#Honey Inhibits the Growth of Bacteria, Researchers Say

Kyle J. Norton

Scientists may have found a natural alternative for the treatment of bad breath, according to studies. Bad breath also known as halitosis, is a condition caused by an unpleasant odor of the mouth.

The causes of bad breath may result from a combination of food, tobacco products, poor dental hygiene, health problems, dry mouth, oral infections, dental problems, or medications.

However, chemicals produced by some diseases, such as some cancers, and metabolic disorders, can cause a distinctive breath odor.

Chronic reflux of stomach acids (gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD) may be considered a major cause of bad breath in older adults.

The most common treatment for bad breath in the Western world is the use of mouth rinses and toothpaste if the bad breath is the result of bacterial infection.


People with bad breath due to loss dentures may need to see their dentists for correction.

However, if bad breath is associated with dental diseases such as gum disease then seeing a related field specialist may be necessary.

Some researchers suggested that obesity is also tied to bad breath. The Tel Aviv University in examining the risk of bad breath in obese wrote, " the more overweight you are, the more likely your breath will smell unpleasant to those around you".

Honey is a miraculous product made by bees using nectar from flowers.

The rich golden liquid is considered one of the healthy sweet foods for replacing the use of white sugar and artificial sweeteners by many people.

Researchers with an aim to find a natural remedy for the treatment of bad breath examined the Manuka honey anti-oral halitosis activity.

Manuka honey contains the typical antibacterial substance methylglyoxal (MGO) which has been found to process a strong antibacterial activity against oral bacteria.

The study to compare the before and after intake of Manuka honey or Acacia honey and their halitosis effect included 10 healthy subjects (average age: 36 years old, 5 men and 5 women).


The concentrations of volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs) produced by the oral bacteria and anaerobic bacteria in the mouth decreased after intake of both honey, but faster in the Manuka honey compared to those of Acacia honey.

Manuka honey showed a 127 times higher amount of MGO than acacia honey, according to analysis.

These results clearly suggested that the efficacy of honey in the inhibition of bad breath was attributed to the strong antibacterial activity of MGO.

In order to reveal more information about honey's anti-bad breath activity, researchers investigated the effect of honey in preventing gingivitis and dental caries.

In a total of 20 female orthodontic patients between the ages from12–and 18 participated in this randomized controlled study, Researchers compared the effect of honey with either 10% sucrose or 10% sorbitol that served as positive and negative controls.

Honey injection showed significant differences in pH compared to the pH observed in the sorbitol group. The maximum pH drop occurred at 5 min in both the honey and sucrose groups and the pH following sucrose exposure fell <5.5 and was associated with a 30 min recovery time.

Furthermore, bacterial counts were in the honey treatment group significantly reduced compared to the other treatment groups.


Moreover, honey also significantly inhibited the growth of all studied strains compared to the inhibition observed with antibiotics.

Taken together, honey, particularly, Manuka honey or Acacia honey may be considered functional remedies for the prevention and treatment of bad breath, pending the confirmation of a larger sample size and multicenter human study.


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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All rights reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10,000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, Best Before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for Shorty Award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as the international journal Pharma ISSN 0975-6299.

Sources
(1) Decrease of halitosis by intake of manuka honey by H. SHIGA, A. JO, Keiji Terao Kobe University. (Research Gate)
(2) Effect of honey in preventing gingivitis and dental caries in patients undergoing orthodontic treatment by AL-Dany A. Atwa, a Ramadan Y. AbuShahba, a Marwa Mostafa,b and Mohamed I. Hashemc. (PMC)
(3) Overweight People More Likely To Have Bad Breath, Study Finds by the Tel Aviv University