42 minutes ago, theFlu said:Not a microbiologist, but I can read a study to an extent; the one linked seems to be more of a discussion piece than a study of anything in particular, going through the citations would be a bit of an endeavor. I'm not making claims of its correctness, but I've been lead to believe that honey indeed has anti-microbial properties.
But even high concentrations of sugar have the same effect:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32357252/
For a simple example, people have made jellies for preservation, not just to add sweetness to the berries. They're pretty shelf-stable when done right.
EDIT: geez, typos
Also not a Microbiologist, but have science background, took several microbiology courses years ago, and got out with a biochem degree (unused)...so i skimmed the paper. My interpretation may not be perfect/correct!
Yeah, this looks like a discussion piece, citing other sources, basically saying "this honey to treat infections thing looks promising to study"
Everything after the "Mechanism of antibacterial activity" is a good (long) summary. Basically yeah: its the high sugar content, but also breakdown of honey into hydrogen peroxide (which not all honey does). And actually other things are brought up (enzymes, etc) that either "have been studied" or "maybe theres more unknowns here to study". They make a point to indicate that "medicinal" honey and other types of hones vs "bought off the shelf" honey have wildly varying degrees of bacterial fighting "power". Moat of the "usage" is claimed ti be for "surface infections" (skin or deeper cuts/surgical) but there is some discussion about claims/papers written about internal infections of the GI tract being treatable (or seems to speed up healing).
so: yeah, a bite is a surface wound (though it may be deep and maybe honeys effects could not get to the deep part) and honey applied to the bite/surface could either help treat *some* infectious agents just by being concentrated sugar, but also via other things like hydrogen peroxide generation (if the proper honey is used) or also "other compounds/things we don't know exactly what they are or how they work yet". In game the honey is drunk...but that may still offer some protection though it seems thats still up for some debate as to how effective it is or "what all in the body is targeted or is affected" by drinking honey.
also: it also seems to be a "hey, lets argue its worth studying what is specifically in honey (different honeys) more as this might lead to finding a new and cheap non-antibiotic (non classic known/used antibiotics) way to treat infections that may help keep down needing to use antibiotics and therefore, not generating antibiotic resistant bacteria risks when we use it"