Efficacy of white honey in attenuating histological changes resulting from multivitamin-induced hepatotoxicity in albino rats

Abstract

The body requires vitamins to keep it healthy and strengthen the immune system, but a serious health risk may result from its excessive intake. White honey is an important natural product used in traditional medicine as an alternative treatment for clinical conditions ranging from wound healing to removal of cytotoxicity. The present research was an attempt to evaluate the anti-toxicity effect of white honey against hepatotoxicity induced by high dose of multivitamins in albino rats. Sixty male albino rats were used in this study and were divided into four experimental groups: 10 rats served as normal control (Group 1); 10 rats were administered with white honey for one month (Group 2); 20 rats were treated with high dose of multivitamins for one month (Group 3); and 20 rats were treated with high dose of multivitamins for one month, followed by white honey for additional one month (Group 4). The results showed a significant increase in body weight of Group 3 rats (23.3 kg) compared to the control (18.7 kg), while a reduction in body weight was recorded in Group 4 (20.5 kg) in relation to Group 3. A similar observation was made for liver function test parameters. The histological analysis revealed that white honey was able to restore many pathological and harmful changes resulting from the high dose of multivitamins and emergence of a clear improvement of liver tissues. Our finding therefore indicated that white honey supplementation ameliorated the harmful effect induced by high dose of multivitamins.