Abstract

Cardiovascular disease is a major public health burden worldwide. Myocardial infarction is the most common form of cardiovascular disease resulting from low blood supply to the heart. It can lead to further complications such as cardiac arrhythmia, toxic metabolite accumulation, and permanently infarcted areas. Honey is one of the most prized medicinal remedies used since ancient times. There is evidence that indicates honey can function as a cardioprotective agent in cardiovascular diseases. The present review compiles and discusses the available evidence on the effect of honey on cardiovascular diseases. Three electronic databases, namely, PubMed, Scopus, and MEDLINE via EBSCOhost, were searched between January 1959 and March 2020 to identify reports on the cardioprotective effect of honey. Based on the pre-set eligibility criteria, 25 qualified articles were selected and discussed in this review. Honey investigated in the studies included varieties according to their geological origin. Honey protects the heart via lipid metabolism improvement, antioxidative activity, blood pressure modulation, heartbeat restoration, myocardial infarct area reduction, antiaging properties, and cell apoptosis attenuation. This review establishes honey as a potential candidate to be explored further as a natural and dietary alternative to the management of cardiovascular disease.

Highlights

  • Initial screening of records resulted in the removal of 13,655 duplicate records before another 446 records that were not original articles or not published in the English language were excluded

  • Three reviewers independently assessed all articles based on the title for any exclusion criteria, which resulted in the removal of 10,835 articles

  • Three studies included in this review focus on a known honey bioactive compound, chrysin, and its effect on myocardial injury rescue

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Summary

Introduction

Cardiovascular diseases are estimated to make up 31% of all global deaths [1]. A common presentation of heart disease, myocardial infarction, occurs when the coronary arteries blood supply to the myocardium is low, leading to hypoxia [2]. An infarct could lead to cardiac arrhythmia, one of the common contributors to morbidity in cardiac health [3]. Ischemia may alter in situ metabolism through inhibition of the lipid metabolism and induction of oxidative stress, leading to the accumulation of their toxic metabolites in the heart [4]. Res. Public Health 2020, 17, 3613; doi:10.3390/ijerph17103613 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph

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