Have you got the infamous cold? Are you struggling with the influenza virus?
Don't reach straight for the antibiotics. The latest advice for Public Health England (PHE) as well as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is to have a spoon full of honey instead (Source). Along as honey being a sweet tasty thing, honey has an antibiotic feature. Studies that has been undertaken found that a spoonful that weighs around 10g reduced the number and severity of coughs - This was just after a day.
Honey helping to kill microbes isn't a completely new thing. It has been written in the world's oldest medical journals! Scientists have been researching it for countless years. But since the dawn of antibiotic resistance, interest as well as research into certain natural remedies such as honey have been accelerated. It's just honey seems not be the scientists' favourite natural antibiotic. With the most recent paper (that I've seen) being from August this year. This paper working out the benefits of a shocking 21 different types of honey from Mount Olympus - A mountain/nature park located within Greece.
One of the reason why honey kills microbes is because of the production of hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide is an alkali which has antiseptic properties. It is a colourless fluid, thicker than water and has the chemical formula of H2O2. It is toxic to most creatures - especially having a greater efficacy with bacteria, fungi and viruses. The level of hydrogen peroxide in honey depends on amount of glucose oxidase (an enzyme which breaks down glucose) that the bees have. Along with the amount of catalase (another enzymes) which the flower has.
But, you might have heard of a special type of honey linked to this science - Manuka honey. Manuka honey is different to many other honey types as it doesn't have the enzyme which makes hydrogen peroxide. Instead this honey has a high osmolarity rate meaning that has an impressive nature for taking up water. Honey will take water from anywhere. In this case, straight for the bacteria cell. Not only does high osmolarity help. So does the low pH value of honey. Or another way of saying that, the Honey's acidity kills bacteria. Honey, depending on the type, is normally in between the values 3.2 to 4.5 on the pH scale (See photo below). To those who doesn't understand pH, it is just a scale scientists using the categorise substances. Anything that is called acid will sit on the pH scale lower than the number 7 (See photo below). As a reference, water is neutral and stands at pH 7. Coke is an acid, going on the scale at 2.5 pH
The acidity stops bacterial from growing within honey.
So if you have the flu or cold this year. Will you reach for the honey jar?
Links
http://www.msn.com/en-gb/health/familyhealth/forget-unnecessary-antibiotics-reach-for-the-honey-jar-instead/ar-BBQMUTk?ocid=ientp
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3609166/
Don't reach straight for the antibiotics. The latest advice for Public Health England (PHE) as well as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is to have a spoon full of honey instead (Source). Along as honey being a sweet tasty thing, honey has an antibiotic feature. Studies that has been undertaken found that a spoonful that weighs around 10g reduced the number and severity of coughs - This was just after a day.
Honey helping to kill microbes isn't a completely new thing. It has been written in the world's oldest medical journals! Scientists have been researching it for countless years. But since the dawn of antibiotic resistance, interest as well as research into certain natural remedies such as honey have been accelerated. It's just honey seems not be the scientists' favourite natural antibiotic. With the most recent paper (that I've seen) being from August this year. This paper working out the benefits of a shocking 21 different types of honey from Mount Olympus - A mountain/nature park located within Greece.
One of the reason why honey kills microbes is because of the production of hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide is an alkali which has antiseptic properties. It is a colourless fluid, thicker than water and has the chemical formula of H2O2. It is toxic to most creatures - especially having a greater efficacy with bacteria, fungi and viruses. The level of hydrogen peroxide in honey depends on amount of glucose oxidase (an enzyme which breaks down glucose) that the bees have. Along with the amount of catalase (another enzymes) which the flower has.
But, you might have heard of a special type of honey linked to this science - Manuka honey. Manuka honey is different to many other honey types as it doesn't have the enzyme which makes hydrogen peroxide. Instead this honey has a high osmolarity rate meaning that has an impressive nature for taking up water. Honey will take water from anywhere. In this case, straight for the bacteria cell. Not only does high osmolarity help. So does the low pH value of honey. Or another way of saying that, the Honey's acidity kills bacteria. Honey, depending on the type, is normally in between the values 3.2 to 4.5 on the pH scale (See photo below). To those who doesn't understand pH, it is just a scale scientists using the categorise substances. Anything that is called acid will sit on the pH scale lower than the number 7 (See photo below). As a reference, water is neutral and stands at pH 7. Coke is an acid, going on the scale at 2.5 pH
 |
| The pH scale. 1 is the lowest and 14 is the highest |
So if you have the flu or cold this year. Will you reach for the honey jar?
Links
http://www.msn.com/en-gb/health/familyhealth/forget-unnecessary-antibiotics-reach-for-the-honey-jar-instead/ar-BBQMUTk?ocid=ientp
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3609166/
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