Honey has been used traditionally for ages to treat infectious diseases. These amazing properties of honey are complex as a result of the involvement of various bioactive compounds. Honey is becoming sustainable as a reputable and effective therapeutic agent to practitioners of conventional medicine and to the general public. Its beneficial role has been endorsed due to its antimicrobial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant activities as well as boosting of the immune system. Also, other medical conditions discussed here which can be treated with honey include but not limited to diarrhea, gastric ulcer, canine recurrent dermatitis, diabetics, tumor, and arthritis, and honey can also be used for skin disinfection and wound healing.
Anti-Bacterial and would Healing Activity
The medicinal importance of honey has been known since ancient times and its antimicrobial property as well as wound-healing activities was well-known long ago. The first written reference for honey was a Sumerian tablet writing dating back to 2100-2000 BC, which mentioned honey’s use as a drug and an ointment. Aristotle (384-322 BC), when discussing different honeys, referred to pale honey as being “good as a salve for sore eyes and wounds. The healing property of honey is due to the fact that it offers anti-bacterial activity, maintains a moist wound condition, and its high viscosity helps to provide a protective barrier to prevent infection. Its immune-modulatory property is relevant to wound repair, too.
Nowadays, with the presence of multi-drug or pan-drug-resistant microbes, alternative anti-microbial strategies are urgently needed. This need has led to a re-evaluation of the therapeutic use of ancient remedies, such as plants and plant-based products, including honey. The antimicrobial activity in most honeys is due to the enzymatic production of hydrogen peroxide. However, another kind of honey, called non-peroxide honey, displays significant anti-bacterial effects even when the hydrogen peroxide activity is blocked.
There are several reports that honey has variable broad spectrum activities against many different kinds of gram positive and enteric bacteria. Honey, unlike glucose, the antibacterial properties. Honeys are light- and heat-stable. Natural honey of other sources can vary as much as 100-fold in the potency of their antibacterial activities, which is due to hydrogen peroxide. In addition, honey is hygroscopic, which means that it can draw moisture out of the environment and dehydrate bacteria, and its high sugar content and low level pH can also prevent the microbes from growth.
Moreover, bee honey is a solution of supersaturated sugar; these sugars prevent the thriving of microorganisms (bacteria and yeast) due to their high affinity for water molecules, thereby leaving little or no water to support their growth. As a result microbes become dehydrated and die in the end. Naturally, the acidity of honey. Prevents microbial growth, and usual pH of most of the pathogenic microbes ranges between 4.0 and 4.5. Be that as it may, the major antimicrobial potential has been reported to be due to hydrogen peroxide activity, a product of the glucose-oxidase enzyme oxidation of glucose, especially in diluted form of honey. The decomposition of hydrogen peroxide produces profoundly reactive free radicals, which respond and kill microbes. By and large, this honey property could easily be terminated in the presence of heat or due to catalase activity.
Conclusion that honey mainly consists of sugars and water, but also contains several vitamins, especially B complex and vitamin C, together with a lot of minerals. Honey has been used for its healing, nutritional and therapeutic properties since ancient times. It possesses anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties that may be beneficial for combating multi-drug resistant bacteria as well as for preventing chronic inflammatory processes, such as atherosclerosis and diabetes mellitus.
Honey has antibacterial properties also it has wound healing activity. Honey possesses anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory capacities, which may be useful in chronic inflammation process such as atherosclerosis and diabetes mellitus.
Reference:
Honey Analysis
Longdom Publishing SL
BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies
SAGE Journals
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