Healing Properties of Honeys

by | Apr 26, 2016 | Alternative Therapies, Cancer, Luekemia, Menopause, Natural Sweeteners, Oral Health

Written by Joyce Smith, BS. Honey is antimicrobial, helps with pain reduction, and has cancer fighting properties.

Researchers are paying more attention to natural medicines that contain natural, cost-effective products which are potentially safer than synthetic drugs. One of the most important natural products is honey. Its medicinal benefits have been used since ancient times. 1 In fact, honey is far more than just a dietary source of sweetness and quick energy. It has a very long list of profound medicinal applications.

The following recent studies validate a small sampling of them:

Hot Flashes and Other Menopausal Symptoms:

  • This 2015 study demonstrated that both pure honey and a pollen-honey combination reduced hot flashes and other menopausal symptoms in breast cancer patients.2

Wound Healing:

  • Manuka honey is a broad-spectrum antimicrobial agent that is gaining acceptance in the topical treatment of wounds. In this recent 2015 study, a wound dressing of honey applied to diabetic foot ulcers was 18.5% more effective than the saline dressing that is commonly used. (P=0.001). The honey dressing also shortened wound healing by 11 days. (P<0.001)3

Pain Reduction:

  • Another 2015 study showed that honey significantly reduced the severity of inflammation and pain in patients treated for neck and head cancers. Honey also decreased the duration of overall radiotherapy treatments that these patients required. P<0.0014

Treatment of Rosacea:

  • This recent trial of 190 participants found kanuka honey to be significantly more effective in the treatment of rosacea than the topical control cream, cetamacrozol (P<0.0001) 5

Effective against Herpes Virus:

  • Honey and royal jelly were both significantly more effective at dilutions of 10ug/mL (P=0.036) and 50ug/mL (P=0.014) compared to acyclovir in inhibiting herpes simplex virus 1. Researchers view them as potential alternatives to acyclovir in the treatment of herpetic lesions. 6

Reduces Dental Plaque-Causing Bacteria:

  • Another recent study showed that bacterial counts of streptococci, lactobacilli and P. gingivalis were significantly reduced one hour after chewing honey. (P<0.001). Researchers found that topical application or chewing of honey can modify pH in the mouth, reduce bacterial counts, and inhibit bacterial growth and therefore, may help prevent gingivitis and cavities in patients undergoing orthodontic treatment.7
  • This current study found that, when comparing mouthwashes, a honey mouthwash was significantly more effective in reducing dental plaque formation than chlorhexidine. (P< 0.05) 8

Fights “Bad” Bacteria (MRSA):

  • MRSA is an acronym for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. MRSA produces a biofilm that protects the bacteria by making it particularly difficult for an antibiotic to penetrate the biofilm and destroy the bacteria. A current study demonstrated that the Manuka-type honeys can both prevent and destroy the biofilms of methicillin-sensitive and methicillin-resistant S. aureus. (P< 0.001).9 These honeys also work synergistically with conventional antibiotics to increase their effectiveness in treating antibiotic resistant-organisms.

Anti-Cancer Properties of Honey: There are presently many studies that focus on the anti-cancer properties of honey. The cancers include bladder, endometrial, renal cell carcinoma, skin cancer, cervical cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, mouth cancer and bone cancer (osteosarcoma).

  • A 2014 study by Eryuwa et al. discusses the molecular mechanisms that play a role in the anti-proliferative, anti-tumor, anti-metastatic and anti-cancer effects of honey. It explores how honey suppresses the development and progression of tumors and various cancers in the following ways:
    • By causing cell cycle arrest, activating mitochondrial pathways, making the mitochondrial outer membrane permeable, activating cell death (apoptosis), controlling oxidative stress, reducing inflammation, improving insulin signaling, and inhibiting new blood vessels in cancer cells.
    • Honey is highly and selectively cytotoxic against tumor or cancer cells while it is non-cytotoxic to normal cells.
    • It can inhibit the development of cancer by modulating or interfering with the molecular processes or events that initiate, promote, and spread cancer.
  • It, therefore, can be considered a potential and promising anticancer agent which warrants further research in both experimental and clinical studies.10

Examples of honey’s ability to fight cancer are as follows:

Liver Cancer:

  • Gelam honey is a Malaysian monofloral honey that has high polyphenol content which are powerful antioxidants and great free radical scavengers. At low doses, it was significantly effective in promoting death of a liver cancer cell line. (P<0.05)11

Leukemia:

  • Tualong honey produced significant apoptosis (programmed cell death) on both acute and chronic leukemia cell lines and could potentially serve as an anti-leukemic agent with apoptosis properties. (P<0.05) 12

Colon cancer:

  • A recent study demonstrated that ginger extract and Gelam honey were both able to inhibit proliferation as well as induce apoptosis (cell death) of colon adenocarcinoma cell line, HCT 116 in vitro. Furthermore, when combined, they acted synergistically against colon cancer cells. Ginger and Gelam honey also increased the anti-cancer effect of the cancer drug cancer 5-fluorouracil when all three were used together.13 14

Prostate cancer:

  • The active ingredient monoterpene was isolated from 15 samples of thyme honey, then tested for its anti-cancer activity against PC-3 prostate cancer cells. Monoterpene significantly increased cell death as well as displayed “significant antimicrobial activity against many human pathogenic bacteria and fungi and may mediate the anti-microbial activity of the tested Greek thyme honeys.” 15

Posted April 25, 2016.

References:

  1. Eteraf-Oskouei T, Najafi M. Traditional and modern uses of natural honey in human diseases: a review. Iranian journal of basic medical sciences. 2013;16(6):731.
  2. Münstedt K, Voss B, Kullmer U, Schneider U, Hübner J. Bee pollen and honey for the alleviation of hot flushes and other menopausal symptoms in breast cancer patients. Molecular and clinical oncology. 2015;3(4):869-874.
  3. Imran M, Hussain MB, Baig M. A randomized, controlled clinical trial of honey-impregnated dressing for treating diabetic foot ulcer. Journal of the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan. 2015;25(10):721-725.
  4. Samdariya S, Lewis S, Kauser H, Ahmed I, Kumar D. A randomized controlled trial evaluating the role of honey in reducing pain due to radiation induced mucositis in head and neck cancer patients. Indian journal of palliative care. 2015;21(3):268.
  5. Braithwaite I, Hunt A, Riley J, et al. Randomised controlled trial of topical kanuka honey for the treatment of rosacea. BMJ open. 2015;5(6):e007651.
  6. Hashemipour MA, Tavakolineghad Z, Arabzadeh S, Iranmanesh Z, Nassab S. Antiviral Activities of Honey, Royal Jelly, and Acyclovir Against HSV-1. Wounds: a compendium of clinical research and practice. 2014;26(2):47-54.
  7. Atwa A-DA, AbuShahba RY, Mostafa M, Hashem MI. Effect of honey in preventing gingivitis and dental caries in patients undergoing orthodontic treatment. The Saudi dental journal. 2014;26(3):108-114.
  8. Jain A, Bhaskar DJ, Gupta D, et al. Comparative evaluation of honey, chlorhexidine gluconate (0.2%) and combination of xylitol and chlorhexidine mouthwash (0.2%) on the clinical level of dental plaque: A 30 days randomized control trial. Perspectives in clinical research. 2015;6(1):53.
  9. Lu J, Turnbull L, Burke CM, et al. Manuka-type honeys can eradicate biofilms produced by Staphylococcus aureus strains with different biofilm-forming abilities. PeerJ. 2014;2:e326.
  10. Erejuwa OO, Sulaiman SA, Wahab MSA. Effects of honey and its mechanisms of action on the development and progression of cancer. Molecules. 2014;19(2):2497-2522.
  11. Jubri Z, Narayanan NNN, Karim NA, Ngah WZW. Antiproliferative activity and apoptosis induction by gelam honey on liver cancer cell line. Int J Appl. 2012;2(4).
  12. Nik Man NMK, Hassan R, Ang CY, Abdullah AD, Mohd Radzi MAR, Sulaiman SA. Antileukemic Effect of Tualang Honey on Acute and Chronic Leukemia Cell Lines. BioMed research international. 2015;2015.
  13. Hakim L, Alias E, Makpol S, Ngah W, Morad NA, Yusof Y. Gelam honey and ginger potentiate the anti cancer effect of 5-FU against HCT 116 colorectal cancer cells. Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention: APJCP. 2013;15(11):4651-4657.
  14. Tahir AA, Sani NFA, Murad NA, Makpol S, Ngah WZW, Yusof YAM. Combined ginger extract & Gelam honey modulate Ras/ERK and PI3K/AKT pathway genes in colon cancer HT29 cells. Nutrition journal. 2015;14(1):1.
  15. Kassi E, Chinou I, Spilioti E, et al. A monoterpene, unique component of thyme honeys, induces apoptosis in prostate cancer cells via inhibition of NF-κB activity and IL-6 secretion. Phytomedicine. 2014;21(11):1483-1489.