A randomized clinical trial on the effect of honey in the acute gastroenteritis

Acute gastroenteritis is one of the hygienic challenges of the 21st century and one of the 6 major causes of death in children and adults in developed and developing countries. With respect to prevalence of this illness in Iran, the purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of honey in treating diarrhea in Kashan, Iran. In this randomized clinical trial study, the participants were chosen from the children who were admitted to pediatric clinics. 150 children who met the criteria were divided into 3 groups. After a systematic treatment process and writing down the details, the first group received honey added to ORS (dissolved in ORS), the second group received honey separate from ORS and the control group received ORS with no honey. All the patients were under the close watch of the researchers until complete recovery. Then the data were analyzed with statistical tests and SPSS18 software. In general, among the 150 children who were studied there were 80 boys with the average age of 33.19 months and 70 girls with the average age of 29.84 months. The average diarrhea period from the beginning of treatment until complete recovery was 4.68 days for the first group, 3.725 for the second group and 5.60 for the control group. Thus there was a significant difference between the groups that received honey and the control group (p=0.001). The average number of bowel movements from the beginning of treatment until complete recovery was 4.22 for the first group, 3.50 for the second group and 4.90 for the control group. There was a significant difference in this respect (p<0.001). Generally, with regard to the findings of this study prescription of honey for diarrhea can reduce the number of bowel movements and diarrhea period. Similar studies could be done about other diseases to further investigate the effectiveness of honey in treating other health problems, not necessarily as a substitute treatment, but a supplementary treatment.