Herbal Remedies : Antibacterial Foods
What foods are really antibacterial, and what bacteria do they prevent from growing?
Materials:
Red Bell Pepper
Nutrient Agar Plates
Honey
Stains
Garlic
Slides
Onion
Burner
Hot Pepper ( Orange )
Ethenol
Lemon
Centrifuge
Lime
Pipettes
Mango Nectar
Nutrient Agar Broth
Water
Tubes for centrifuge
Coffee Filter
Sharpie
Water Bath
Mortar and Passel
Forceps
Hole Puncher
Loop
Saliva
Procedure:
• Punch Hole and sterilize the coffee filter circles.
• Add water to red bell pepper, crush in mortar and passel.
• Add to centrifuge tube and label.
• Repeat previous 2 steps with materials honey through water (Yes water, it must contact everything as well to be a control)
• Separate juice from pulp using centrifuge.
• Transfer juice to separate tubes.
• Soak punched coffee filters in juice ( 2 each )
• Spit ( for lack of a better term ) into nutrient agar broth and incubate.
• Mark agar spread plates into 8 sections and label with numbers that correspond to order of ingredients. Do not label with words as it may influence results.
• Pipette 1ml of inoculated agar broth onto spread plate and spread using sterile spreader ( Refer to aseptic technique )
• Place 1 of each corresponding coffee filter into plate.
• Repeat on second spread plate.
• The water filter is placed in middle.
• Incubate both plates at 37c.
• Observe any zones around filters.
• Gram stain inside any zones.
• Gram stain outside of zones.
• Look for spores ( Endospore Lab ).
Data :
Numbers 6 and 7, lemon and lime – respectively, are the only ones that seemed to be antibacterial. After noticing this I gram stained inside and outside of zones on both plates.
Plate 1
Outside :Gram Positive
StreptoBacillus
Numerous small coccus
Inside 6:Gram Positive
StreptoBacillus
Very little small coccus
Inside 7:Gram Positive
Very little Bacillus
Small Coccus
Plate 2
Outside :Gram Positive
StreptoBacillus
Numerous small coccus
Inside 6:Inconclusive / no bacteria
Inside 7:Gram negative
Small coccus
I noticed that the bacillus seemed malformed so I decided to do an endospore test on the plates.
Spores
Plate 1 ( outside ) Yes
Plate 2 ( outside )Yes
Conclusion :
It seems that both lemon and lime are ‘herbal remedies’ or natural antibacterial foods. Lime seems to be very effective against bacillus while lemon seems to be less effective against bacillus, though lemon has a broader spectrum. Because of these results, if you feel sick ( or just want a cleaner mouth… ), I believe it is safe to recommend that you add lemon and / or lime to water or other drinks and foods. The more concentrated, the more effective. So while you may kill more bacteria by sucking on a wedge of lemon or lime, for your sake ( and your date’s ) you may just want to stick with mouthwash to get a cleaner and fresher smelling breath. If you are just worried about health, do what ever you want with the lemons and limes you come across.
