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How does honey affect the growth of mold? First, let us analyze what
mold is, how it operates and what honey consists of that makes it a fighter of
bacterial growth and why. Mold is a multi-cellular, wool-like growth made up of
tiny colonies of microscopic spores that feed off dead matter. The way that mold
works is by applying a coat of "slime" that decomposes food by breaking down
food into smaller particles.
There have been many studies on the life of a mold spore and how it operates
in order to create mold preventers that would help in preserving health as well
as mold destroyers to act as a cleaning agent in cases
when one would need to know how to clean mold from antique wood furniture or
even studying the life of a mold spore to create mold preventers for the
purposes of protecting food from decay in restaurants and homes. Honey has been
scientifically studied and proven to inhibit bacterial growth for the following
two reasons:
1. Honey has a high concentration of sugar so that it reduces water activity and
reduces the growth of bacteria.
2. Honey produces hydrogen peroxide that fights mold as it acts as a cleaner.
Honey is an invert liquid sugar. Mold absorbs water and uses that for the slime
while honey reduces water activity. This shows how and why honey can be
effective in slowing the growth of bacteria.
In addition to honey as a bacteria preventer, there have been studies that have
shown that colder temperatures for storing food such as in a refrigerator and
freezer very greatly reduces the growth of mold. When placed in the freezer,
the mold did not grow at all, while in the refrigerator, the life of a mold spore
was only perpetuated at a growth rate of .4%. When left at room temperature,
the mold growth was increased at a whopping 24%!
This proves that temperature has a lot to do with mold growth. If you ever
discover mold growing on maple syrup, you should discard the bottle. There are
four main types of mold. Various forms of the molds have been known to smother
its matter before decomposing it and to cause health problems in human
respiratory functions. This is due to the harmful pathogens that produce
difficulty in breathing. One of the type of molds is the green mold
aspergillius. It causes breathing problems. Penicillium is a blue and green mold
that contains the same anti-biotic drug that is found in the drug penicillin and
can cause breathing problems if inhaled.
Mucon is another type of mold. It is in the group of white molds in color.
Rhizopus is a bread mold. It is part of the black molds group.
Instead of the most common mold-like structures of multiple web-type mold spore
groups, the rhizopus has tiny tube-structured spores and is single rather than
in many webs. The study of how the mold growth is affected by temperature was
conducted by a student of science who was conducting the experiment in order to
see how various temperatures affect the growth of molds on honey potato bread.
The results are typical of most mold growth on bread as well. The human body,
thankfully, has developed a strong defense immune system that protects
it against most of the mold toxins, but there are still a few allergic disorders
that can result from the molds once it begins to make its way to the breathing
passages. The most common is shortness of breath.
Therefore in living conditions such as the case of no ventilation in stucco home
with mold, it is important to kill clean black mold and to clean it from all
known sources where it could be, such as needing to clean mold from antique wood furniture or in the instances of the mold remidiation Miami following the disaster of hurricane katrina and mold that resulted in the combination of the decay in the aftermath and water damage.
Although the honey did fight and stop the growth of bacteria in the experiment, none of the testing proved that honey was an inhibiter of mold growth.
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Source by G. Crandall