The Sumbawa Forest Honey as Preventive Agent for Organ Damaged Caused by Environmental Pollution

Forest honey is a major commodity that contributes to the communities' economies and many indigenous communities preserve their forests for sustainable honey production. Sumbawa forest honey, natural product resulted from Sumbawan forest, contains flavonoid with high concentrations, thus, this forest product can be used as antioxidant. The level pollution in our environment in the last twenty years has been a source of concern which needs a serious and tactical approach. One of the most important toxic pollutants in environment that can be accumulated in the body is lead (Pb). The lead poisoning leading to body organ damage. This research aimed to investigate the preventive effects of Sumbawa forest honey towards lead poisoning to the kidney damage, using animal models. The damaged on the kidney of rats as animal models, induced by lead acetate. This research used 20 rats, divided into 5 groups, which were negative control, positive control which received lead acetate 10 mg per rat/day for 14 days, and preventive therapy groups which administered the Sumbawa forest honey with 25, 50, and 75 mg/kg bw doses for 28 days, and simultaneously received lead acetate with 10 mg per rat/day on day 15^th-28^th. Levels of BUN (blood urea nitrogen) were measured using spectrophotometry methods, and kidney histopathological features were stained using HE which then observed using microscope. Results showed that the administration of Sumbawa forest honey reduces BUN levels and repaired the kidney damage, with the best dose of 75 mg/kg bw. These show that natural forest products can be utilized as natural cure for diseases related to the environmental pollution. Furthermore, results in the paper are intended to provide farmers and forestry stakeholders (including policy-makers) with the necessary information and motivation to consider forest honey as a forest product integrated in national forest programmes.