high street retail and, of course, food, Toast tackles the business ideas that, one way or another, ended up cooked. Sliced Bread returns for a new batch of investigations in January, 2026. In the new series, Greg Foot will investigate more of the latest so-called wonder products to find out whether they really are the best thing since sliced bread. In the meantime, Toast is available in the Sliced Bread feed on BBC Sounds. For this brand new series of Toast, episodes will be released weekly on Thursdays wherever you get your podcasts. But if you’re in the UK, you can listen to the latest episode on BBC Sounds first, a week earlier than anywhere else.Toast is a BBC Audio North production for BBC Radio 4.

Health & Fitness

While Sliced Bread takes a break we serve up Toast. A study of the spectacular failures of brands which had promised so much to consumers. In each episode, the presenter and BBC business journalist Sean Farrington examines one big idea. What did it promise? Why did people back it? Why did they get burnt? Some of the world’s most successful businesses have also brought us some of the world’s most remarkable failures. So, what led them to be toast? And what can we learn from their stories today? Sean unpicks all the early optimism, hype and ambition. He learns about the tremendous success of a brand before hearing how it faltered, with help from expert commentators and people who were directly involved. How do they view things now and what, if anything, could have been done differently? The self-made millionaire and serial entrepreneur, Sam White, is alongside him, analysing the missteps that changed a brand’s fortunes and reaching her own, often instructive, conclusions. From big tech to high street retail and, of course, food, Toast tackles the business ideas that, one way or another, ended up cooked. Sliced Bread returns for a new batch of investigations in January, 2026. In the new series, Greg Foot will investigate more of the latest so-called wonder products to find out whether they really are the best thing since sliced bread. In the meantime, Toast is available in the Sliced Bread feed on BBC Sounds. For this brand new series of Toast, episodes will be released weekly on Thursdays wherever you get your podcasts. But if you’re in the UK, you can listen to the latest episode on BBC Sounds first, a week earlier than anywhere else. Toast is a BBC Audio North production for BBC Radio 4.

Share Manuka Honey

Sign up to save your podcasts

Manuka Honey

Manuka Honey

More shows like Sliced Bread

Global News Podcast

More or Less

Newshour

In Our Time

The Documentary Podcast

6 Minute English

Learning English Conversations

Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4

The Infinite Monkey Cage

The Food Programme

The Food Chain

BBC Inside Science

Inside Health

Curious Cases

The Life Scientific

CrowdScience

You're Dead to Me

Americast

The Bomb

Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley

Life Changing

ZOE Science & Nutrition

What's Up Docs?

Complex with Kimberley Wilson