Honey - A Novel Antidiabetic Agent

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus remains a burden worldwide in spite of the availability of numerous antidiabetic drugs. Honey is a natural substance produced by bees from nectar. Several evidence-based health benefits have been ascribed to honey in the recent years. In this review article, we highlight findings which demonstrate the beneficial or potential effects of honey in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT), on the gut microbiota, in the liver, in the pancreas and how these effects could improve glycemic control and metabolic derangements. In healthy subjects or patients with impaired glucose tolerance or diabetes mellitus, various studies revealed that honey reduced blood glucose or was more tolerable than most common sugars or sweeteners. Pre-clinical studies provided more convincing evidence in support of honey as a potential antidiabetic agent than clinical studies did. The not-too-impressive clinical data could mainly be attributed to poor study designs or due to the fact that the clinical studies were preliminary. Based on the key constituents of honey, the possible mechanisms of action of antidiabetic effect of honey are proposed. The paper also highlights the potential impacts and future perspectives on the use of honey as an antidiabetic agent. It makes recommendations for further clinical studies on the potential antidiabetic effect of honey. This review provides insight on the potential use of honey, especially as a complementary agent, in the management of diabetes mellitus. Hence, it is very important to have well-designed, randomized controlled clinical trials that investigate the reproducibility (or otherwise) of these experimental data in diabetic human subjects.

Glycemic Effects of Honey Compared to Glucose Using Standard OGTT

“…9 In fact, the monosaccharide, fructose or glucose in honey need not to be hydrolyzed by GIT enzymes and hence are ready for absorption. 8 In gut, glucose is absorbed by Na + dependent secondary active transport, employing SGLT1 at luminal membrane and GLUT2 along basolateral membrane of enterocyte. 10 But fructose utilizes a different mechanism independent of Na + .…”

“…6,8 Besides, there are about 25 different disaccharides and oligosaccharides accounting for 5−10% of the total carbohydrates. 7 So, it is puzzling that how honey would lower blood glucose levels in patients having diabetes mellitus.…”

“…8 In addition to fructose, oligosaccharides such as palatinose (isomaltulose) present in honey have been reported to delay digestion and intestinal absorption of glucose and thus also may contribute to reduced glycemia. 8 In this study, there was a statistically significant decrease in 1-hour and also in 2-hour post-honey load blood glucose levels in comparison to post-glucose load levels in normal, impaired and also diabetic group.…”

“…8 In addition to fructose, oligosaccharides such as palatinose (isomaltulose) present in honey have been reported to delay digestion and intestinal absorption of glucose and thus also may contribute to reduced glycemia. 8 In this study, there was a statistically significant decrease in 1-hour and also in 2-hour post-honey load blood glucose levels in comparison to post-glucose load levels in normal, impaired and also diabetic group. Our study findings match with that of Agrawal et al1 2 who conducted a study on thirty adults with a proven parental history of type II diabetes mellitus, who were subjected simultaneously to an oral glucose tolerance test (GTT) and a honey tolerance test (HTT).…”

The effect of a soy-yoghurt-honey product on excess weight and related health risk factors - A review

“…If it is possible to regulate the microbiome balance by diet [58,81], a regular intake of honey as a replacement of sucrose, could be an option for a beneficial modification of the gut microbiota [80] Honey oligosaccharides, as a replacement for sucrose, seems to influence appetite-regulating hormones as well as energy intake [35,52] which has to be considered as a potentially important benefit of honey for preventing excess weight gain [64]. Since SYHF powder contains 25% natural honey, a significant daily intake of honey in a range of 50 to 75 g wet weight can be achieved if SYHF is used in a meal replacement strategy; this amount may be sufficient to assume a significant intake of oligosaccharides and their related benefits for health and nutrition.…”