A Sweet Solve to Antibiotic Resistance

An age-old natural sweetener, honey has been utilized in folk medicine around the world, oftentimes as a topical wound dressing.  Honey is filled with healthful polyphenols, most  notably – phenolic acids, caffeic acid, p-coumaric acid and ellagic acid.  Susan M. Meschwitz, from Salve Regina University (Rhode Island, USA), and colleagues report that honey polyphenols exert  antimicrobial and antioxidant activities, with a large number of laboratory and limited clinical studies confirming the broad-spectrum antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral properties of honey.  The researchers have observed that honey has antioxidant properties and is an effective antibacterial.  Explaining that: “We have separated and identified the various antioxidant polyphenol compounds,” the lead author reports that: “In our antibacterial studies, we have been testing honey's activity against E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, among others."