Both honey and ginger have a history of both culinary and medicinal use that stretches back at least to the time of the ancient Egyptians and they have been prized in the East and West alike on both accounts. All around the world, both of these have been used at various times to treat infection and a variety of other ailments.
That is why this latest research, which combined honey and ginger together in a powerfully antimicrobial mixture, is so interesting: it shows that, while both honey and ginger on their own are potent healers, in combination with one another they are truly amazing – even against the most serious bacterial strains.
The New Study
This latest research is coming out of the University of Gondar’s College of Medicine in Ethiopia and it is shedding new light on both the efficacy of ginger and honey and on ways in which resistant strains of bacteria can be managed naturally. In this study, scientists found that the combination of honey and ginger together was able to inhibit the growth and proliferation of even serious bacterial strains like e. coli and MRSA.
In this study, ginger extract, honey extract and a combination of the two were tested in vitro for their effect on several strains of bacteria, including the ones mentioned above. Their effectiveness was compared to that of three popular conventional antibiotics – methicillin, penicillin, and amoxicillin.
The results surprised researchers: the honey extract and ginger extract independently had more pronounced anti-microbial effects than any of the three conventional antibiotics, though of the three, the penicillin did the best. However, the most effective treatment of all in regards to inhibition of bacteria was the combined extract of both ginger and honey, which proved to be around 5 times effective as the least potent drug, methicillin.
Implications
The implications of this study are vast. With the rise of superbugs, or drug-resistant forms of bacteria that are difficult to treat with modern techniques, the heat is on to find alternative treatments that are going to help those who are infected by MRSA, VRE or other superbugs that are more effective than what modern medicine now has to offer. And the number of new cases of resistant drugs that have come out in recent years is adding even more urgency to the search.
Hopefully, more studies will continue along these lines to harness of the power of ginger, honey and other natural sources to come up with alternative therapies to help effectively treat drug-resistant bacterial strains. The number of new cases of such infections and the economic and human costs of them makes research like this more important than ever.
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