Researchers' dream of honey for diabetics turns sour

Will lack of enthusiasm from doctors derail the city-based Central Bee Research & Training Institute’s (CBRTI) efforts to come up with a honey useful for millions of diabetics in the country? To develop the honey, the CBRTI approached doctors to join them in the research, however, lack of enthusiasm from the medical community is discouraging them.

Researchers at CBRTI say they have the technical expertise to extract the nectar of native plants like aloe vera and jamun to develop honey with medicinal values, which can be made available in the market. But due to lack of medical assistance from city hospitals to test its efficacy, they are unable to do so.

Dr Daisy Thomas, assistant director, CBRTI, Pune said, “We have studied the honey obtained from medicinal plants like tulsi, aloe vera and jamun, which has medicinal values. The honey obtained from the nectar of tulsi flowers helps cure sore throats. Similarly, honey from the aloe vera plant is good for cancer patients and that from jamun flowers good for diabetics. We are confident about the procedure to procure honey from these plants. But we need doctors to test the samples of the honey extracted and check if it is indeed helpful. We have tried to contact various hospitals in the city as well as the medical association of doctors in the city, but have not received any feedback from them.”

Thomas said due to lack of response from the doctors, earlier plans to develop honey from aloe vera and tulsi for cancer and throat problems were also shelved.

Technical expertise readyCBRTI researchers say they have the technical expertise to extract the nectar of native plants like aloe vera and jamun to develop honey with medicinal values. But due to lack of medical assistance from city hospitals to test its efficacy, they are unable to do so.