Effectiveness of Honey Supplementation to Overcome Depressive Symptoms in University Students: An Evidence-based Quasi-experimental Study from Indonesia

Background. Depression is a mental health disorder that affects many people, including college students. It can significantly impact a person’s quality of life, making concentrating, studying, and performing daily activities difficult. Some studies have shown that honey may have antidepressant properties, but its effectiveness as a treatment for depression in college students has not been fully explored.

Objective. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of daily honey supplementation in reducing depressive symptoms among university students over 10 weeks, compared with a control condition.

Methods. This is a quasi‑experimental study. Students (18–25 years) were purposively recruited from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universitas Islam Negeri Alauddin Makassar, Indonesia. A total of 46 students were enrolled and non‑randomly allocated to the honey intervention (n=22) or control (n=24). DASS‑21 outcomes were assessed pre- and post-intervention. Exclusion criteria included allergy to honey, current antidepressant medication, comorbid psychiatric conditions, and non-compliance during intervention. The intervention group received 2 teaspoons (5 ml) of honey orally once daily for 10 weeks, administered under researcher supervision. Depression levels were measured before and after the intervention using the validated DASS-21 scale. Data collection also included a Semi-Quantitative Food Frequency Questionnaire (SQ-FFQ) and a 24-hour recall to control dietary intake. Assessed at baseline and the end of the study using the paired t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA).

Results. The results showed a significant reduction in depression rates in the honey intervention group compared to the control group. This is evidenced by a decrease in the depression score from 7.22 to 4.45 and a p-value = 0.002. The intervention group showed improvement, with “normal” classification increasing from 81.8% to 95.5%, and no cases of mild depression observed post-intervention.

Conclusion. Honey treatment showed promising effectiveness as a complementary approach in alleviating depression among college students. Future studies with larger randomized samples are recommended to confirm these findings.