Have you ever been curious if soap really does kill bacteria whenever you use it? What about regular soap and antibacterial soap?
Indeed, soap kills bacteria by working on their cell wall. However, not all the bacteria cell walls are the same. So, soap can be effective on certain types of bacteria than other.
We will try to debunk some of the myths and misconceptions about soap and how it really works to clean every inch of your body.
If you would like to learn more, please do not hesitate to continue reading.
To answer this question fully, you must first understand the chemistry behind soap and how it really works to clear out any bacteria that might get caught on your skin after a hard day’s work. How does it do the cleaning? We will discuss it in detail in the following paragraphs.
The traditional soap is generally composed of SDS or Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate. This is a synthetic organic compound that is usually utilized by many cleaning agents and hygiene products. It has the chemical composition of CH3(CH2)11SO4 Na.
In high concentrations, it can greatly help get rid of gram-negative bacteria such as E. Coli while it is found to be quite ineffective against gram-positive bacteria. Below are some examples of these two types of bacteria as follows:
Gram-Negative Bacteria
- Acetic Acid Bacteria
- Salmonella
- Shigella
- Helicobacter
- Pseudonomas
Gram-Positive Bacteria
- Mycobacterium Tuberculosis
- Streptococcus Pyogenes
- StaphylococcusAureus
How Does Soap Kill the Bacteria?
It neutralizes the bacteria through destroying its cell wall. This being said, gram-negative bacteria have thinner cell walls than the positive ones, this is why the latter is more resistant to soap. Antibacterial medication and antibiotics can help get rid of the gram-positive bacteria more effectively.
The Main Difference between Antibacterial and Regular Soap
Regular soap serves to just wash off the daily dirt and grime from your body. It is not lethal to the microscopic organisms that might get into the body through the pores. On the other hand, antibacterial soaps have special components that could kill the bacteria and viruses.
To further comprehend the main difference between the two types of soaps, you really have to understand the innermost components of these cleaning agents.
Soap Molecules: Explaining the Science
Soap molecules generally have Amphipathic Polarities. This means that these specialized molecules have both polar and non-polar ends.
These particular polarities are unique because while normally, opposite ends attract. In this case, because of the amphipathic nature, soap molecules with similar polarities get pulled toward each other.
Because of this, the nonpolar ends of both regular and antibacterial soaps latch onto the dirt and other vessels of bacteria on account of their similar polarities. It is for this reason that dirt usually gets stuck to soaps.
It will then go into the water when washed and be swept away. The only difference is that with regular soaps, it only washes away the bacteria. This means that the organisms are still alive in the water.
Washing your hands with regular soap though has been proven to be an effective way to prevent diseases on a regular basis. If you simply want to get rid of dirt and mold, you can easily use regular soaps.
However, if you are infected and deal with a lot of the aforementioned gram-positive bacteria, it may be best for you to use antibacterial soaps.
In the next section, we will discuss how antibacterial soaps serves to clean and disinfect the body effectively to give protection from similar or much stronger bacterial strains.
Antibacterial Soaps: Are They Better?
This is an age old question that regular folk tend to ask especially if they are buying cleaning agents for hygiene maintenance. The answer to this question is yes. This is because antibacterial soaps usually have an antimicrobial ingredient called Triclosan.
This is a powerful chemical that serves to effectively block and protect the active site from bacterial enzymes that are needed to make fatty acids which can help microbes from dirt survive and infect the human host.
This being said, you would only need to apply a small amount of Triclosan to kill large amounts of bacteria. In addition to this, you wouldn’t need antibacterial soap to clean most household items. This is because basic strained pathogens can already be washed away by regular soap.
It is also important to remember that excessive use of antibacterial soaps could be even more dangerous to human health. This is because bacteria tend to develop resistance to the antimicrobial components of the soap if they encounter the cleaning agent regularly.
This is why it is advised to use antibacterial soap only when extremely necessary.
Benefits and Downsides
To further understand how we can use soap to help get rid of bacteria, we will now discuss some of the pros and cons of antibacterial soap usage. Here they are as follows:
Positives
Antibacterial cleaning agents and other similar products are better used in healthcare establishments such as hospitals or nursing homes. This is because most of the patients in these said locations usually have compromised immune systems.
This means that their environment needs to be extremely clean.
However, if you do not have regular access to either antimicrobial or regular soap, using a hand sanitizer with 60% alcohol levels should be a viable and effective alternative.
As for the home, if you have pets, it would be best to use similar cleaning products to maintain the house. These can also be used in pet stores and veterinary clinics.
Negatives
At present time, the Food and Drug Association does not have sufficient evidence that support the protective and healing properties of antimicrobial products as compared to regular soaps. This being said, they now require manufacturers to prove the viability of the chemicals for long-term use.
Also, they advise the public to just wash their hands regularly with normal soap and water mainly because excessive usage of antibacterial products could compromise the healthy bacteria present in the skin.
Losing good bacteria can decrease the efficacy of antibiotics against any new, infectious strains that might come along in the future.
Final Words
Knowing these bits of information about soaps can definitely give you confidence as to the efficacy of this particular cleaning agent.
Ultimately, using either antibacterial or regular soap to clean up is advisable, depending on the situation. However, you should not overdo it. Remember that everything done in excess is never good for the health.