Metabolic Effects of Honey in Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus: A Randomized Crossover Pilot Study

The aim of this study was to evaluate the metabolic effects of 12-week honey consumption on patients suffering from type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM). This was a randomized crossover clinical trial done in the National Institute for Diabetes and Endocrinology, Cairo, Egypt. Twenty patients of both sexes aged 4-18 years with type 1 DM and HbA1C < 10% participated in the study. They were randomized into two equal groups (intervention to control and control to intervention). The dietary intervention was 12-week honey consumption in a dose of 0.5 mL/kg body weight per day. The main outcome measures were serum glucose, lipids, and C-peptide, and anthropometric measurements. None of participants were lost in follow-up. The intervention resulted in significant decreases in subscapular skin fold thickness (SSFT; P = .002), fasting serum glucose (FSG; P = .001), total cholesterol (P = .0001), serum triglycerides (TG; P = .0001), and low-density lipoprotein (P = .0009), and significant increases in fasting C-peptide (FCP; P = .0004) and 2-h postprandial C-peptide (PCP; P = .002). As possible long-term effects of honey after its withdrawal, statistically significant reductions in midarm circumference (P = .000), triceps skin fold thickness (P = .006), SSFT (P = .003), FSG (P = .005), 2-h postprandial serum glucose (P = .000), TG (P = .003), and HbA1C (P = .043), and significant increases in FCP (P = .002) and PCP (P = .003) were observed. This small clinical trial suggests that long-term consumption of honey might have positive effects on the metabolic derangements of type 1 DM.