Most of us know honey as a sweet treat,
but few are aware of
its powerful cancer killing properties.
Honey is a superlative healing food.
We know it has many health benefits, as confirmed by the biomedical literature itself. But did you know it could be of profound benefit in diseases as life threatening and seemingly incurable as cancer?
Indeed, a recent study published the journal Molecules (Effects of Honey and Its Mechanisms of Action on the Development and Progression of Cancer) looked at the role of honey in positively impacting the development and progression of tumors or cancers.
The review identified the presence of flavonoids and phenolic acids in honey as the primary anti-cancer compounds involved in its beneficial properties.
According to the study, flavonoids are biologically active natural compounds with a 15-carbon (C6-C3-C6) structure, comprising two benzene rings joined by a heterocyclic pyrane ring, with honey containing the following:
Chrysin
Kaempeferol
Quercetin
Pinobanksin
Pinocembrin
Luteolin
Apigenin
Hesperetin
Naringenin
Genistein
Interestingly, many of these flavonoids are classified as phytoestrogens, which are phytochemicals structurally similar to mammalian estrogens and therefore can bind to estrogen receptors.
but few are aware of
its powerful cancer killing properties.
Honey is a superlative healing food.
We know it has many health benefits, as confirmed by the biomedical literature itself. But did you know it could be of profound benefit in diseases as life threatening and seemingly incurable as cancer?
Indeed, a recent study published the journal Molecules (Effects of Honey and Its Mechanisms of Action on the Development and Progression of Cancer) looked at the role of honey in positively impacting the development and progression of tumors or cancers.
The review identified the presence of flavonoids and phenolic acids in honey as the primary anti-cancer compounds involved in its beneficial properties.
According to the study, flavonoids are biologically active natural compounds with a 15-carbon (C6-C3-C6) structure, comprising two benzene rings joined by a heterocyclic pyrane ring, with honey containing the following:
Chrysin
Kaempeferol
Quercetin
Pinobanksin
Pinocembrin
Luteolin
Apigenin
Hesperetin
Naringenin
Genistein
Interestingly, many of these flavonoids are classified as phytoestrogens, which are phytochemicals structurally similar to mammalian estrogens and therefore can bind to estrogen receptors.
While many of these honey-derived flavonoids have been demonstrated to have both inhibitory and stimulatory effects, the vast majority of the cell (in vitro) and animal (in vivo) studies have demonstrated the anti-breast and estrogen sensitive cancer properties of these compounds, indicating that flavonoid rich honeys are likely to positively influence estrogenic activity in estrogen-receptor positive cancers.
Furthermore, some honeys - such as Tualang honey - exhibit the property of selective cytotoxicity, meaning they target cancer cells by inducing programmed cell death while leaving non-cancerous cells unharmed.
This is extremely different than the mechanism of action behind conventional chemotherapy agents and radiotherapy which indiscriminately target both healthy and cancerous tissue, often conferring increased survival advantage to the most tumorigenic cells themselves: cancer stem cells.
Unlike chemotherapy and radiotherapy, natural compounds commonly exhibit this ‘do no harm’ property when it comes to healthy tissue, while at the same time being exceptionally effective at targeting the harmful cells.
Honey Better than Chemotherapy?
Another recent study compared the effect of Tualang honey with that of the pharmaceutical tamoxifen (an estrogen receptor antagonist) in two breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231).
The study found that the anti-cancer effect of tualang honey on breast cancer cells was comparable to that of tamoxifen, a multi-billion dollar blockbuster drug.
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