Conventional antibiotics are very commonly prescribed and overly consumed as well, almost as if they are not antibiotic medicines but just toffee and candy. The 2010 data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that a whopping 833 antibiotic prescriptions are handed out on an average for every 1,000 people who visit doctors. True, this is a staggering number.
Antibiotics Can Make You Sick In The Long Run
Doctors around the world carelessly prescribe antibiotics for numerous viral, bacterial, fungal, and other infections. The matters get worse by over-prescription and over-consumption of antibiotics, which makes future infections harder to fight as the use of antibiotics deplete numerous beneficial bacteria in the gut. This means that the use of conventional antibiotics make people more prone to infections and more vulnerable to diseases, making them sick in the long run. This disturbing trend led to scientists to look for simpler solutions to diseases.
Thankfully, a study conducted by researchers from the Salve Regina University situated in Newport, Rhode Island rediscovered many reasons why raw honey, till date, is one of the best natural antibiotics available.
Honey Can Fight Multiple Infections
The lead author of the findings at the 247th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society reported that honey contains unique properties, which make it efficient in fighting infections on multiple levels. This ensures that it makes it difficult for bacteria to develop resistance as well, which means that is does not promote resistant bacteria in the gut, unlike conventional antibiotics.
Honey has been found to use a combination of weapons that include polyphenols, hydrogen peroxide, and can also carry out osmosis. The fact that honey is an ambidextrous fighter makes it efficient to use multiple modalities in the act of killing bacteria, and one of these methods is osmosis. The honey’s high sugar concentration makes it possible for this golden liquid to draw water from the bacterial cells and leave the pathogens no other option but to die of dehydration.
How Honey Breaks Bacterial Communication
Honey can effectively stop the formation of biofilms. Slimy biofilms are nothing but communities of bacteria that harbor diseases. What honey does is that it keeps these biofilms from congregating by breaking the process of bacterial communication, which is called quorum sensing. When the bacteria cannot communicate well, they cannot work well in the body. Without bacterial communication, bacteria also cannot release the toxins that would increase their ability to cause diseases. The virulent behavior of bacteria is, thus, weakened by honey and the bacteria becomes more susceptible to conventional antibiotic medicines.
Honey Is Antiviral, Antifungal, And An Antioxidant Too
Honey is also antiviral and anti-fungal in nature. This already makes it more powerful than conventional antibiotics. This golden elixir has been found to possess so much power that it can target undetected fungal conditions that might be the root cause of a perpetual illness as well.
Honey is also a powerful antioxidant containing various antioxidant polyphenol compounds. It has been found to protect against the various disease-causing microbes such as E. coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Staphylococcus aureus, to name a few.
Honey First, Not Conventional Antibiotics
Honey is so powerful in destroying bacteria that it has been suggested to be the first choice that doctors should make, while treating bacterial illnesses. This is also due to honey’s ability to attack bacteria on multiple platforms. Prescription of conventional antibiotics should only be an alternative therapy or the last resort while treating diseases. Honey has been proved to be more powerful than other antibiotics as it prevents the formation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria as well. The main reason why conventional antibiotics fail is due to their specific targets at essential growth processes of bacteria and destruction of good bacteria in the gut over time.
Honey is quite different as it breaks down the bacteria’s communication processes, dehydrates them through osmosis, and kills them. Honey’s high content of polyphenols make it a great antioxidant and the correlation between non-peroxide antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of honey and the presence of honey phenolics make it quite efficient in curing and preventing diseases.
