The antibacterial property of honey determine its high value.
The ability of honey to eliminate or stop the spread of microorganisms is its antibacterial property. The extent of this quality depends on these factors contained in the honey:
- Phytoncides (essential oils) present in the nectar and pollen of flowering plants. - Ferments, essential in oxidation reactions and releasing of active oxygen which has antibacterial properties. These can be found in nectar and pollen, they are also secreted by special glands in bees. High content of ferments in honey suggests better antibacterial properties. - Acidity and active acidity pH.- Harmful microorganism cannot survive well in low acidity. Lower acidity levels suggests high antibacterial properties. The level of organic amino acids in honey is determined by the types of plants used by the bees, their fermenting activity and the ripeness of honey. - Sugars (glucose, fructose and maltose) When honey has a low water content (no more than 18%) sugars have an osmotic effect. Microorganism can not survive in high concentrations of sugars, giving honey good antibacterial properties. Source of sugars is nectar of plants and pollen. - Water. Amounts of water in honey depends on harvesting conditions, processing and storage as well as on the ripeness of honey. High water content in honey decreases its antibacterial properties.
Antibacterial properties of a particular batch of honey can vary from high to low depending on its chemical composition. We conduct analysis of the chemical composition for each batch of our honey. The consumer has the ability to review the test results of their jar of honey, please see section Mein Honey
Why are antibacterial properties of honey so important? It's not a secret, that microorganisms are the source of many illnesses, and current scientific research has not discovered all medicinal mysteries of honey. However, there exists enough scientific support that honey has a positive effect against many illnesses. In the chart below you can review names of infections and the Latin names of the microorganisms that cause these conditions. Quality honey has the ability to suppress the growth of these microorganisms. Today’s medicine uses modern techniques to treat medical conditions. Each doctor uses strict guidelines on how to treat each patient using particular methods and medicines. Doctors carry great responsibility in using only qualified medical approaches, that is why famous "Manuka honey" recommends consulting your practitioner. You doctor may recommend you using honey only as a supplement to a traditional medical regime. Never the less, we conduct chemical and physical analysis of our honey and its antibacterial properties to ultimately prove its high quality, and recommend the use of our honey as a preventative measure against various diseases. However, using honey as a treatment of any particular illness should only be advised by your practitioner. Typically many honey producers write a lot about how they recommend using their brand as a treatment against various diseases and then on the bottom of their page in small print state that you should first consult your practitioner. We do not wish to trick our customers and only recommend our product for preventative measures and not for treatment of any illnesses. Note that the pharmaceutical market exceeds 200 billion Euro each year, even though traditional synthetic medicines carry side effects. To this day official medicine will not recognize honey as an actual remedy, although honey has long been known to have medicinal properties. No honey producer will take on the responsibility of recommending honey as an actual treatment even though centuries ago, when no pharmaceutical medicine existed, honey was widely used as a medicine.
Illnesses
Pathogenic agent
Photo
Siberian ulcer
Bacillus anthracis
Bacillus anthracis
Diphtheria
Corynebacterium diphtheriae
Corynebacterium diphtheriae
Diphtheria, Sepsis (Blood poisoning), Infection of the urinary tract, infections of wounds
Escherichia coli
Escherichia coli
Pneumonia
Klebsiella pneumoniae
Klebsiella pneumoniae
Meningitis
Listeria monocytogenes
Listeria monocytogenes
Tuberculosis
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Sepsis (Blood poisoning), Infection of the urinary tract, infections of wounds
Quality control
