Objective: The purpose of this study is to examine whether consumption of honey products can improve symptoms and their diurnal fluctuations in patients with Parkinson’s disease(PD).

Background: It has been suggested that in PD patients, intestinal inflammation induced by small intestinal bacterial overgrowth can induce systemic and central nervous system inflammation and exacerbate the pathogenesis of PD. Furthermore, these pathologies may also reduce the bioavailability of levodopa preparations. We focused on honey products that have strong antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effects and hypothesized that consumption of these honey products may improve Parkinson’s symptoms and their diurnal fluctuations.

Method: A crossover trial was conducted involving 12 PD patients divided into three groups of four, each following different intake patterns (A, B, C). The study included the following schedule, with periods 2, 4, and 6 interchanged:

1. Observation period (baseline): 14 days

2. Placebo (oral intake): 14 days

3. Washout period: 14 days

4. Manuka honey (600 mg/day, oral intake): 14 days

5. Washout period: 14 days

6. Propolis (480 mg/day, oral intake): 14 days

The primary outcome measure was the change from baseline in the average daily off-period. Secondary outcomes included the total score of the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) Part III, and the summary index and domain scores of the Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire-39 (PDQ-39).

A randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study design was used to assess the effects of honey products on PD.

Results: Propolis significantly improved the PDQ-39 domain score of emotional well-being by an average of 3.5 points compared to placebo (p=0.0106). Propolis also showed a trend toward improvement over placebo in PDQ-39 summary index and domain score of mobility (7.75 points and 3.42 points improvement, respectively).

There were no significant differences between the honey products and placebo for change from baseline in the average daily off-period or UPDRS part III total score.

Conclusion: This study is the first RCT in the world to report the effects of honey products in PD. For propolis, the results suggest that it has the potential to improve quality of life in PD patients. Limitations of this study include the small number of cases in an exploratory study, which needs to be validated with a study design with a larger number of cases in the future.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/honey-products-in-parkinsons-disease-randomized-placebo-controlled-double-blind-pilot-study/