. 2023 Jul 6;15(13):3056. doi: 10.3390/nu15133056

Table 5.

Effects of honey on cancer patients.

Honey	Dose	Duration	Subjects	Physiological Parameter	Effect	Reference
Natural Baran-Baghro honey from Iran	1:20 honey:water Mouthwash	4 w	Acute myeloid leukemia patients receiving chemotherapy >18 years	Mucositis severity	↓ *^,a	[29]
Natural Baran-Baghro honey from Iran	1:20 honey:water Mouthwash	4 w		Body weight	↑ *^,a	[29]
Pure and filtered thyme honey	1:5 honey:water Mouthwash	6 m	Head and neck cancer patients receiving radiotherapy 61.53 years	Mucositis severity	↓ *^,a	[30]
				Weight loss	↓ ^a
				Global health	↑ *^,a
				Life quality	↑ *^,a
Western Ghats forests honey	20 mL Mouthwash	6 w	Oral carcinoma patients receiving radiotherapy >18 years	Mucositis severity	↓ ^a	[31]
Pure and filtered natural clover honey	20 mL pure honey Rinse + swallow	7 w	Head and neck cancer patients receiving chemotherapy 48.20 ± 15.63 years	Mucositis severity	↓ ^a	[32]
Pure and filtered natural clover honey	20 mL pure honey Rinse + swallow	7 w		Candida colonization	↓ ^a	[32]
Pure natural honey from Thymus and Astragale in the Albroz mountains in northern Iran	20 mL pure honey Rinse + swallow	6 w	Head and neck cancer patients receiving radiotherapy 57.0 ± 12.0 years	Mucositis severity	↓ *^,a	[33]
	20 mL pure honey Rinse + swallow	6 w		Weight loss	↓ ^a	[33]
Tea plant honey from Cameron Highland of peninsular Malaysia	20 mL pure honey Rinse + swallow	7 w	Head and neck cancer patients receiving radiotherapy 14–89 years	Mucositis severity	↓ ^a	[34]
	20 mL pure honey Rinse + swallow	7 w		Body weight	↑ ^a	[34]
Pure and filtered thyme honey	1:5 honey:water Rinse + swallow	6 w	Head and neck cancer patients receiving radiotherapy or chemotherapy or surgery 61.53 ± 13.50 years	Xerostomia level	↓ ^a	[35]
				Quality life	↑ ^a
				Pain	↓ ^a
				Dysphagia	↓ ^a
Irradiated organic manuka honey	5 mL Rinse + swallow	6 w	Head and neck cancer patients receiving radiotherapy	Mucositis severity	↓	[36]
Active manuka honey	20 mL (98% honey) Rinse + swallow	6 w	Head and neck cancer patients receiving radiotherapy 38–85 years	Incidence of servere mucositis	↑	[37]
				Mucositis severity	↓
				Mucositis duration	↓
Egyptian clover honey from El Mahala, Gharbia Governorate	0.5 g/kg/d Rinse + swallow	10 d	Lymphoblastic leukaemia patients receiving chemotherapy 6.9 ± 3.8 years	Mucositis recovery time	↓ ^a	[38]
Turkish Flower honey from the highlands of Zonguldak Province, in the Western Black Sea Region of Turkey	3.70–30.96 g Rinse + swallow	21 d	Children treated in a paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) 7.25 years	Mucositis severity	↓ *^,a	[39]
Life-Mel honey from Express Honey, Tzuf Globus, Israel	5 g/d	5 d	Cancer patients with neutropenia 57 years	Neutrophil level	↑ *	[40]
				Haemoglobin level	↑
				Thrombocytes level	↑
Egyptian unprocessed clover honey collected from Al Mahala-Gharbia Governorate	2.5 g/kg twice weekly	Crossover Two 12 w periods	Children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia 5.4 ± 2.4 years	Febrile neutropenia episodes	↓ ^a	[41]
				Number of patients admitted in hospital	↓
				Duration of hospital stay	↓
				Haemoglobin level	↑ ^a

d: day; w: week; ↑: increase; ↓: decrease. * Significant differences (p < 0.05) within group between baseline and the end. ^a Significantly different (p < 0.05) from the control group.