Adulterated honey consumption can induce obesity, increase blood glucose level and demonstrate toxicity effects

The effects of adulterated honey consumption towards human health is not widely known; mainly due to lack of systematic and scientific studies and low public awareness. In this study, short-term and long-term effects of consumption on two brands of commercially honey are available in Malaysian market was investigated and compared to normal control (NC) rats and rats fed with natural pineapple honey (PH) using male Sprague dawley rats. Adulteration of honey used in the study was measured using physicochemical and antioxidant analyses and identified as adulterated honey A (FHA) and B (FHB). No toxicity effect was found for short-term consumption (14 days with one honey consumption). However, visible effects were observed after 16 weeks of study. Both FHA and FHB showed a significant increase (p>0.05) in cholesterol (48.6 ± 4.8 mmol/L, 46.5 ± 3.6 mmol/L), triglycerides (26 ± 1.2 mmol/L, 24.4 ± 1.8 mmol/L) and glucose (28.4 ± 2.5 mmol/L, 25 ± 2.6 mmol/L) level respectively. In contrast, rats from NC and PH groups have lower cholesterol (26.5 ± 4.4 mmol/L, 18.94 ± 3.6 mmol/L), triglycerides (17.5 ± 1.2 mmol/L, 13.5 ± 1.5 mmol/L) and glucose (6.4 ± 1.4 mmol/L, 8.0 ± 1.5 mmol/L) level, respectively. The most critical finding was in total five rats from both fake honey groups showed early mortality. This intensive study indicates long-term adulterated honey may harm to human health and required prompt actions from various authorities locally and internationally to avoid other consequences in the future

Physicochemical profiles of honey harvested from four major species of stingless bee (Kelulut) in North East Peninsular of Malaysia

Stingless bee honey is one of the high demand honey in Malaysia. However, honey characters particularly from different species is lacking in order to increase its commercial value. Thus, physicochemical profile analysis of honey harvested from four major species of stingless bee in Kelantan, Malaysia, Geniotrigona thoracica, Heterotrigina itama, Lepidotrigona terminata and Tetragonula laeviceps was conducted to investigate the honey character. Character of the stingless bee honey harvested from various species from the same geographic area was compared. The results were then compared to stingless bee honey from other countries. Most of physicochemical data of stingless bee honey from different species collected from Kelantan showed almost similar values. However, value of pH, free acidity and total acidity displayed significant different results. This indicates species of stingless bee may affect the results. In order to compare local stingless bee honey with international stingless bee honey, the data was represented as mean regardless of their species. From the results, moisture content was consistently high in stingless bee honey harvested from Malaysia, Thailand, Brazil and Venezuela while, other data showed different values. The results demonstrated that species of stingless bee particularly from other countries is crucial in order to characterize the honey. However, Malaysian stingless bee honey has unique character based on physicochemical data. The data can be used as a marketing strategy in increasing commercial value of local stingless bee honey

Four-Week Consumption of Malaysian Honey Reduces Excess Weight Gain and Improves Obesity-Related Parameters in High Fat Diet Induced Obese Rats

Many studies revealed the potential of honey consumption in controlling obesity. However, no study has been conducted using Malaysian honey. In this study, we investigated the efficacy of two local Malaysian honey types: Gelam and Acacia honey in reducing excess weight gain and other parameters related to obesity. The quality of both honey types was determined through physicochemical analysis and contents of phenolic and flavonoid. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were induced to become obese using high fat diet (HFD) prior to introduction with/without honey or orlistat for four weeks. Significant reductions in excess weight gain and adiposity index were observed in rats fed with Gelam honey compared to HFD rats. Moreover, levels of plasma glucose, triglycerides, and cholesterol, plasma leptin and resistin, liver enzymes, renal function test, and relative organ weight in Gelam and Acacia honey treated groups were reduced significantly when compared to rats fed with HFD only. Similar results were also displayed in rats treated with orlistat, but with hepatotoxicity effects. In conclusion, consumption of honey can be used to control obesity by regulating lipid metabolism and appears to be more effective than orlistat

Effects of pure and fake honey on glucose and lipid profile in vitro and in vivo study

Honey authenticity is one of the most critical honey trading issues worldwide. Fake honey (FH) represents almost 80% of the honey market in Malaysia. Apart from violating consumer’s rights, FH consists of none of the beneficial nutritional value\ud other than pure honey (PH). Moreover, prolonged consumption of FH may cause harm to human health. However, data regarding these issues is limited. In this study, both PH and FH were tested using 3T3-L1 adipocytes and in high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obese Sprague Dawley rats. Initially, a physicochemical analysis was performed on both the honey samples according to the Codex Alimentarius Commission and International Honey Commission procedures. After 72 hr, PH significantly reduced lipid accumulation and triglyceride levels in the adipocytes. In the rats, low glucose, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels were significantly detected after orally administered for 16 weeks. Conversely, FH significantly induced higher lipid accumulation and triglyceride levels in adipocytes and excess high blood glucose, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels in rats. The results demonstrated that FH has negative effects on lipid metabolism, and prolonged consumption may cause health complications. Furthermore, prompt actions are required to address this problem