Last time, we discussed the osmolarity of honey and how it contributes to bacterial death. Besides its osmolarity, there are other mechanisms of action on how it contributes to bacterial death. Today, we will explore more on the other means on how it does this.

Honey as an Antibiotic

To those who are still not familiar, we have already established the antibiotic properties of honey. We talked about the highly concentrated nature of honey which dehydrates the cell by exerting this action. You may click on the link here to find out more.

Honey is known to have antibiotic properties.

I also mentioned how honey was used back in the earlier times as antibiotic. I won't go through this again but you can check on the historical context of its use in this link here

Hydrogen peroxide

It has been found that honey contains an enzyme called glucose oxidase, which breaks down glucose sugars and generates hydrogen peroxide, a potent antiseptic and antibiotic.

Hydrogen peroxide was used in medicine to treat wounds however its high concentration has been found to delay wound healing and even produce scars. The hydroxyl molecule (OH) of the Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) are highly reactive to organic and inorganic compounds when they come in contact with each other. It does this through the process of oxidation

Similar to how a sliced apple oxidizes when exposed to air, bacterial cells exposed to honey also decays. The bacterial cell wall gives off its extra electrons to honey causing its oxidation.

What is unique in honey's process of oxidation is how hydrogen peroxide is released in a slow and steady dose. When this liquid gold is used topically for a wound dressing, just like how the Romans did, its dilution with body fluids produces hydrogen peroxide in low but highly effective concentrations. It is because of this slow release of H2O2, which creates a less cytotoxic damage to the patient’s cells, providing a better method than applying H2O2 directly to wounds.

pH (Potential of Hydrogen)

We now move on to honey's Ph as a mechanism for its bacteriostasic activity. The pH of a substance is a numeric scale used to identify the acidity or alkalinity of an aqueous/liquid solution. A low pH signifies acidity and a high pH means alkalinity. You can refer to the chart below to see examples of substances with their respective pH.

It is already established that bacteria are killed in acidic environments. This is the reason why our stomachs are acidic, because they kill bacteria and helps digest our food. Most bacteria are unable to thrive in the acidic environment, which is the reason for their cell death.

The pH of honey is usually 3.4-3.5 to 7.0. Honey has this acidic property secondary to conversion of glucose into hydrogen peroxide and gluconic acid by glucose oxidase, as discussed above. The pH plays an important role in cellular function and altering the level of surrounding or internal pH can typically harm an organism, causing it to lose its functions and die from lack of cellular processes needed to live.

This asserts the question: "Should we stop eating honey if it is acidic in nature?"

Honey may be acidic, but, like lemons and citrus food, it becomes alkaline in the body. It can even be beneficial as it could alkalinize your system. It is recommended that a person's diet should be composed of 70 percent alkaline-forming and 30 percent acid-forming food. So honey comes to no surprise as a good source of this alkali.

Honey produces hydrogen peroxide in a slow and steady rate which is effective in producing an antibiotic effect. This release of H202 also promotes an acidic environment which bacteria fail to thrive in.

Sources:

Antimicrobial Effects of Honey
Hydrogen peroxide
maryam henein (Jun 9, 2014)
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