Using Bee Products for the Prevention and Treatment of Oral Mucositis Induced by Cancer Treatment

Abstract

Oral mucositis is one of the most frequent complications after chemotherapy or radiotherapy or a combination of both. There is no standard therapy for its prevention or treatment. Considering that some bee products have been found to be of value in this situation, we decided to analyze the scientific literature on the subject. Scientific publications on bee products were identified by a literature search on Pubmed, Scopus and Google Scholar. There is a lot of evidence regarding the use of honey for oral mucositis due to chemotherapy or radiotherapy or a combination of both. Unfortunately, the quality of several meta-analyses on the topic is very low. There is some evidence on propolis, a little on royal jelly and none whatsoever on pollen and other bee products like apilarnil or bee venom. Bee products such as honey, propolis and royal jelly may be well suited to be integrated into a general concept for the prevention and treatment of oral mucositis which should also include other established concepts like oral care, oral cryotherapy, topical vitamin E and low-level-laser therapy. Bee products could become an integral part in the treatment of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and radio chemotherapy. High-quality meta-analyses and further studies, especially on the combinations of various strategies, are needed.