The distinctive regenerative ability of local marine worm (polychaete),Diopatra claparediiGrube, 1878, has the potential as a cellular growth agent. In this study, the growth effect was investigatedin normal cellsand cancer cells. Different concentrations (0-100
Introduction: Obesity is one of the major health problems in Malaysia. It can lead to other metabolic diseases including diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Unfortunately, effective treatment to overcome the health problem is yet to be discovered. One of the alternative solutions is by introducing a healthy diet through functional foods. Honey is well-known as one of the functional foods. However, the effectiveness in controlling obesity and then reducing the excess weight gain is still unclear. Several types of local honey were selected to observe their effects on obese-induced rats. Methods: Acacia, Gelam and Pineapple honey were harvested directly from apiaries and forest in Malaysia. Then, the quality of the honey was measured and standardized through physicochemical and antioxidant analyses. Male Sprague Dawley rats were induced to obese by consuming a high-fat diet. Then, the rats were fed with the honey for acute (one single honey consumption for 14 days) and subacute study (honey consumption daily for 16 weeks). Rats fed with orlistat (commercial drug for obesity) and fake honey were used as controls. Physical observation and biochemical analysis were conducted. Results: In the acute study, Gelam and Pineapple honey were significantly reduced the rat’s body weight, glucose, cholesterol and triglycerides level. More profound effects were observed in the subacute study, where all the honey samples were significantly reduced excess weight gain, glucose and the lipid profiles. Meanwhile, orlistat was also demonstrated a reduction in the excess weight gain but with toxicity side effects to the hepatic and renal function. In contrast, fake honey showed significantly increased body weight gain, glucose and the lipid profile in the rats. Conclusion: Based on the results, Malaysian honey samples have the potential to be a part of the daily diet in controlling obesity and reducing excess gain. However, more studies are required to confirm the findings.
The effects of adulterated honey consumption towards human health is not widely known; mainly due to lack of systematic
and scientific studies and low public awareness. In this study, short-term and long-term effects of consumption on two
brands of commercially honey are available in Malaysian market was investigated and compared to normal control (NC)
rats and rats fed with natural pineapple honey (PH) using male Sprague dawley rats. Adulteration of honey used in the
study was measured using physicochemical and antioxidant analyses and identified as adulterated honey A (FHA) and
B (FHB). No toxicity effect was found for short-term consumption (14 days with one honey consumption). However, visible
effects were observed after 16 weeks of study. Both FHA and FHB showed a significant increase (p>0.05) in cholesterol
(48.6 ± 4.8 mmol/L, 46.5 ± 3.6 mmol/L), triglycerides (26 ± 1.2 mmol/L, 24.4 ± 1.8 mmol/L) and glucose (28.4 ± 2.5
mmol/L, 25 ± 2.6 mmol/L) level respectively. In contrast, rats from NC and PH groups have lower cholesterol (26.5 ± 4.4
mmol/L, 18.94 ± 3.6 mmol/L), triglycerides (17.5 ± 1.2 mmol/L, 13.5 ± 1.5 mmol/L) and glucose (6.4 ± 1.4 mmol/L, 8.0 ±
1.5 mmol/L) level, respectively. The most critical finding was in total five rats from both fake honey groups showed early
mortality. This intensive study indicates long-term adulterated honey may harm to human health and required prompt
actions from various authorities locally and internationally to avoid other consequences in the future.