The Antimicrobial Power of Raw Honey

The honey industry doesn't advertise this because it doesn't help sell volume. But the science is unambiguous. Raw honey and processed honey are not the same food.

The difference between raw and processed honey

Raw honey is honey that has been minimally processed. It has been strained to remove large debris, but it has not been heated above 40 degrees Celsius. It retains the enzymes, the pollen, the propolis, and the living microorganisms that make honey more than just a sugar delivery mechanism.

Processed honey, the kind you find in most supermarkets, has been heated to 65 to 80 degrees Celsius and often higher. This heat kills the enzymes. It breaks down the volatile compounds. It removes the pollen. It kills the beneficial microorganisms. What remains is still honey. It still tastes sweet. But it has been fundamentally transformed.

You can't taste the difference with your tongue. But your body can feel it. Raw honey has biological activity. Processed honey is essentially just sugar with trace minerals.

This isn't a minor distinction. The antimicrobial, antioxidant, and enzyme activity of honey is why it has been used for wound healing for thousands of years. Processing destroys almost all of that activity.

Hydrogen peroxide and the bee enzyme

The first antimicrobial compound in honey is hydrogen peroxide. This might sound familiar because hydrogen peroxide is used in hospitals as a disinfectant. Raw honey contains it naturally. But here's the interesting part: honey doesn't just contain hydrogen peroxide. It contains an enzyme called glucose oxidase, which continuously produces hydrogen peroxide as long as the honey is in contact with moisture and the enzyme is active.¹

When you apply raw honey to a wound, the glucose oxidase enzyme activates. It begins breaking down glucose, and in that process, it releases hydrogen peroxide directly into the wound. This is a slow, steady release of a proven antimicrobial agent. The enzyme is still working as long as the honey is raw.

Heat destroys glucose oxidase. Pasteurised honey contains no active enzyme, which means it produces no hydrogen peroxide. It's just sugar with antimicrobial memory, but no antimicrobial activity.

Studies on honey-treated wounds versus conventional antibiotics show comparable results, particularly for superficial wounds and infected areas.3 The hydrogen peroxide production is part of why. But there's more.

Methylglyoxal (MGO) and bacterial defence

The second antimicrobial compound in honey is methylglyoxal, or MGO. Unlike hydrogen peroxide, which is produced by enzyme activity, MGO is a naturally occurring compound that accumulates in honey during storage. Manuka honey, from New Zealand, is famous for its MGO content, but all raw honey contains it.²

MGO is a small molecule that can penetrate bacterial cell walls and disrupt their internal chemistry. It's particularly effective against Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, two of the most problematic and antibiotic-resistant bacteria humans face. In laboratory studies, MGO-rich honey kills antibiotic-resistant bacteria that pharmaceutical antibiotics cannot touch.

The concentration of MGO varies by honey type. Manuka honey, produced in New Zealand from the manuka tree, can contain 200 to 800 mg/kg of MGO.² Regular raw honey contains 20 to 50 mg/kg. Both work. Manuka is more concentrated. But the mechanism is the same.

Methylglyoxal exists in raw honey. Heating destroys or reduces it significantly. Processed honey has lost much of its MGO content, which is why it has minimal antimicrobial effect.

Other bioactive compounds

Beyond hydrogen peroxide and MGO, raw honey contains a full spectrum of antimicrobial and antioxidant compounds.

• Propolis: A resinous mixture bees collect from plant buds. Contains polyphenols and flavonoids with antimicrobial, antiviral, and antioxidant activity. Processed honey removes propolis. Raw honey retains it.
• Bee pollen: Contains enzymes, amino acids, and nutrients. Raw honey retains pollen grains. Processed honey strains them out.
• Polyphenols and flavonoids: Antioxidants that protect against oxidative stress. Many are volatile and destroyed by heat.
• Lactonase and amylase: Active enzymes in raw honey that support digestion and nutrient absorption. Heat-sensitive and killed during processing.

Raw honey is not just a sweetener. It's a repository of living biological activity. Processed honey is stripped down to its carbohydrate core.

How honey actually works

The antimicrobial action of raw honey works through multiple mechanisms simultaneously. First, the hydrogen peroxide production from glucose oxidase creates an environment hostile to bacterial growth. Second, the MGO and other polyphenols attack bacteria directly. Third, the osmotic pressure of honey (its high sugar content) draws water out of bacterial cells, causing them to dehydrate.

But there's a fourth mechanism that's often overlooked: honey promotes the growth of beneficial bacteria. The polyphenols in honey feed beneficial gut bacteria whilst killing pathogenic ones. This is why honey has been traditionally used not just for wound healing, but for digestive health.

The combination of these mechanisms is why honey works so effectively. It's not a single antimicrobial agent. It's a synergistic complex of multiple compounds working together. And that synergy is why processing destroys honey's healing properties so thoroughly. You can't just remove the water and keep the benefits. The benefits depend on the whole system remaining intact.

Why Organised chose raw honey

Organised includes raw honey in its formulations because raw honey is a legitimate whole food. It's not a supplement. It's not an extraction. It's the actual honey bees made, with all its biological activity intact. When you're building a product for ancestral health, you choose ingredients that humans have eaten for millennia. Raw honey fits that criterion perfectly.

Processed honey, stevia, erythritol, and other modern sweeteners are different categories of product. Stevia and erythritol have no antimicrobial activity, no enzyme activity, no pollen, no propolis. They are pure sweetness with no biological context. Processed honey is just sugar with a honey label.

Raw honey brings something these alternatives cannot: it brings the full spectrum of what honey is meant to be. It brings antimicrobial compounds. It brings antioxidants. It brings enzymes. It brings the pollen and propolis that bees engineered into it for a reason.

The bottom line

Raw honey is not just a sweetener. It's a food with genuine antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. These properties depend entirely on the honey being raw, unheated, and unprocessed. The moment you apply heat, you begin destroying the very compounds that make honey more than sugar.

If you're using honey, use raw honey. If it's been heated, it's not honey anymore. It's just a sweet delivery mechanism. Your body doesn't need another one of those.

References

1. 1. Brudzynski K. Honey as an Ecological Reservoir of Antibacterial Compounds Produced by Antagonistic Microbial Interactions in Plant Nectars, Honey and Honey Bee. Antibiotics, 2021. PMC review on honey as a natural antimicrobial.
2. 2. Mavric E et al. Identification and quantification of methylglyoxal as the dominant antibacterial constituent of Manuka (Leptospermum scoparium) honeys from New Zealand. Molecular Nutrition & Food Research, 2008. PMID 18210383.
3. 3. Mandal MD, Mandal S. Honey: its medicinal property and antibacterial activity. Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine, 2011. PMID 23569748.