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Honey is a delicious, nutritious food to eat and some honey varieties, such as Manuka honey, offer many health benefits. Antimicrobial and antioxidant properties, enhanced wound healing and tissue regeneration capacity, and inhibiting the growth of cancer, are some of its medicinal actions.
The medicinal activity of honey is due to the plant sourced for nectar by bees. Manuka honey is produced from the nectar of flowers of the Manuka tree (Leptospermum scoparium) and contains carbohydrate, minerals, protein, fatty acids, flavonoids and is rich in phenolic content. Some of its constituents make it effective against many pathogens.
Manuka honey contains an unusually high content of methylglyoxal (MGO) – the dominant antibacterial constituent of Manuka honey.
Unique Manuka Factor (UMF) rating refers to the phenols and methylglyoxal content of the honey. The higher the UMF, the more antibacterial action it offers. This action alters the size and shape of the bacterium it comes in contact with reducing its ability to survive and grow.
Hydrogen peroxide content offers antibacterial action.
Acidic pH. Honey's acidic value is commonly found between 3.2 and 4.5. This low pH offers an inhibitory action to several bacterial pathogens.
Antimicrobial peptide - bee defensin-1 - a distinct mechanism involved in the bactericidal activity of honey.
Manuka honey may offer an alternative antibacterial treatment against antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Antibiotics are created to treat infection caused by specific group of pathogens, targeting the composition of their cell envelope. Bacteria strains are categorized as either gram-positive or gram negative - based on Gram stain (dye) which binds differently to the cell wall. Gram-positive bacteria have thick walls which stains easily whilst gram-negative bacteria have thinner walls which do not retain stain.
The cell envelope of bacteria is made of a peptidoglycan wall (layers of sugar and amino acids which forms a mesh-like layer outside the plasma membrane of the bacteria). The peptidoglycan is a defining feature of bacterial cell wall.
Gram-positive bacteria
The thick peptidoglycan wall of gram-positive bacteria help it to survive extreme conditions and is considered the leading cause of bacterial infections. It is easily transmitted thriough skin-to-skin contact or by inhalation from airborne infection.
Gram-negative bacteria
Gram-negative bacteria contain 3 layers – an inner bi-lipid layer, a thin peptidoglycan layer and an outer membrane. The outer membrane offers protection against destructive agents – such as antibiotics. Gram-negative bacteria are commonly found in hospital-acquired antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections and the immune compromised.
Bacteria can also create extra-cellular biofilms. Biofilms are multicellular colonies of microbes which work together in a symbiotic relationship creating a sustainable, protective environment and can withstand destruction. Biofilms create their own extra-cellular matrix which hold it together. They are able to adhere to any surface and can be resistant to immune defences and many antimicrobials.
Honey was shown to reduce biofilm mass – killing bacterial cells within the biofilm matrix.
As an alternative natural antibiotic, Manuka honey reduces microbial infections, stimulates immune defences and tissue-healing processes. It offers an antibacterial activity against a broad spectrum of organisms with potent activity against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria– including multi-drug resistant microbes.
Note: Skin infections should be treated with a specific manuka honey medical product
Honey contains the oligosaccharides - prebiotics which promote the growth of good bacteria (lactobacilli and bifidobacteria) in the gut, making manuka honey beneficial for digestive health.
Manuka honey contains high amounts of antioxidants and may offer many therapeutic benefits for health. Cardiovascular disease, diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases.
Choose products with a UMF or MGO label for antibacterial rating. The higher the rating is considered to have a higher antibacterial action - which may be needed in treating some bacterial infections. For topical use - a specific medical honey should be sort.