by Caroline Petvin
(Health Secrets) We recently looked at how honey was successfully being used to treat wounds that refused to heal, but now it seems that honey can also be used to fight common and life threatening bacterial infections that are resistant to antibiotics, such as MRSA.
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The laboratory research behind these new claims was undertaken at the University of Wales Institute in Cardiff, UK, and was presented at a meeting of the Society for General Microbiology. It aimed to show the impact of a particular type of honey, manuka honey, on life threatening bacterial infections that are antibiotic resistant and cause serious infection such as MRSA. The research was in response to a recent report by the World Health Organization highlighting particular concerns over these types of bacteria.
Although medical experts have been aware of honey’s healing and bacteria fighting properties for some time, it is not yet widely used to fight life threatening bacterial infections, as the exact mechanism it uses to combat bacteria is not known. The properties that scientists believe make it useful in fighting bacterial infections include:
A high sugar content
A low water content
Low acidity
Hydrogen peroxide content
Phytochemical content
Honey is known to have an impact on around 80 different pathogens that cause infections, including those that have become resistant to antibiotics.
Manuka honey is a particular type of honey made from nectar collected by bees foraging on the manuka tree in New Zealand. It is thought to be especially effective at fighting life threatening bacteria infections because it contains dihydroxyacetone which produces methylglyoxal, a substance with antibacterial and cell killing properties.
What did the research show?