Study: Honey May Help Treat Diabetes

Antidiabetic effect of honey feeding in noise induced hyperglycemic rat: involvement of oxidative stress

Iran J Basic Med Sci. 2015 Aug;18(8):745-51.

OBJECTIVES:

In this study the effect of oral administration of honey on serum glucose, lipids, stress oxidative markers, and morphology of langerhans islets in noise induced hyperglycemic rats was investigated.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

Male Wistar rats were divided into control, hyperglycemic, honey treated control, and honey treated hyperglycemic groups. For induction of hyperglycemia, noise stress was used. Serum glucose, triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein (LDL), and high density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol levels were determined before the study and at 4(th) and 8(th) weeks after the study. Markers of oxidative stress in brain were also measured. Morphology of langerhans islets in four groups was evaluated using Gomori staining method.

RESULTS:

Treatment of noise induced hyperglycemic rats with honey produced a hypoglycemic effect and appropriate changes regarding serum lipids in treated diabetic group at 4(th) and 8(th) weeks as compared to the control group. Meanwhile, honey treatment significantly ameliorated the increased malondialdehyde (MDA) content and reduced the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) in brain. Histology of langerhans islets in hyperglycemic group showed a lower number and granularity of beta cells; honey treatment produced beneficial change in this respect.

CONCLUSION:

Oral administration of honey in experimental model of diabetes showed a significant hypoglycemic effect and led to appropriate changes in serum lipid profiles.