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Abstract It has been proven that patients suffering from protein-energy malnutrition (PEM), suffer from delayed gastric emptying as well, a problem which affects nutritional rehabilitation of those patients. This study was designed to examine the effect of honey in a calculated dose (20 ml/Kg) on gastric emptying in those patients and whether it would improve (and so help nutritional rehabilitation) or worsen gastric emptying. Patients: 30 patients suffering from (PEM), as well as 20 healthy infants participated in this study. The patients were divided into 2 equal groups, during nutritional rehabilitation, where one group was rehabilitated using the honey and the other without honey. Gastric emptying time was assessed using abdominal ultrasonography before nutritional rehabilitation and after 2 weeks of nutritional rehabilitation Results: Gastric emptying time was markedly delayed in the group rehabilitated with honey compared to the other groups rehabilitated using nutritional rehabilitation, indicating that honey delays gastric emptying in spite improving other rehabilitation parameters including weight, Hb, and total serum proteins. Conclusion: Using honey in nutritional rehabilitation of patients suffering from (PEM), may delay gastric emptying. Yet since the growth parameters improve compared to the unsupplemented group we hypothesize that its other beneficial effects may balance the equation. Longer term follow up is recommended to clear this later point. |