A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE EFFECTS OF HONEY AND SOME SELECTED BEVERAGES ON HAEMATOLOGICAL PARAMETERS IN MALE WISTAR RATS

A. Oluwasola; A.O. Akiode; O.E. Ayoola; A. T. Woleola & Garba Sa’adu

Abstract

This study investigated a comparative study of the effects of honey and some selected beverages on haematological parameters in male wistar rats. Twenty five male rats (180-220g) were assigned into 5 groups of 5 animals each, such that the rats in groups I, II, III, IV and V received orally 1mL distilled water, 0.2mg/kg body weight (BW) of honey, 0.2mg/kg BW of vitamin C, 0.3mg/kg body weight (BW) of zobo and 0.2mg/kg BW of cocoa power, respectively. White blood cells (WBC), red blood cells (RBC), neutrophils, eosinophils, pack cell volume (PVC), haemoglobin (Hb) and lymphocytes were measured using standard methods. There were no significant differences (p>0.05) in WBC, lymphocytes, neutrophils and eosinophils for all the treated groups when compared to the control. However, there were significant increase (p<0.05) in RBC, Hb and PVC for honey, zobo and cocoa powder -treated groups when compared to vitamin c-treated group and the control. There were also significant increase (p<0.05) in RBC and Hb for honey and zobo-treated groups when compared to cocoa powder, vitamin c-treated groups and the control. This study showed that honey, zobo and cocoa powder stimulate haematological parameters most especially, RBC, PCV and Hb respectively.  It is therefore recommended that honey, zobo and cocoa powder could be taken by people with shortage of RBC, PCV and Hb respectively. In addition, honey and zobo are highly recommended because of their high stimulatory effects on haematological parameters.