A new study has found that honey could be used to combat the
effects of ageing, including memory decline and anxiety.
Studies conducted on mice found that those on diets including
honey had better spatial memory and were less anxious.
Lynne Chepulis and Nicola Starkey of the University of Waikato
in Hamilton, New Zealand, raised rats on diets containing either
ten percent honey, eight percent sucrose or no sugar at all for 12
months.
The rats were two months old at the start of the trial, and were
assessed every three months using tests designed to measure anxiety
and spatial memory.
The results showed that honey-fed rats spent almost twice as
much time in the open sections of an 'assessment maze', which the
researchers say suggests that they were less anxious.
They were also more likely to spend time in new sections of a
Y-shaped maze, suggesting that they knew where they had been before
and had better spatial memory.
"Diets sweetened with honey may be beneficial in decreasing
anxiety and improving memory during ageing," NewScientist.com
quoted Starkey, as saying.
The researchers propose that honey may boost memory due to its
antioxidant properties, which help to prevent free radicals
damaging cells in the body.
(Agencies via China Daily September 28, 2007)
