Honey has been used in wound care for centuries, but one variety has attracted particular scientific interest for its ability to fight bacteria: mānuka honey. Now, researchers have developed a bee-free honey alternative that can kill a difficult-to-treat, drug-resistant bacterium in laboratory experiments. The discovery could help scientists design more consistent antimicrobial materials without relying on honeybees or naturally produced honey. The study, led by researchers at Aston University in the United Kingdom and published in PLOS One in September 2026, investigated whether the key antibacterial ingredients associated with mānuka honey could be recreated in a vegan formulation. The results suggest that some of honey’s antimicrobial activity can be reproduced by combining carefully selected ingredients.
What makes mānuka honey special?
Mānuka honey is produced by honeybees that collect nectar from the mānuka plant, native to New Zealand and parts of Australia. Unlike ordinary honey, it contains relatively high levels of methylglyoxal (MGO), a compound associated with its distinctive antibacterial activity. Hydrogen peroxide also contributes to honey’s antimicrobial effects. In natural honey, enzymes introduced by bees can generate hydrogen peroxide when the honey is diluted. Together with honey’s high sugar concentration, which draws water away from microbial cells, these factors create conditions that can inhibit bacterial growth. However, natural honey varies in composition, and high-quality mānuka honey can be expensive. They therefore wanted to find out whether its key antimicrobial properties could be recreated without bee-derived ingredients. The team began with a plant-based honey alternative made from ingredients including sugar syrup and inulin, a carbohydrate commonly found in plants. On its own, this formulation slowed the growth of bacteria to some extent but did not kill them under the tested conditions. They then modified it to generate hydrogen peroxide by adding two enzymes: glucose oxidase and invertase. They also investigated how to produce MGO within the mixture using dihydroxyacetone, a precursor involved in the formation of MGO in mānuka honey. The target was Mycobacterium abscessus, a bacterium that can cause persistent lung, skin and soft-tissue infections, particularly in people with weakened immune systems. It is notoriously difficult to treat because it has intrinsic resistance to multiple antibiotics. The most effective formulations combined MGO with enzyme-based hydrogen peroxide production. Laboratory susceptibility tests showed that these mixtures could not only inhibit bacterial growth but also kill the bacteria. Interestingly, the researchers found that defensin-1, an antimicrobial protein naturally contributed by honeybees, did not inhibit this bacterium under the conditions tested.
Could vegan honey become a medical treatment? Not yet. They tested bacterial cultures in the laboratory; it did not establish that the formulation can safely treat infections in humans or work effectively in wounds. Its performance against other pathogens also remains to be investigated. Further work will be needed to optimise the ingredients, assess stability and safety, and determine whether the formulation can be developed into a reliable medical product. Nevertheless, the study offers an important proof of concept. By identifying and combining specific antimicrobial components, researchers may be able to create more consistent honey-inspired materials for future wound-care applications, without relying on bees to produce them.
Sources:
Nolan, V. C., et al. (2026). Modifications to a vegan artificial honey result in inhibitory activity against Mycobacterium abscessus. PLOS One. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0356687
Aston University. (2026, October 15). Aston University research finds vegan honey could be made with similar antimicrobial properties to mānuka honey. https://www.aston.ac.uk/latest-news/aston-university-research-finds-vegan-honey-could-be-made-similar-antimicrobial
