Effects of Supplemental Honey and Essential Oil on Antibiotic Effectiveness on Staphylococcus aureus
Faculty Mentor
Dr. Brown
Presentation Type
Poster
Start Date
May 2025
End Date
May 2025
Location
PUB NCR
Primary Discipline of Presentation
Biology
Abstract
With chronic misuse of antibiotics causing faster development of antibiotic resistance, people have been looking for better alternatives to enhance or replace the use of antibiotics. Two of these alternatives are honey and essential oils, both of which have shown merit in reducing antibiotic resistance and improving antibiotic efficacy. We hypothesize that the use of these alternatives in conjunction with our modern treatments will produce overall more effective treatments than antibiotics alone. In our study, we used a disc diffusion assay to determine if supplementing antibiotics with these alternative treatments would improve it at all, identifying that both honey and essential oils seemed to greatly impact the zone of inhibition on Staphylococcus aureus. While the combination of the two was significantly better than control, it wasn’t a significant reaction. Though this specific study only speaks to topical treatment of antibiotics, it does show that honey and peppermint essential oil can help improve our bacteria crisis, as these home remedies are far more available, potent, and complex than expected.
Recommended Citation
Phillips, Christoff B.; Waqas, Mohammad; Holman, Hunter; and Thompson, Noah, "Effects of Supplemental Honey and Essential Oil on Antibiotic Effectiveness on Staphylococcus aureus" (2025). 2025 Symposium. 28.
https://dc.ewu.edu/srcw_2025/ps_2025/p2_2025/28
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Effects of Supplemental Honey and Essential Oil on Antibiotic Effectiveness on Staphylococcus aureus
PUB NCR
With chronic misuse of antibiotics causing faster development of antibiotic resistance, people have been looking for better alternatives to enhance or replace the use of antibiotics. Two of these alternatives are honey and essential oils, both of which have shown merit in reducing antibiotic resistance and improving antibiotic efficacy. We hypothesize that the use of these alternatives in conjunction with our modern treatments will produce overall more effective treatments than antibiotics alone. In our study, we used a disc diffusion assay to determine if supplementing antibiotics with these alternative treatments would improve it at all, identifying that both honey and essential oils seemed to greatly impact the zone of inhibition on Staphylococcus aureus. While the combination of the two was significantly better than control, it wasn’t a significant reaction. Though this specific study only speaks to topical treatment of antibiotics, it does show that honey and peppermint essential oil can help improve our bacteria crisis, as these home remedies are far more available, potent, and complex than expected.
