Modulatory role ofAcaciahoney from north-west Nigeria on sodium arsenite-induced clastogenicity and oxidative stress in male Wistar rats

Exploring Consumers' Preferences and Attitudes to Honey: Generation Approach in Slovakia

Honey is popular among consumers for its composition and healing properties. The aim of the paper is to study the differences in honey preferences across various age generations in Slovakia. The study is based on primary data obtained by conducting an online questionnaire survey on a sample of 1850 Slovak consumers of honey in 2022. Multiple correspondence analyses and non-parametric tests were applied to study the differences in preferences across selected age cohorts (Generation Z, Generation Y, Generation X and Silver Generation). The results show that Silver Generation tends to consume honey due to its nutritional values and prefers to consume monofloral honey of a dark colour, while Generation Z does not use honey in cosmetics or consume it due to its nutritional values and are inclined to prefer polyfloral honey. The utilisation of honey in cosmetics was associated mostly with Generation X. Younger consumers (Generation Z and Generation Y) have a very low awareness of creamed honey and honey with additions in comparison to Silver Generation or Generation X. In addition, the results reveal that propolis, royal jelly and bee pollen were the most attractive additions for honey across all age cohorts in Slovakia, while spirulina and chilli were the least attractive additions.

Determinants of Honey and Other Bee Products Use for Culinary, Cosmetic, and Medical Purposes

Bee products have been used for centuries for culinary, medicinal, and cosmetic purposes, and their properties are still a subject of research, which provide new arguments in favour of their use. The research aimed to determine the current state of use of bee products by Polish consumers and determine the ways and conditions of their use, with particular reference to the level of nutritional knowledge and health status. The survey was conducted using the CAWI (Computer-Assisted Web Interview) method on 487 respondents. It was found that honey is used mainly for culinary purposes and, to a lesser extent, for medicinal and cosmetic purposes. Other bee products are much less commonly used than honey-mainly beeswax and royal jelly for cosmetic purposes and propolis and bee pollen for medicinal purposes. Segments distinguished by the frequency of use of honey for particular purposes were differentiated by gender, age, income level, use of other bee products, and motivation to use them. Their differences were also found in terms of the level of nutritional knowledge and self-assessed health status-the highest ratings in both categories were indicated by representatives of the Honey users' segment, which consisted of people who use honey most frequently for cooking, cosmetic and medicinal purposes. Regression analysis additionally showed that higher levels of nutritional knowledge and better health status were associated with the use of honey to treat gastrointestinal ailments and with the use of propolis for medicinal purposes.

Honey on brain health: A promising brain booster

Since ancient times, honey has been employed in many aspects of everyday life, the most popular of which is as a natural sweetener. Honey is used not only as a nutritional product but also in health as a supplement and in various applications, especially related to brain booster health. Brain health is the capacity to carry out all mental functions necessary for cognition, such as learning and judging, utilizing language, and recalling. This review presents the current trend of research on honey, particularly the interest in underlying mechanisms related to brain booster health. A total of 34 original articles addressing brain health from the consumption of honey were analyzed. We identified four main brain health benefits, which are memory booster, neuroprotective effect, anti-stress, and anti-nociceptive potentials with the proposed underlying mechanism. A lot of attention has been paid to the role that honey plays in brain health research, with the goal of examining the link between honey and brain health as well as the mechanism underlying it, the findings from this review may be potentially beneficial to develop new therapeutic roles for honey to help determine the best and most promising to benefit and boost overall brain health.

Traditionally Used Natural Products in Preventing Ionizing Radiation-Induced Dermatitis: First Review on the Clinical Studies

In the treatment of cancer, the use of ionizing radiation is an important modality. However, on the downside, radiation, when used for curative purposes, causes acute dermatitis or radiodermatitis at the site of radiation in most individuals. From a clinical viewpoint, severe dermatitis causes a burning and itching sensation is very painful, and severely affects the quality of life of the individual undergoing treatment. In worse situations, acute radiation dermatitis can cause gaps or breaks in the planned treatment and this can adversely affect the treatment objective and outcome.

BACKGROUND

In various traditional and folk systems of medicine, plants and plant products have been used since time immemorial for treating various skin ailments. Further, many cosmeceutical creams formulated based on knowledge from ethnomedicinal use are marketed and used to treat various ailments. In the current review, an attempt is made at summarizing the beneficial effects of some plants and plant products in mitigating acute radiation dermatitis in humans undergoing curative radiotherapy. Additionally, the emphasis is also placed on the mechanism/s responsible for the beneficial effects.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this review is to summarize the clinical observations on the prevention of radiodermatitis by plant products. In this review, the protective effects of Adlay (Coix lachryma-jobi L.) bran extract, Aloe vera, Calendula officinalis, Cucumis sativus, green tea constituent the epigallocatechin-3-gallate, honey, Achillea millefolium, Matricaria chamomilla, olive oil and some polyherbal creams are addressed by also addressing on the mechanism of action for the beneficial effects.

METHODS

Two authors' data mined for information in Google Scholar, PubMed, Embase and the Cochrane Library for publications in the field from 1901 up to July 2020. The focus was on acute radiation dermatitis, ionizing radiation, curative radiotherapy, human cancer. The articles were collected and analyzed.

RESULTS

For the first time, this review addresses the usefulness of natural products like adlay bran, Aloe vera, Calendula officinalis, Cucumis sativus, green tea constituent the epigallocatechin-3-gallate, honey, Achillea millefolium, Matricaria chamomilla, olive oil and some experimentally constituted and commercially available polyherbal creams as skincare agents against the deleterious effects of ionizing radiation on the skin. The protective effects are possibly due to the free radical scavenging, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, wound healing and skin protective effects.

CONCLUSION

The authors suggest that these plants have been used since antiquity as medicinal agents and require in-depth investigation with both clinical and preclinical validated models of study. The results of these studies will be extremely useful to cancer patients requiring curative radiotherapy, the dermatology fraternity, agro-based and pharmaceutical sectors at large.

Usefulness of Honey as an Adjunct in the Radiation Treatment for Head and Neck Cancer: Emphasis on Pharmacological and Mechanism/s of Actions

BACKGROUND

In the treatment of head and neck cancer (HNC), ionizing radiation is an important modality in achieving curative objectives. However, the effective use of radiation is compromised by the side effects resulting from the damage to the adjacent normal tissue. Preclinical studies carried out in the recent past have shown that the age old dietary agent honey, which also possess myriad medicinal use is beneficial in mitigating diverse radiation-induced side effects like mucositis, xerostomia, fatigue, weight loss and to promote healing of refractory wounds.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this memoir is to review the beneficial effects of honey in mitigating radiation-induced side effects in HNC and to emphasize on the underlying mechanism of action for the beneficial effects Methods: Two authors searched Google Scholar, PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library for publications up to December 2019 to assess the ability of honey in reducing the severity of radiation-induced ill effects in the treatment of HNC. Subsequently, the adjunct pharmacological effects and mechanism/s responsible were also searched for and appropriately used to substantiate the underlying mechanism/s of action for the beneficial effects.

RESULTS

The existing data is suggestive that honey is beneficial in mitigating the radiation-induced mucositis, xerostomia, healing of recalcitrant wounds in radiation exposed regions and multiple pathways mediate the beneficial effects especially, free radical scavenging, antioxidant, wound healing, anticancer, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, anabolic, anti-fatigue and anti-anaemic effects that add additional value to the use of honey as an adjunct in cancer therapy.

CONCLUSION

For the first time this review addresses the underlying pharmacological effects related to the beneficial effects of honey in radiation-induced damage, and attempts at emphasizes the lacunae that need further studies for optimizing the use of honey as an adjunct in radiotherapy of HNC. The authors suggest that future studies should be directed at understanding the detail molecular mechanisms responsible for the beneficial effects using validated cell culture and animal models of study. Large multi centric clinical trials with standardised honey is also needed to understand the clinical use of honey.

Melissopalynological, Physicochemical, Antimicrobial and Microbiological Attributes of Commercial Honeys from North West Nigeria

Background:

Honey is used for nutritional, medicinal and industrial purposes and maintenance of the requisite quality is of great importance.

Objective:

This study distinctively aimed to portray twelve randomly selected profitable honeys accessible in the North West Nigerian market with regards to floral nectar origin, physicochemical factors, antimicrobial activity and microbial safety evaluations.

Methods:

Twelve (12) samples of honey sourced from diverse places in the Northwest of Nigeria were analyzed for their pollen spectra, physicochemical parameters, antimicrobial activity and microbiological safety.

Results:

Dominant pollen types from the analysis were Borassus (72%), Piptadenia africana (39%), Lophira (91%) and Combretaceae (91%) for Sokoto, Jigawa, Kaduna and Katsina States honey samples, respectively. The physicochemical analysis of the samples revealed that pH was in range from 3.32 to 4.25, moisture content varied from 16.37% to 18.70%, ash content 0.23% to 0.93% and free acidity 6.83meq/Kg to 32.00meq/kg, electrical conductivity ranged from 0.13mS/cm to 1.40mS/cm, reducing sugars was 42.85% to 49.30%, sucrose content was 0.74% to 6.75%, Hydroxymethylfurfural value was 11.0mg/Kg to 80.20mg/Kg, diastase level ranged from 7.23 to 43.5 and Proline content ranged from 104.67mg/Kg to 666.67mg/Kg. The antimicrobial evaluation revealed significant zone of inhibition to E. coli, ranging from 19-38 mm at concentrations (12.5-100mg/mL) tested as compared to all other test organisms.

Conclusion:

The fallouts of microbiological investigation of the samples revealed mould and bacteria, with counts less than 102CFU/g. The findings showed that the attributes of the tested honey samples maintained criteria of international standards.

Role of honey in modern medicine

Use of honey has a very long history. Honey has been used since ancient time due to its nutritional and therapeutic values. There had been varied ways of consumption honey including its use as a sweetener and flavoring agent. Honey is produced all over the world. The most important nutriment of honey is carbohydrates present in the form of monosaccharides, fructose and glucose. Honey plays an important role as an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial agent and augments the adherence of skin grafts and wound healing process. The role of honey has been acknowledged in the scientific literature and there is convincing evidence in support of its antioxidant and antibacterial nature, cough prevention, fertility and wound healing properties. However, its use has been controversially discussed and has not been well accepted in the modern medicine. The aim of this review was explore and highlight the role of honey in modern medicine.

Inhibitory effects of sodium arsenite and acacia honey on acetylcholinesterase in rats

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of sodium arsenite and Acacia honey on acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity and electrolytes in the brain and serum of Wistar rats. Male Wistar albino rats in four groups of five rats each were treated with distilled water, sodium arsenite (5 mg/kg body weight), Acacia honey (20% v/v), and sodium arsenite and Acacia honey, daily for one week. The sodium arsenite and Acacia honey significantly (P < 0.05) decreased AChE activity in the brain with the combined treatment being more potent. Furthermore, sodium arsenite and Acacia honey significantly (P < 0.05) decreased AChE activity in the serum. Strong correlation was observed between the sodium and calcium ion levels with acetylcholinesterase activity in the brain and serum. The gas chromatography mass spectrometry analysis of Acacia honey revealed the presence of a number of bioactive compounds such as phenolics, sugar derivatives, and fatty acids. These findings suggest that sodium arsenite and/or Acacia honey modulates acetylcholinesterase activities which may be explored in the management of Alzheimer's diseases but this might be counteracted by the hepatotoxicity induced by arsenics.