Antimicrobial Properties of Honey

Abstract

Honey has been widely accepted as food and medicine by all generations, traditions, and civilizations, both ancient and modern. For at least 2700 years, honey has been used by humans to treat a variety of ailments through topical application, but only recently have the antiseptic and antimicrobial properties of honey been discovered. Honey has been reported to be effective in a number of human pathologies. Clinical studies have demonstrated that application of honey to severely infected cutaneous wounds rapidly clears infection from the wound and improves tissue healing. A large number of in vitro and limited clinical studies have confirmed the broad-spectrum antimicrobial (antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, and antimycobacterial) properties of honey, which may be attributed to the acidity (low pH), osmotic effect, high sugar concentration, presence of bacteriostatic and bactericidal factors (hydrogen peroxide, antioxidants, lysozyme, polyphenols, phenolic acids, flavonoids, methylglyoxal, and bee peptides), and increase in cytokine release, and to immune modulating and anti-inflammatory properties of honey; the antimicrobial action involves several mechanisms. Despite a large amount of data confirming the antimicrobial activity of honey, there are no studies that support the systemic use of honey as an antibacterial agent.

Colour Intensity, Polyphenol Content and Antibacterial Capacity of Unheated and Heat-Treated Sahara Honey

“…Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was used to determine the lowest concentration of honey-in-water solution (w/v) at which the percentage inhibition is almost 100% [21,22]. The MIC before and after heat-treatment of SH hydrogen peroxide, although involved in antibacterial action [27][28][29][30][31][32]. Two important enzymes known to contribute to the major biological proprieties of honey are bee-origin glucose oxidase and floral-origin catalase [33].…”

Antioxidant Effect of Natural Honeys Affected by Their Source and Origin

“…The consumption of honey is increasing because of its benefi cial biological properties, including antioxidant and antibacterial activities [Montenegro & Mejias, 2013]. A large number of in vitro and limited clinical studies have confi rmed the broad-spectrum antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, and antimycobacterial properties of honey, to immune modulating and anti-infl ammatory properties of honey [Israili, 2014]. In our previous study, we tested potential antimicrobial activity of selected honeys against four species of bacteria (Escherichia coli CCM 3988, Pseudomonas aeroginosa CCM 1960, Staphylococcus epidermis CCM 4418, Bacillus cereus CCM 2010) and two species of yeasts (Saccharomyces cerevisiae CCM 8191, Candida albicans CCM 8216).…”

Decontamination Strategies for a Few Potentially Pathogenic and Food Spoilage Causing, Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Isolated From Commonly Used Food Garnishes

“…black pepper, dry chilli pepper, honey and kasuri methi, did not show any growth or showed only minimal growth (Figure 1) and were therefore eliminated from further studies. The observed result for these four garnishes could be due to the fact that these four garnishes have also been documented as spices and condiments with antimicrobial properties (Israili, 2014;Keskin, 2011;Reddy, 2004;Yadav, 2014). For each of the twelve remaining food garnishes, colonies with different characteristics were chosen for further characterization.…”