Song, J.J., Twumasi-Ankrah, P., & Salcido, R. (2012). Systematic review and meta-analysis on the use of honey to protect from the effects of radiation-induced oral mucositis. Advances in Skin & Wound Care, 25, 23–28.
To investigate whether the use of honey provides protection from the effects of radiation-induced mucositis
Databases searched were PubMed, MEDLINE via OVID, EMBASE, CINAHAL via EBSCO, and Cochrane.
Keywords searched were honey and mucositis or stomatitis.
Studies were included in the review if they
Studies were excluded if they
A total of 15 references were retrieved. Four trials reported on the protective effects of honey. One of these was nonblinded. The remaining three were randomized examiner-blinded, and these three trials were assessed for overall risk of bias using the Cochrane method. Three of the four studies met the inclusion and exclusion criteria for the meta-analysis.
All patients were undergoing the active treatment phase of care.
Meta-analysis of the of the three trials reported that honey appeared to have protective effects against radiation-induced mucositis by 80% compared to the control group. Overall relative risk of developing mucositis was almost 80% lower (risk ratio, 0.19; 95% confidence interval, 0.098–0.371) in the honey treatment group than in the control group.
Trials were fairly homogeneous (I² = 0%, p = 0.39), so meta-analysis used a fixed-effects model (Mantel-Haenszel method) to calculate a pooled risk ratio.
Further research is needed to strengthen the current evidence prior to any clinical recommendations for practice. They suggested blinding the assessor in future studies.