Vindication! Thank you, science
What gives honey its antibiotic properties has been figured out.
A new research published in the July 2010 print edition of the FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org) explains for the first time how honey kills bacteria. Specifically, the research shows that bees make a protein that they add to the honey, called defensin-1, which could one day be used to treat burns and skin infections and to develop new drugs that could combat antibiotic-resistant infections.
I've been dabbing honey on minor injuries for years, often with good results (read: better than Neosporin, or nothing at all, and sometimes with very quick healing); it is good to know there's more going on than some kind of placebo effect, though the article is quick to emphasize "medical-grade" honey, and I don't know wtf that means.
A new research published in the July 2010 print edition of the FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org) explains for the first time how honey kills bacteria. Specifically, the research shows that bees make a protein that they add to the honey, called defensin-1, which could one day be used to treat burns and skin infections and to develop new drugs that could combat antibiotic-resistant infections.
I've been dabbing honey on minor injuries for years, often with good results (read: better than Neosporin, or nothing at all, and sometimes with very quick healing); it is good to know there's more going on than some kind of placebo effect, though the article is quick to emphasize "medical-grade" honey, and I don't know wtf that means.