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Honey and Health: A Review of Recent Clinical Research
Saeed Samarghandian 1,✉, Tahereh Farkhondeh 1, Fariborz Samini 2
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PMCID: PMC5424551 PMID: 28539734
Abstract
Honey is one of the most appreciated and valued natural products introduced to humankind since ancient times. Honey is used not only as a nutritional product but also in health described in traditional medicine and as an alternative treatment for clinical conditions ranging from wound healing to cancer treatment. The aim of this review is to emphasize the ability of honey and its multitude in medicinal aspects. Traditionally, honey is used in the treatment of eye diseases, bronchial asthma, throat infections, tuberculosis, thirst, hiccups, fatigue, dizziness, hepatitis, constipation, worm infestation, piles, eczema, healing of ulcers, and wounds and used as a nutritious supplement. The ingredients of honey have been reported to exert antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antiproliferative, anticancer, and antimetastatic effects. Many evidences suggest the use of honey in the control and treatment of wounds, diabetes mellitus, cancer, asthma, and also cardiovascular, neurological, and gastrointestinal diseases. Honey has a potential therapeutic role in the treatment of disease by phytochemical, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and antioxidant properties. Flavonoids and polyphenols, which act as antioxidants, are two main bioactive molecules present in honey. According to modern scientific literature, honey may be useful and has protective effects for the treatment of various disease conditions such as diabetes mellitus, respiratory, gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, and nervous systems, even it is useful in cancer treatment because many types of antioxidant are present in honey. In conclusion, honey could be considered as a natural therapeutic agent for various medicinal purposes. Sufficient evidence exists recommending the use of honey in the management of disease conditions. Based on these facts, the use of honey in clinical wards is highly recommended.
Summary
There are several evidence that suggesting the usage of honey in the management of disease. Therefore, honey in clinical wards is highly recommended.
Abbreviations Used: WA: Water activity, RDI: Recommended daily intake, Si: Silicon, RB: Rubidium, V: Vanadium, Zr: Zirconium, Li: Lithium, Sr: Strontium, Pb: Lead, Cd: Cadmium, As: Arsenic, MIC: Minimum inhibitory concentration, PARP: Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase, ROS: Reactive oxygen species, iNOS: Inducible nitric oxide synthase, NKcells: Natural killer cells, SCFA: Short-chain fatty acid, CRP: C-reactive protein.
Key words: Antioxidant, flavonoids, honey, polyphenols, therapeutic agent, traditional
Introduction
Honey is a natural product formed from nectar of flowers by honeybees (Apis mellifera; Family: Apidae).[1] Honey has been used by humans since ancient times, nearly 5500 years ago.[2] Most ancient population, including the Greeks, Chinese, Egyptians, Romans, Mayans, and Babylonians, consumed honey both for nutritional aims and for its medicinal properties.[2,3] Honey is the only insect-derived natural product, and it has nutritional, cosmetic, therapeutic, and industrial values.[4,5] Honey is reviewed as a balanced diet and equally popular for male and female in all ages.[6] Honey no needs to refrigerate, it never spoils, and it can also be stored unopened at room temperature in a dry place.[7,8] The water activity (WA) of honey is between 0.56 and 0.62 and its value of pH is almost 3.9.[7,8] Honey was utilized as a natural sweetener from ancient period since it has high level of fructose (honey is 25% sweeter than tablet sugar).[8,9] Moreover, the use of honey in beverages is also increasingly popular.[8] Nowadays, information on the usage of honey for the cure of many human diseases can be found in general magazines, journals, and natural products’ leaflets and suggesting a wide variety of unknown activities.[10] Evidence indicates that honey can exert several health-beneficial effects including antioxidant,[11] anti-inflammatory,[12] antibacterial,[13] antidiabetic,[14] respiratory, gastrointestinal,[15] cardiovascular, and nervous system[16] protective effects. Although many investigations were done on honey, only a few are published. This study, which is a comprehensive review of the current literature, highlights the therapeutic benefits of honey in the management of diseases.
Methods
A literature search was conducted to identify recent articles illustrating efficacy of honey in the cure of diseases. Several online databases were queried, including Web of Science, ScienceDirect, and PubMed. The following keywords were used individually and in combination as inclusion criteria for articles to be considered for this review: honey antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antidiabetic, apoptotic, respiratory, gastrointestinal, and cardiovascular and nervous system. The present review covers a 42-year period which includes publications from 1970 to 2014. Initial searches yielded nearly 200 results. The abstracts of these papers were reviewed to confirm applicability. After considering additional exclusion criteria (non-English language, and manuscripts not available as full text), 108 papers remained.
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Article by, PubMed.
