Effects of Honey Consumption on Acetic Acid-induced Colitis in Albino Rats

Abstract

This study investigates the effects of honey consumption on colitis healing in
albino rats. 45 albino rats (divided into 3 groups - control, low and high dose
honey groups) of average weight of 200g were used for this study. Colitis was
induced in all groups using 6 % acetic acid. The low and high doses were
administered with 0.25ml and 0.5ml of honey respectively for 20 days. The control animals ate normal rat chow. The stools of all animals were scored according to the scale of Masonobu et al (2002) for 20 days. On days 7, 14 and 20, three animals were sacrificed from each group and 8cm of the colon was cut out for gross morphological scoring. The results showed that on day 16 colitis scores were 0.90 ± 0.05, 0.30 ± 0.02, 0.50 ± 0.05, on day 20, 0.80 ± 0.03, 0.33 ± 0.03, 0.50 ± 0.05 for control, low and high doses respectively. Honey consumption increased the colitis healing rate compared to control. It can be concluded from this study that honey consumption has a positive effect on colitis healing and may be useful in patients with inflammation bowel diseases.