Honey is beloved for its many virtues, from its sweetening effect to its antimicrobial properties. But not all honeys are created equal, and a recent Australian study has found just how true that is, with implications for our health and that of our ecosystems.
Honey prevents bacterial growth, because what we consider food is a deadly cocktail for microbes. Dr Kenya Fernandes from the University of Sydney and her colleagues recently discovered that bees that forage on many plant species produce honeys that are consistently more potent against two harmful bacteria than bees feeding on a single plant species. To get there, they compared 56 samples of honey collected across New South Wales and Victoria, and tested their ability to prevent microbial growth. The scientists used the bacteria Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus (the infamous “golden Staph”) in their experiments, as they both show resistance to antibiotics, and contribute to the millions of deaths caused by antimicrobial resistance each year worldwide.
Overall, while 77% of honeys prevented both bacteria from growing, the most efficient ones were multifloral. The team also found that some chemicals are linked to stronger antimicrobial activity, but it is the complexity of the interactions between these chemicals that truly boosts antimicrobial strength.
This type of work perfectly illustrates the tight links between our health and that of the environment. “If we protect our forest biodiversity, and support local beekeepers working in biodiverse bush, we can contribute to the production of a natural product so complex that it outperforms single-origin honey, which we often assume to be of superior quality,” Dr Fernandes says.
Honey lovers often seek a particular taste that can only result from single-flower foraging. This study might change our perception of locally produced honey, as it shows that Australian multifloral honeys could play a role in the fight against global antimicrobial resistance. It also implies that whenever we can, we should support initiatives that preserve and boost biodiversity. With many honey samples collected in areas that are still recovering from the 2019 bushfires, here is another example of how taking care of nature ultimately means taking care of us.
References
- Fernandes et al. (2026) Diverse Forage Enhances the Antimicrobial Potency of Australian Honey. MicrobiologyOpen, 15:e70238
- WHO website: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/antimicrobial-resistance
