Background: Diabetes is a global, growing and costly public health problem. In the literature, there are conflicting reports on the effect of consumption of bee honey on diabetes. We assessed the possible effect of a commercially available bee honey (given orally by gavage at doses of 1 g/kg/day for 4 weeks) on the blood concentrations of glucose, insulin and leptin and body weight of rats with streptozotocin-induced diabetes.
Methods: Thirty-six rats were allocated randomly into six groups equally and treated for 4 weeks as follows: Group.1: non-diabetic rats given distilled water, group.2: non-diabetic rats given honey (1 g/kg), group.3: Diabetic rats given distilled water, group.4: Diabetic rats given honey, group.5: Diabetic rats given insulin (10 IU/kg), and group.6: Diabetic rats given combination of insulin (10 IU/kg) with honey (1 g/kg). The body weight, blood glucose, insulin and leptin concentrations of each rat were measured.
Results: Honey treatment did not significantly affect the glucose, leptin and insulin concentrations of diabetic rats. It did not significantly affect the excessive water intake or urinary output in diabetic rats when compared to the insulin-treated groups. Neither honey nor insulin improved body weight in diabetic rats.
Conclusion: Contrary to the reports of a salutary effect of honey in diabetic humans and rodents, our results showed that consumption of honey caused no significant changes in body weight, or glucose and insulin concentrations. However, further studies with different doses and durations of treatment are warranted.
Keywords: Blood glucose; Body weight; Diabetes; Honey; Insulin; Leptin.