Honey: Antimicrobial Actions and Role in Disease Management

Abstract

The ancient treatment of dressing infected wounds wi.th honey is rapidly becoming re-established in professional medicine, especially where wounds are infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria. This is because ofthe demonstrated sensitivity of such bacteria to the antibacterial activity ofhauey, which is not influenced by whether or not strains are resistant to antibiotics. Honey has been found to have a very broad spectrum of activity, but its potency of antibacterial activity can vary greatly. In most honeys the antibacterial activity is due to enzymatically produced hydrogen peroxide and thus the potency of its antibacterial activity can be decreased by catalase present in an open wound. Manuka honey has an antibacterial component derived from the plant source. Manuka honey with a quality-assured level of antibacterial activity is being used by companies marketing honey products for wound care that are registered with the medical regulatory authorities in various countries. Such honey can be diluted IO-fold or more and still completely inhibitthe usual wound-infecting species. There is a large amount of clinical evidence for the effectiveness of honey in clearing infection in wounds, and some clinical evidence of its effectiveness in treating other infections. Although the antibacterial potency of honey is insufficient to allow its use systemically, there are various clinical applications besides wound care in which it is used topically or where it does not get excessively diluted, such as for treatment of gastritis, enteritis, gingivitis, ophthalmological infections and bronchial infections. In most of these applications the anti-inflammatory activity of honey is of additional benefit in decreasing the inflammation resulting from infection. Additional clinical research is needed to provide better evidence of the effectiveness of honey in these therapeutic applications of honey.New Strategies CombClting Bacterial Infection. Edited by Iqbal Ahmad and Farrukh Aqii

Gelam and Nenas Honeys Inhibit Proliferation of HT 29 Colon Cancer Cells by Inducing DNA Damage and Apoptosis while Suppressing Inflammation

“…The medicinal benefit of honey is widely gaining attention all over the world based on promising scientific evidences. It has been reported to be effective in gastrointestinal disorders (Mobarok & Al Swaye, 2003), in the healing of wounds and burns (Subrahmanyam et al, 2001;Molan, 2006), and as an antimicrobial or antibacterial agent (Chambers, 2006;Kucuk et al, 2007;Molan, 2009).…”

The post-antibiotic effect of manuka honey on gastrointestinal pathogens

“…It is possible that the multidisciplinary activities in manuka honey [1,7] have different modes of bactericidal action on different species. The activities in the honey may be especially effective against some species (P. aeruginosa and Y. enterocolitica) and moderately effective with most other species (E. coli, Salmonella, Enterobacter and Shigella) used in this study.…”

Honey, an unexplored topical wound dressing agent in Nigerian veterinary practice

“…Honey potentials in wound healing has been associated with its multiple bioactive components that help to expedite healing process (Molan & Rhodes, 2015). Honey antibacterial property has been well elucidated in literature (Molan, 2009;Molan, 2011). Its pH is acidic (3.2-4.5) which makes it less favourable to protease activity.…”