African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 4 (13), pp. 1580-1587, Special Review 2005          
ISSN 1684–5315 © 2005 Academic Journals

Review

Honey, milk and antibiotics

Ali A. Al-Jabri

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, P.O. Box 35, Al Khod 123, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman. E-mail: aaljabri@squ.edu.om. Tel: 00968-2445186. Fax: 00968-2443419.

Accepted 29 August, 2005

The indiscriminate use of antibiotics has made many microorganisms develop resistance to them. This has created immense clinical problems in the treatment of infectious diseases. Therefore, there is a need to develop alternative antimicrobial agents for the treatment of infectious diseases. Non-antibiotic approaches to the treatment and prevention of infection includes the application of honey and milk. Milk naturally contains an array of bioactivities due to lysozyme, lactoferrin, immunoglobulins, growth factors, and hormones, which are secreted in their active form by the mammary gland. The combination of milk and honey may prove to be important source of nutrition and for protection against microbial infection. In this review article we discuss the importance of honey, milk and their combination in providing protection from infection.

Key words: Honey, milk, antibiotics, combination.