Honey Blocks Communications Between Bacteria

Quorum Sensing Inhibitory and Antimicrobial Activities of Honeys and the Relationship with Individual Phenolics
Food Chemistry, Article in Press

Quorum sensing (QS) inhibitory activity of 29 unifloral honeys was evaluated using the bacterial model Cromobacterium violaceum. The tested honeys were able to inhibit the production of acyl-homoserine lactones (AHLs) produced by C. violaceum at 0.1 g/ml.

However, chestnut and linden honey samples showed the highest inhibitory activity, while orange and rosemary were less effective in inhibiting QS. When honey samples from the same floral origin obtained from different geographical regions were compared, they showed similar QS inhibitory activity.

Thus, one of the factors which influence the inhibitory activity could be derived from the floral origin, independently of the geographic location. It was observed that unifloral honey samples showed “non-peroxide” anti-QS activity, which was not linearly correlated with total and individual phenolic compounds.

The obtained results showed that the preservative properties of honey could be due to both the antimicrobial properties and the QS inhibitory capacity.

Mimosa Pollen Has High Antioxidant Activity

Antioxidant Activity of Sonoran Desert Bee Pollen
Food Chemistry, Article in Press

Bee pollen (pollen collected by honey bees) was collected in the high intensity ultraviolet (UV) Sonoran desert and analyzed by the DPPH (radical 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryhydrazyl) assay and the FRAP (ferric reducing-antioxidant power) assay on six different pollen samples and in eight different water miscible solvents at 50 mg/ml…

The Mimosa pollen sample displayed the highest antioxidant activity. Total polyphenolics, flavanols, flavones were determined, and the results are reported in milligrams of gallic acid, quercetin and naringenin per gram of pollen, respectively.

There was good correlation between antioxidant activity and total phenolics. The order of effectiveness of the pollen samples in regard to antioxidant activity was determined and the most effective extraction solvents are discussed. Finally, solid phase micro-extraction, coupled with gas chromatography- mass spectroscopy was utilized to identify and quantify polyphenolic compounds known to have free radical scavenging activity in the pollen samples.

Bees Can 'Count', New Study Shows

Bees are able to recognise numbers up to four, according to the results of an Australian study into insect numeracy.
By Matthew Moore, The Telegraph (UK), 1/27/2009

Scientists had believed that counting abilities were exclusive to vertebrates but the new research suggests that insects also possess rudimentary number awareness.

Tests showed that honeybees were able to tell the difference between patterns containing two and three dots, and researchers believe they could be trained to recognise four dot patterns as well.

The bees do not technically "count" but are able to notice and recall how many dots they see, according to the team at the ARC Centre of Excellence in Vision Science in Australia who carried out the research.

"We never expected to find such abilities in insects," said Dr Shaowu Zhang, chief investigator at the centre.

"Our feeling now is that – so far as these very basic skills go – there is probably no boundary between insects, animals and us."

In the study, bees were flown into a maze through an entrance marked with either two or three dots. They had to remember this number when the maze forked into two paths – one marked with two dots, the other with three – in order to reach a sugar-water reward…

The team's paper, Number-based visual generalisation in the honeybee, appears in the international journal Plos One…

Call for Papers for Apitherapy Conference in Germany

7th German Apitherapy Congress, Expo and Workshops with International Participation

When: March 26-31, 2009
Where: Passau, Germany, Hotel IBB

Contact Dr. Stefan Stangaciu, president of the German Apitherapy Society: drstangaciu@apitherapie.de and drstangaciu@apitherapy.com

Official languages will be English and German, but questions, comments and discussions can be translated from many other languages such as French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Romanian, Slovenian, Slovakian, Russian, Japanese, and Arabic.

Propolis Has Radioprotective Effect on Human Cells

Evaluation of Radioprotective Effects of Propolis and Its Flavonoid Constituents: In Vitro Study on Human White Blood Cells
Phytotherapy Research, 2009 Jan 22

This in vitro study aimed to evaluate the possible radioprotective effects of the natural substances WSDP, caffeic acid, chrysin and naringin on gamma-irradiated human white blood cells…

The results obtained by the alkaline comet study indicate favourable toxicity profiles of propolis and its polyphenolic components, and confirmed the radioprotective abilities comparable to the chemical radioprotector AET. WSDP and its polyphenolic components were able to reduce the number of necrotic cells.

None of tested compounds induced significant genotoxicity, but all of them offered a quite measurable protection against DNA damage. WSDP was found to be the most effective in diminishing the levels of primary and more complex cytogenetic DNA damage in white blood cells.

Considering its complex composition, to undoubtedly explain the underlying mechanisms of cyto/radioprotective effects, further studies are needed.

Thai Firm Launches Royal Jelly Skin Care Line

Watsons’ Bees Swarm Around Siam Square
ThaiPR.net, 1/28/2009

Watsons, Your Personal Store, launched its latest skincare collection ‘Be Gorgeous’ by arranging a swarm of beautiful bees to create a real live buzz by distributing sample products to passersby at Siam Square. Be Gorgeous products are infused with natural Royal Jelly, acknowledged for its moisture preserving and gentle nourishing qualities…

Honey Recommended for Skin Care, Throat Pain, Coughs

More Uses For Honey
St Louis Post-Dispatch, 1/23/2009

Make a soothing facial treatment: Blend 2 tablespoons of honey with 1/2 cup of ground oatmeal. Add a few teaspoons of water to thin the consistency to preferences. After cleansing your face, apply the mixture evenly. After 30 minutes, remove with a soft, damp washcloth. Admire your glowing skin!

Enjoy a milk and honey bath: Add around 1/3 cup of honey to 2 1/4 cups of milk. Mix thoroughly. You can even add a few drops of essential oil to give your honey milk bath additional scent. Place into your bath water and enjoy.

Treat minor skin abrasions and wounds. Honey has been shown to be a good antibacterial and antifungal agent and has mild anti-inflammatory properies. Apply a small amount to a wound or burn to keep unhealthy bacteria at bay and speed up the healing process.

Make a soothing honey body moisturizer. Mix 1/2 cup of honey with 1 cup of cold water and a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar. Mix thoroughly and apply to your entire body after your shower.

Relieve sore throat pain. Mix honey with a little lemon juice and take several teaspoons a day when you have a sore throat. This has wonderful soothing properties for a sore throat.

Stop a cough. The same mixture of honey and lemon juice used for sore throat pain can help relieve the symptoms of a cough.

Mix honey with olive oil and apply to the end of your hair to combat dryness and reduce friziness. Leave in your hair for 20 minute with a hot towel wrapped around it. Rinse and shampoo as normal...

Honeybees Can Recognise a Face

Monash University, 1/27/2009

New research from Monash University bee researcher Adrian Dyer could lead to improved artificial intelligence systems and computer programs for facial recognition.

Dr Dyer is one of Australia's leading bee experts and his latest research shows that honeybees can learn to recognise human faces even when seen from different viewpoints.

Dr Dyer said the research could be applied in the areas of new technology, particularly the development of imaging systems.

"What we have shown is that the bee brain, which contains less than 1 million neurons, is actually very good at learning to master complex tasks. Computer and imaging technology programmers who are working on solving complex visual recognition tasks using minimal hardware resources will find this research useful," Dr Dyer said.

"Most current artificial intelligence (AI) recognition systems perform poorly at reliably recognising faces from different viewpoints. However the bees have shown they can recognise novel views of rotated faces using a mechanism of interpolating or image averaging previously learnt views."

The findings show that despite the highly constrained neural resources of the insects (their brains are 0.01 per cent the size of the human brain) their ability has evolved so that they're able to process complex visual recognition tasks…

U.S. Firm Offers Beeswax-Based Skin Care Products

Clarksville Home to Honey-Based Products
News-Leader (USA), 1/26/2009

Q: I am trying to find out about a product for dry, chapped skin that's made from honey, and it's made in Missouri. I think it was invented by a nurse. It's supposed to be from the St. Louis area, but I can't find it. Please help. Thanks.

-Victoria L. Thornton, Springfield

A: That's the Bee Naturals company based in Clarksville about an hour north of St. Louis. Barbara Chappuis, R.N., developed skin-cream bars for her own use after having trouble with cracked, raw hands from using harmful substances in her hospital work environment.

The ingredients are all-natural and therapeutic and are very popular in winter months for customers including farmers and children. Chappuis' formula includes unbleached beeswax and oils from coconuts, castor beans, olives, wheat germ and herbs.

Products have expanded from the cream bars to lip balm, cuticle and nail oil and skin cleansers, plus a line for babies and another for men.

You can visit the original shop and factory in Clarksville and tour the facilities. What you'll see depends on what product is being made at the time, as there are various procedures. To find out details about hours and products, visit http://www.beenaturals.com/ or call 877-499-3897...

Honey Laundering: Tainted Product Still Slips Easily Into U.S.

By Andrew Schneider, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 1/25/2009

Concealing discoveries of contaminated imported honey is immoral, unethical and often illegal -- and it happens far too often, U.S. honey producers say.

"It doesn't take a wizard to determine whether there are bad things in the honey we handle, nor a hero to do what it takes to keep it from our food supply," said Mark Brady, a Texas beekeeper who sits on the National Honey Board.

"If we buy Chinese honey, as we do far too often, we know it may contain chloramphenicol or some other antibiotic that is illegal in any food product," said Brady, who produces about a million pounds of honey a year. "To find it and not report it is criminal."

Two-thirds of the honey Americans consume is imported and almost half of that, regardless of what's on the label, comes from China, the Seattle P-I reported last month.

The newspaper's five-month investigation into honey laundering -- the intentional mislabeling of the country of origin -- found that tons of Chinese honey coming into the U.S. is tainted with banned antibiotics.

But when the contamination is discovered by the industry through internal testing, insiders say, federal health or customs officials are almost never notified, and the honey ends up being dumped back on the market.

That practice is wrong, said Kenneth Haff, the newly elected president of American Honey Producers…

5 Medicinal Benefits of Bee Products

Bee Products are Generating a Lot of Buzz
By Adam Voiland, Chicago Daily Herald, 1/26/2009

U.S. News & World Report scoured the medical literature to find five situations in which today's best scientific evidence suggests that our six-legged, pollen-toting pals can help, and five for which the jury's still out.

Bee products can help if...

1. You have a burn. Seared your hand while baking? No worries. Of the many supposed medical benefits of honey, few have been studied as extensively as its soothing effect on burns. In fact, a review published in October in Cochrane Reviews synthesized data from multiple studies and concluded that honey reduces healing time more than conventional gauze and film dressings that are often used to treat moderate burns.

2. You have an infected foot or leg ulcer that's slow to heal. Nope, this doesn't mean that downing a teaspoon of honey will make the gaping ulcer on your leg magically disappear. In fact, treating an ulcer with honey doesn't involve eating even a drop of honey…

3. You have a cough. If you think over-the-counter cough medications actually help, think again. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been questioning the value of these medicines, and the agency has warned that children under the age of 2 should never use them because of potential side effects.

What are parents to do when they've got a sneezing, sniffling, coughing kid on their hands? A spoonful of buckwheat honey might be a good place to start. Researchers at Penn State College of Medicine recently compared honey with a cough suppressant called dextromethorphan and found that honey worked better.

4. You have Fournier's gangrene. Fournier's gangrene, a frightening type of gangrene that mainly affects men, is caused by a bacterial infection that infiltrates the genital region. Though quite rare, the combination of virulent and aggressive microbes that cause the problem can result in organ failure and death. Thankfully, honey seems to help...

5. You're infected with MRSA. Methicillin-resistant Staph aureus has long been a threat in hospitals, and the antibiotic-resistant bacterium has recently emerged in places other than health care settings. Usually, MRSA bacteria infects only its victim's skin, which results in a reddish rash, but sometimes the colony penetrates farther into the body, where it can become fatal. The good news is that research shows Manuka honey is surprisingly adept at killing the bug.

The jury's still out if ...

1. You have multiple sclerosis. Boosters have long maintained that bee venom can help temper the ravages of multiple sclerosis, but evidence has always been in short supply. In 2005, researchers from the Netherlands attempted to get to the bottom of the issue by running a small placebo-controlled study of 26 patients. Their conclusion: Bee venom did not reduce disease activity, disability or fatigue and did not improve quality of life.

Other researchers from Georgetown University have found that taking bee venom is safe for people with multiple sclerosis, but say that larger studies are needed to know whether it offers any health benefit.

2. You have arthritis pain. Even for stoic types, the pain from this inflammatory disease can be excruciating. And since the widely used arthritis drug Vioxx tumbled off the market in 2004, many people have been forced to find new ways to control arthritic pain.

How about rolling up your sleeves and having scores of bees sting away, putting a surge of bee venom into your body? Some people actually do this, but you won't find many medical associations touting bee venom therapy just yet.

3. You have chronic sinusitis. Some 30 million to 40 million Americans have chronic sinusitis, an exasperating condition that leaves people with near-constant headaches, endlessly sniveling noses and yellowish discharge in the back of the throat.

In September, word emerged at the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation's annual meeting that honey is better at destroying the biofilms produced by the offending bacteria than traditional antibiotics. The next step: making sure these Petri dish findings apply inside the human body…

New Method Established to Detect Chloramphenicol in Propolis

Analysis of Chloramphenicol in Propolis Extract by LC/MS/MS
Shokuhin Eiseigaku Zasshi, 2008;49(6):399-402

A quantitative analysis method using LC/MS/MS of chloramphenicol (CAP) in propolis extract (ethanol extract) has been established.

Extraction of CAP from propolis extract was performed by adding water, followed by salting-out with sodium chloride. Through this procedure, the wax components of propolis extract could be effectively removed...

When eight samples of propolis extract products on the market were analyzed using this method, CAP was not detected (N.D.) in any of the samples.

A Review of Honey Dressings and Wound Care

Honey-Based Dressings and Wound Care: An Option for Care in the United States
J Wound Ostomy Continence Nurs, 2009 Jan-Feb;36(1):60-6.

Honey-based wound dressings have been used worldwide since ancient times. A honey product received US Federal Drug Administration approval in 2007, making this dressing an option for wound care.

Honey has been found to exert anti-inflammatory and antibacterial effects without antibiotic resistance, promote moist wound healing, and facilitate debridement. However, it may cause a stinging pain. As is true of any wound dressing, its use must be carefully selected and monitored. Continued research is needed to add to its evidence base.

This article provides a summary of the current evidence base for the use of honey and a review of its therapeutic effects and discusses implications for WOC nursing practice.

Higher Honey Consumption Has Positive Health Effects

Honey for Nutrition and Health: A Review
Journal of the American College of Nutrition, Vol. 27, No. 6, 677-689 (2008)

Due to the variation of botanical origin honey differs in appearance, sensory perception and composition. The main nutritional and health relevant components are carbohydrates, mainly fructose and glucose but also about 25 different oligosaccharides.

Although honey is a high carbohydrate food, its glycemic index varies within a wide range from 32 to 85, depending on the botanical source. It contains small amounts of proteins, enzymes, amino acids, minerals, trace elements, vitamins, aroma compounds and polyphenols.

The review covers the composition, the nutritional contribution of its components, its physiological and nutritional effects. It shows that honey has a variety of positive nutritional and health effects, if consumed at higher doses of 50 to 80 g per intake.

Royal Jelly Boosts Honey’s Antimicrobial Action

Additive Activity of Royal Jelly and Honey Against Psuedomonas aeruginosa
Altern Med Rev, 2008 Dec; 13(4):331-334

As natural products garner attention in the medical field, the emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria has confounded the current use of antibiotic therapy, leading to the re-examination of earlier remedies such as honey and royal jelly (RJ).

Four varieties of honey and one variety of freshly reaped RJ were used to evaluate the additive antimicrobial action against Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 27853).

Initially, honey and RJ were used separately to determine their minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) against the tested strain. Next, sub-MIC concentrations of honey and RJ were incorporated into media to determine the minimum additive inhibitory concentration.

When tested separately, the MIC of the four varieties of honey ranged from 12-18 percent (volume/volume; v/v), and that of RJ was 4 percent (v/v). When combined with RJ, each honey variety tested showed a greater than 90-percent drop in MIC using 3-percent (v/v) RJ, a 66.6-percent drop in MIC using 2-percent (v/v) RJ, and a 50-percent MIC drop with 1-percent (v/v) RJ.

The MIC of RJ dropped by 75 percent when used with the half concentration of honey that alone provides the MIC and by 50 percent when used with one-third the concentration of honey that alone provides the MIC.

A strong linear correlation exists between the MIC drop of each variety of honey and RJ.

With increasing interest in the use of alternative therapies and as the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria spreads, honey and RJ may receive renewed recognition as wound healers.