ArticleMolecular and clinical oncology2015
Bee pollen and honey for the alleviation of hot flushes and other menopausal symptoms in breast cancer patients.
Article in Molecular and clinical oncology, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 34 citations in OpenAlex.
- Determination of Antioxidant, Antidiabetic, Anticholinergic, Antiglaucoma Properties and Comprehensive Phytochemical Content by LC-MS/MS of Bingöl Honeybee Pollen.Food science & nutrition · 2025Article
- Bee Pollen as a Source of Biopharmaceuticals for Neurodegeneration and Cancer Research: A Scoping Review and Translational Prospects.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Enhancing the Nutritional and Bioactive Properties of Bee Pollen: A Comprehensive Review of Processing Techniques.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- The Therapeutic Mechanisms of Honey in Mitigating Toxicity from Anticancer Chemotherapy Toxicity: A Review.Journal of xenobiotics · 2024Review
- Cancer Patients' Use of Apitherapy as Supportive Care: An Exploratory Study.The Eurasian journal of medicine · 2024Article
- Clinical guidelines for managing menopausal symptoms in women with (a history of) breast cancer.Facts, views & vision in ObGyn · 2023Article
- Bee Pollen as Functional Food: Insights into Its Composition and Therapeutic Properties.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Pathophysiology of Depression: Stingless Bee Honey Promising as an Antidepressant.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Bee Pollen: Clinical Trials and Patent Applications.Nutrients · 2022Review
- Uses of Natural Honey in Cancer: An Updated Review.Advanced pharmaceutical bulletin · 2022Review
- Bee Collected Pollen and Bee Bread: Bioactive Constituents and Health Benefits.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2019Review
- Honey and Cancer: Current Status and Future Directions.Diseases (Basel, Switzerland) · 2016Review
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Hot flushes, night sweats, pain during sexual intercourse, hair loss, forgetfulness, depression and sleeping disturbances are common problems among breast cancer patients undergoing antihormonal treatment. The aim of this study was to investigate whether bee pollen can alleviate menopausal symptoms in patients receiving tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors/inactivators. We compared a pollen-honey mixture with pure honey (placebo) in a prospective, randomized crossover trial in breast cancer patients receiving antihormonal treatment. The menopausal complaints were assessed using the Menopause Rating Scale (MRS). A total of 46 patients were recruited; 68.3% (28/41) of the patients reported an improvement in their symptoms while taking honey, compared with 70.9% (22/31) who reported an improvement with pollen (the difference was non-significant). The results were confirmed by significant improvements in the postmenopausal complaints in the two groups in a pre-post analysis in the MRS and its 3 subscales. This study provided evidence that honey and bee pollen may improve the menopausal symptoms of breast cancer patients on antihormonal treatment. Of note, honey, which was intended to be used as a placebo, produced similar effects as pollen and they both exceeded the extent of a placebo effect in this setting (~25%).
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