Laboratory evidence suggests that honey has antibacterial properties that are due partly to its acidity and partly to phytochemicals from the nectar of particular plants (Molan, 2004). More recent research, however, shows that the phytochemicals do not play such a major role, as discussed later in this article (Nisbet et al, 2010). Honey can remove Enterococcus species and Pseudomonas aeruginosa from multiple, infected, non-healing leg ulcers caused by meningococcal septicaemia (Dunford et al, 2000), with simultaneous loss of malodour, as well as a reduction in pain.
