Honey is a sweet, thick liquid with antibacterial properties that can promote the growth of epithelial tissue like skin. It has been studied for oral mucositis from cancer treatment, wounds and burns, cough, and other conditions.
Honey is most often used for
Last Updated:November 5, 2024
Honey is created from flower nectar and secretions from the upper digestive tract of the honey bee. It is composed mostly of carbohydrates, though it also contains some free amino acids, vitamins, trace elements, and polyphenols.[7] It has been used for wound healing for thousands of years.[8][9]
Honey has been used to treat oral mucositis, a potentially serious side effect of the treatment of head and neck cancers.[10][11] Honey has also been used to treat skin conditions such as wounds and burns[12][5] and diabetic foot ulcers.[13][14][15]
Honey may help treat cough,[16][17] canker sores,[18] herpes sores,[9] and dry eye.[19]
Honey should not be given to infants under 12 months of age. This is because honey can contain Clostridium botulinum (the bacterium that causes botulism), and infants less than 12 months of age have poor immunity against this bacterium.[16][20]
Because honey is primarily composed of sugar, researchers have wondered if it could negatively affect weight or metabolic health. However, meta-analyses of RCTs have found moderate-quality evidence that honey had no effect on blood lipids (LDL-C, HDL-C)[21] or ALT.[22] Furthermore, a 2023 meta-analysis of RCTs found a beneficial effect on blood lipids (reduced total cholesterol and triglycerides; low-quality evidence). Some studies even found reductions to fasting glucose (low-quality evidence)[6] and weight (moderate-quality evidence).[23]
Honey has antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, and anti-inflammatory properties.[7][16][24][25][26][27][28][29] Specifically, honey may work through a variety of factors, such as hydrogen peroxide, non-peroxides, nitric oxide, polyphenols, a high osmolality (strongly drawing water out of the cells of bacteria), and its acidity.[30][31]
Honey contains less-commonly found sugars, such as allulose, tagatose, and isomaltulose, which have been associated with improvements in cardiometabolic risk factors.[32][33]
In oral mucositis, many studies used a dose of 20 mL (approximately 1 tablespoon) of honey swallowed before and after radiation therapy.[1]
For cough in children, doses of 5–10 mL (approximately 1–2 teaspoons), for example, in 90 mL of milk, have been studied.[2]
For skin, a majority of studies applied honey topically to the affected areas.[3][4][5]
A 2023 meta-analysis of 18 RCTs which examined honey for metabolic health did not find a dose-response effect for any outcomes, except the improvements of systolic blood pressure were not as large when the dose was over 10% of daily total calories (50–62 grams for people eating 2,000–2,500 calories per day). In other words, higher dosages did not increase or decrease the effectiveness of honey for improving metabolic outcomes in some studies. The researchers in this meta-analysis did note that they examined studies which used honey at doses of 5–125 grams, with a median dose of 40 grams (approximately 3 tablespoons).[6]
All new FAQs were added to this page.
All new FAQs were added to this page including "What are honey's main benefits?" showing that honey has the strongest evidence to help oral mucositis, a potentially serious side effect of the treatment of head and neck cancers.
Honey has also been used to treat skin conditions such as wounds, burns, diabetic foot ulcers, canker sores, and herpes sores. Even more diversely, honey may also help improve acute cough and dry eye.
