Recent Progress on Polyphenols of Malaysian Honey and Their Molecular Mechanism Pathways in Cancer—A Comprehensive Review

Cancer ranks as one of the top causes of death worldwide, and the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates an increase of up to 55% in cases over the next 15 years, reaching 300 million cases worldwide. Current approaches to the treatment of cancer, such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy, have been used with continuous significant advancements. However, these conventional methods have harmful side effects that can last a lifetime. Today, there is growing interest in developing alternative cancer therapies from natural products or complementary medicine. One of the natural sources that has shown promise as an anticancer agent is honey, which has long been applied as a complementary medicine, and its beneficial health effects on various diseases in both animal and human models have been widely studied. Malaysian honey, such as Tualang, pineapple, Gelam, Kelulut, and Acacia, possesses a rich composition of phytochemicals, including polyphenols and flavonoids, which are reported to have promising anticancer properties. Examples of the phytochemicals highlighted in this review are phenolic acid, syringic acid, salicylic acid, p-coumaric acid, gallic acid, benzoic acid, caffeic acid, chrysin and its derivatives, kaempferol, fisetin, catechin, apigenin, quercetin, acacetin, pinocembrin, pinobanksin, hesperetin, naringenin, vitexin, isoorientin, xanthohumol, and galangin. This review highlights the anticancer mechanisms and molecular pathways of the phytochemicals found in Malaysian honey, focusing on their antioxidant effects, induction of mitochondrial-mediated apoptosis, inhibition of angiogenesis and metastasis, and suppression of cancer cell proliferation. The findings of various studies published in the past five years are collated to understand their mechanisms of action.