Combating obesity using sugar might sound too good to be true. Associate Professor Dr Wan Iryani Wan Ismail begs to differ.
The Universiti Malaysia Terengganu senior lecturer is a strong advocate of honey for its remedial values. Currently, she is researching on the mechanism of honey consumption in human body, specifically in the fat cells.
“Research has shown that honey can reduce the size of fat cells. In the long run, it can control excessive weight gain,” said Wan Iryani.
She was recently named one of the L’Oreal-Unesco Fellowship For Women in Science award winners in recognition of her research efforts. With the research grant, she hopes to produce a capsule-based health supplement, which contains natural honey to treat obesity.
“Due to its sweet property, it is hard to convince people that honey can contribute to weight loss. It sounds bizarre because people might think that sugar is the main culprit for obesity.
“Honey and sugar are carbohydrates that are commonly used as sweeteners. However, processed sugar has higher glycemic index (GI) compared with honey, meaning it raises blood sugar levels more quickly.
“Honey has a low GI because 60 to 80 per cent of its sugar are from simple sugars, which can be absorbed easily to produce instant energy.
“High GI foods can cause harmful blood sugar spikes in people with diabetes and make it more challenging for a person to maintain a healthy weight,” Wan Iryani explained.
“In terms of reducing obesity, I found that natural honey can regulate metabolism using the insulin signalling pathway, which is related to insulin hormone for food intake. It is known as a key regulator that can regulate our metabolism at the normal level to provide more energy and other functions.
“Natural honey has many other nutrients, such as vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and organic acids.
“These compounds make honey a suitable supplement to maintain our health.”
Her studies using experimental rats have shown that genuine honey can reduce excess weight gain and obesity biomarkers.
“The rats were induced to become obese for four weeks by monitoring their body weight. Later, they were fed with honey for another four weeks. Results have shown significant weight reduction of the rats. They became thinner and healthier.
“In contrast, artificial honey — which contains mostly processed sugar — showed opposite findings and caused liver damage in the rats.”
Wan Iryani added that the consumption of pure honey could control the ghrelin hormone that could suppress one’s appetite.
Medical applications of honey are well known across cultures since the olden days. However, the use of honey for treatments is not widely accepted due to skepticism.
Wan Iryani said: “The skepticism mainly stem from the adulterated and fake honey in the market, overshadowing medicinal benefits of natural honey.
“Most people consume honey because they want to be healthy. However, if the community is unaware of the honey authenticity issue, they will falsely consume artificial honey, which might jeaopardise their health.
“Using the scientific evidence from our research, I hope to boost awareness among honey consumers.”
She said there are three ways to distinguish natural and artificial honey besides laboratory and machine tests.
“Consumers could tell the authenticity of honey using sensory evaluation — taste, smell and vision.
“Natural honey has a distinctive flowery aftertaste and aroma, while artificial honey smells of sugar with overly sweet taste. Fake honey is usually more transparent in its colour, unlike pure honey, which contains many active ingredients.”
The best time to consume honey is in the morning on an empty stomach before breakfast, she advised.
Wan Iryani added that she enjoyed collecting pure honey in forests and farms.
“As someone who prefers to do sampling on my own, it is a challenging, yet fulfilling experience as I get to connect with the community that helps to preserve bees and honey.”
She was the first Malaysian student to complete a doctoral study at the University of Cape Town, South Africa.
There, she completed her study in cell signalling, particularly in understanding insulin resistance, which made her realised that she could use the knowledge to study and understand a lot of diseases and related treatments using natural products like pure honey.
“I wanted to be a medical doctor like Avicenna, who had a strong knowledge in medicine, philosophy, art and religious study. However, I was given a better opportunity later in life to obtain my PhD with full scholarship and this enabled me to discover a new knowledge with various potentials to help people in more diverse and fun ways.”
Over the past 10 years, she has been involved in research regarding the benefits of honey.
“After completing my PhD, I have managed to collect findings related to the usage of honey for diabetes, depression, wound healing as well as cancer treatment.” she said.
She has been actively involved in many organisations like Persatuan Lebah Kelulut Terengganu, Persatuan Usahawan Lebah Kelulut and Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute.
She is also the National Working Group Honey Standard deputy chairman under the Department of Standards Malaysia working to produce and review the standard of honey sold in the local market.
Wan Iryani has collaborated with the Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry as a head committee for the 2020-2030 national strategic plan for the stingless bee industry.