How is honey antimicrobial

Powell, K. Honey kills antibiotic-resistant bugs. Nature Download citation. Published : 19 November Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:. Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative. Advanced search.

Skip to main content Thank you for visiting nature. Download PDF. Chronic wounds could benefit from traditional medicine. You have full access to this article via your institution. Alvarez-Suarez J. Antioxidant and antimicrobial capacity of several monofloral Cuban honeys and their correlation with color, polyphenol content and other chemical compounds.

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Brandi G. The effect of temperature or anoxia on Escherichia coli killing induced by hydrogen peroxide. Mutation Research Letters. Because of their promising properties, the wound dressing materials containing honey mostly Manuka honey are already commercially available and gain popularity in treatment difficult to heal infected wounds. In vitro anti- H. Using agar diffusion assay, Nzeako and Al-Namaani [ 30 ] investigated activity of eight samples of honey four from Germany, one from Switzerland, one from Iran and two from Oman.

All of them effectively inhibited the growth of H. Interesting results of in vitro studies of anti- H. The authors revealed high activity of honey but also extracts of organic, nonproteinaceous components of these products [ 31 ]. Al Somal and colleagues [ 32 ] revealed much better anti- H. The observations presented by the groups of Manyi-Loh et al. High concentration of HCl and low value of pH certainly affects the activity of enzymes that are present in consumed food, including glucose oxidase, which generates hydrogen peroxide and is crucial for antimicrobial activity of most types of honeys.

Thus, the presence of other than H 2 O 2 antimicrobial components in honey is very important for possibilities of its effective application for prophylaxis and therapy of in vivo H. Recently, Sahin [ 33 ] revealed that phenolic components of chestnut and oak honeys effectively inhibited activity of two enzymes: urease and xanthine oxidase, which are important virulence factors of H. These results importantly confirm that regular consumption of honey especially the products rich in polyphenols could prevent gastric ulcers deriving from H.

Moreover, analyzing the group of dyspeptic patients, Boyanova and colleagues [ 34 ] revealed that consumption of honey at least 1 day weekly significantly reduces the risk of development of infection with H.

The in vitro susceptibility of H. In our opinion, more studies aiming in evaluation of in vivo effects of regular consumption of honey for development of H.

Over the recent past years, resistance against antituberculous drugs has emerged rapidly, resulting in MDR Multi Drug Resistant strains. Honey was also proposed for treatment tuberculosis by Avicenna, a known ancient Persian philosopher and physician. At the beginning of twenty-first century, this hypothesis was evaluated by the researchers from Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in Iran [ 36 ]. Thus, the obtained results of in vitro tests are quite optimistic [ 36 ]. However, future research of in vivo activity of honey against Mycobacteria located within the lung tissue would be necessary for fully evaluation of its usefulness in the treatment of tuberculosis.

According to the best of our knowledge to date, such studies have not been conducted. The most carried out to date studies revealed that Gram-negative bacteria are a bit less sensitive to the activity of honey in comparison with Gram-positive bacteria.

This situation was also observed in the research carried out in our group. The collection of over 30 Polish monofloral honeys was tested, and definitely most of them were less active against P.

However, the activity of most of honeys against these pathogens was on satisfactory level, with MIC values in the range of concentrations from 6. Honey effectively eradicates biofilm formed by P. Activity of this product against this bacterium has been also confirmed in some in vivo studies. The stingless bee honey has been successfully used for treatment of P. The investigation carried out by the group of Khoo revealed that Tualang honey-treated rats demonstrated a reduction in bacterial growth in P.

Thus, activity of many potential wound dressing materials containing honey against this bacterium has been carried out. Most of them confirm high therapeutic antimicrobial potential of honey.

In addition, honeybees also produce propolis, wax, pollen, bee bread and royal jelly. All these products exhibit some antibacterial activity. However, from the point of view of possibilities of their application for prophylaxis or treatment of infections, definitely the most promising is propolis. It is a product of a very complex chemical composition, which depends on many factors; in particular, important are geographical location and plant base, which is available for honeybees when collecting their products.

Some of its ingredients, mainly polyphenols and flavonoids, exhibit high antimicrobial activity. As a consequence, it is used by honeybees as a hive disinfectant [ 40 ]. Ethanolic extracts of propolis exhibit high activity against wide spectrum of human and veterinary pathogenic microorganisms. The investigation carried out in our group revealed promising activity of Polish propolis against clinical isolates of azole-resistant yeasts of the genus Candida. In total susceptibility of 44 strains [ C.

Many studies also revealed high activity of propolis against Gram-positive bacteria, including as dangerous pathogens as S. It has been also confirmed that ethanolic extracts of propolis enhance activity of some antibiotics against staphylococci [ 44 ]. Some important Gram-negative bacteria also exhibit sensitivity to the components of propolis.

However, the research of propolis from different regions of the world is consistent and indicates that higher concentrations are necessary for elimination of E. Propolis belongs to the most popular products used for treatment infections in traditional medicine. During last several decades, its high antimicrobial potential has been confirmed with a large number of scientific publications.

We have no doubts that possibilities of application of this product in clinical medicine deserve consideration. Honey produced from some botanical sources exhibits high antimicrobial activity. Possibilities of application of this product for treatment infections in clinical practice should be the subject of intensive investigations in the near future.

Except of high activity, the most important advantages of this product are as follows:. However, it has to be notice that several important problems would have to be solved for more common application of honey for treatment infections. Summarizing we have no doubt that honey is an interesting and promising alternative to classical antibiotics and should be more seriously considered as therapeutic agents. Preparing the chapter was financed by the Grant No.

I am also grateful to Magdalena Pajor for her help in preparing the English version of the manuscript of the chapter. Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3. Science News. Journal Reference : P. Kwakman, A. Speijer, C. Vandenbroucke-Grauls, S. How honey kills bacteria.

ScienceDaily, 12 July