A Honey Drink Helped Patients' Stomachs Empty Faster Before Surgery

• In a small randomized trial before gallbladder removal surgery, patients given a diluted chestnut honey drink absorbed a test dose of medicine faster than those given a standard hospital carbohydrate drink, a sign of quicker stomach emptying
• The honey group reported less thirst, nausea, and pain on the day after surgery
• The same group also showed higher cortisol and interleukin 6, markers of physiological stress and inflammation, at several points around the operation
• Blood sugar levels were similar between the two groups throughout
• Patients who drank the honey solution reported lower appetite and general wellbeing scores afterward

Before a gallbladder operation in Rijeka, Croatia, some patients drank diluted chestnut honey instead of a standard hospital carbohydrate beverage the night before and two hours prior to anesthesia. Their stomachs emptied faster for it.

A randomized controlled trial of fifty five adults undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy found that a chestnut honey solution led to faster gastric emptying than a commercial carbohydrate drink used for preoperative loading. Patients who received the honey solution also reported less thirst, nausea, and pain the next day. At the same time, that group showed higher markers of physiological stress, a result that complicates any simple case for honey as a direct substitute.

Twenty patients received honey made from Castanea sativa, known locally as Lovran maroon honey, diluted in warm water to match the carbohydrate and calorie content of the dose given to the other thirty five patients, who received a commercial preoperative drink. Researchers tracked cortisol and interleukin 6 at several points before and after surgery, measured how quickly a test dose of paracetamol appeared in the blood as a proxy for stomach emptying, and asked patients to rate their comfort afterward.

The gastric emptying result is the most concrete finding here, and it lines up with what is known about honey's composition. Its blend of glucose and fructose, along with enzymes that support digestion, may pass through the stomach faster than the maltodextrin used in many commercial preoperative drinks. Honey has a long history as a folk remedy for digestive complaints, and this trial is a rare attempt to test that use under controlled conditions rather than take it on faith. The comfort scores, lower thirst, nausea, and pain, tell a similar story of a genuinely useful effect.

The stress markers point the other way. Interleukin 6 was already higher in the honey group before surgery even began, which limits how much can be concluded from the later differences. Cortisol also followed an unusual pattern in that group, rising rather than settling into its normal daily rhythm. The trial was small, run at a single hospital, and followed patients only through the first day after surgery, so it cannot say whether the faster stomach emptying it found actually shortens recovery or improves outcomes further down the line.

Still, a controlled trial willing to measure a traditional remedy against a manufactured one, and to report the parts that cut against the hypothesis, is worth taking seriously on its own terms.