A Review of Potential Beneficial Effects of Honey on Bone Health

Abstract

Bone remodelling is a complex and tightly regulated process. Disruption of bone remodelling skewing towards resorption will cause osteoporosis and increase the risk of fragility fracture. Honey is a natural product containing various bioactive ingredients with health benefits, especially polyphenols. Therefore, honey may be a novel dietary supplement to prevent osteoporosis. This review aims to summarize the current evidence on the effects of honey on bone health. The evidence reported so far indicates a skeletal-beneficial effect of honey in animal models of osteoporosis. However, the number of studies on humans is limited. Honey can protect the bone via its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, primarily through its polyphenol content that acts upon several signalling pathways, leading to bone anabolic and antiresorptive effects. In conclusion, honey is a potential functional food for bone health, but the dose and the bioactive contents of honey need to be verified prior to its application in humans.

Direct and Indirect Effect of Honey as a Functional Food Against Metabolic Syndrome and Its Skeletal Complications

“…Honey is a sweet viscous fluid stored in wax-form structures called honeycombs after being harvested by honeybees from plants (floral nectar). 37 It is produced through regurgitation, enzymatic activity, and water evaporation in the beehives. Apart from the nectar source, honeybees also collect secretions from insects (belonging to the genus Rhynchota ) to produce honeydew honey.…”

“…Apart from the nectar source, honeybees also collect secretions from insects (belonging to the genus Rhynchota ) to produce honeydew honey. 37 Honey is composed of at least 181 substances, mainly carbohydrates like fructose (38%) and glucose (31%). It also contains enzymes, amino acids, vitamins, proteins and polyphenols.…”

Impacts of Climate Change to Poultry Production in Africa: Adaptation Options for Broiler Chickens

“…Exogenous nonenzymatic antioxidants in honey synergistically support the endogenous antioxidant enzymes, such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GPX), to eradicate reactive oxygen species. Honey has various antioxidant constituents that act together for the same goal but at different cellular and subcellular levels (Erejuwa et al 2012;Oryan et al 2016;Kamaruzzaman et al 2019).…”

Physicochemical and Sensory Analysis of Commercial Honeys of Apis Mellifera Produced by Cooperative Societies in Mexico City

“…Fromnutritional view, honey contains at least 200 compounds, major and minors, but mainly carbohydrates and water [4]. Honey also contains enzymes, amino acids, proteins, flavonoids, phenolic acids, organic acids, vitamins, and minerals in lower quantities [5]. The chemical composition of honey varies from a sample to another and usually contains major and minor compounds [4] which work by interacting with each other to produce a range of synergistic antioxidant properties [5].…”

“…Honey also contains enzymes, amino acids, proteins, flavonoids, phenolic acids, organic acids, vitamins, and minerals in lower quantities [5]. The chemical composition of honey varies from a sample to another and usually contains major and minor compounds [4] which work by interacting with each other to produce a range of synergistic antioxidant properties [5]. Information on the honey therapeutic properties has been investigated [5] International Journal of Food Science and Agriculture denoting that honey possesses antioxidant [6,7,8], antidiabetic [8], fertility [8], antibacterial [9,10,11,12,13], antiviral, anti-inflammatory [9,14], antiulcerous [5], immunemodulating [5], vasodilative [5], hypotensive [5], hypocholesterolemic [5], and antitumor activities [8,9,15].…”