The effect of topical application of pure honey on radiation-induced mucositis: a randomised clinical trial

A selection of abstracts of clinically relevant papers from other journals. The abstracts on this page have been chosen and edited by John R. Radford.

Abstract

Honey reduced the signs of radiation-induced oral mucositis.

Main

Motallebnejad M, Akram S et al. J Contemp Dent Pract 2008; 9: 40–47

The most common acute side-effect of head and neck radiotherapy is oral mucositis. Since time immemorial, honey has been used to treat wounds. In this randomised single-blind study (examiner-blind), 40 patients requiring radiotherapy for head and neck cancer were allocated to either a group that received honey or a control group who rinsed with saline. Signs of mucositis were recorded at weekly intervals for 6 weeks after radiotherapy. Several subjects dropped out during the study. At each time interval, mucositis was significantly less when the subjects used honey. In addition, they suffered significantly less weight loss. Within the authors' admitted limitations of this study, it was concluded that honey had a remarkable effect ameliorating the signs of this debilitating condition.