Honey and Its Derivatives: A New Perspective on Its Antimicrobial Activities

Abstract

Honey is a well-known and historically important sweet food which possesses immense antimicrobial properties. Numerous varieties of honey are present in nature, and all of these honey varieties contain certain key ingredients, which confer upon them various antimicrobial properties. These antimicrobial key ingredients include polyphenolic compounds, hydrogen peroxide, methylglyoxal, and bee-defensin among several others. Honey is nowadays used extensively in modern medicine as potent antibiotic for the treatment of surface wounds and burns. It is also used in combination with other antibiotics to treat antibiotic resistance. As an antifungal agent, honey is used to treat the athlete’s foot (tinea pedis), jock itch (tinea cruris), and ringworm of face, scalp, nail, and hand (tinea corporus). In this chapter, we aim to provide a brief overview of various types of honey and their composition and describe extensively its various antimicrobial properties and how these properties are exploited in modern medicine as an alternative to popular therapeutics or in conjunction with it.