Honey the Healthiest Sweetener

17 October 2006

Honey raises “good cholesterol,” lowers blood sugar levels, reduces risk factors for heart disease and is better for diabetics than sugar or artificial sweeteners.

In a series of studies* comparing honey with sugar and artificial honey, the fruit of the hive proved it may indeed keep the doctor at bay – and prompts the counter-intuitive conclusion that honey really does help diabetes.

For 15 days, 8 healthy subjects, 6 patients with high cholesterol, 5 patients with high cholesterol and high C-reactive protein (a risk factor for cardiovascular disease), and 7 patients with type 2 diabetes were given solutions containing comparable amounts of sugar, artificial honey or natural honey.

In healthy subjects, while sugar and artificial honey had either negative or very small beneficial effects, natural honey reduced total cholesterol 7%, triglycerides 2%, C-reactive protein 7%, homocysteine 6% and blood sugar 6%, and increased HDL (good) cholesterol 2%. (Like C-reactive protein, homocysteine is a significant risk factor for cardiovascular disease.)

In patients with high cholesterol, artificial honey increased LDL (bad) cholesterol, while natural honey decreased total cholesterol 8%, LDL cholesterol 11%, and C-reactive protein 75%.

And in patients with type 2 diabetes, natural honey caused a significantly lower rise in blood sugar than either dextrose or sucrose (refined sugars). So, enjoy a little honey in your morning coffee, lunchtime yogurt or afternoon cup of green tea. Looks like a daily spoonful of honey may help your need for medicine go down.

This research confirms what apiarists have long known; raw honey is a peptide-rich living food, a “slow-burning” sugar that does not strain the pancreas and requires processing by the liver to metabolize into the simple sugars sucrose and fructose.

* Al-Waili NS, J. Med Food, 2004 Spring; 7 (1): 100-7 Natural honey lowers plasma glucose, C-reactive protein, homocysteine, and blood lipids in healthy, diabetic and hyperlipidemic subjects; comparison with dextrose and sucrose.

A Few Quick Serving Ideas

• Use honey in place of table sugar as a sweetener in your tea.


• Drizzle apple slices with honey and sprinkle with cinnamon.


• To enjoy sweetened yogurt without excess sugar, mix a little honey into plain yogurt.


• A delicious sandwich that is enjoyed by kids of all ages is a combination of peanut (or almond) butter, with bananas and honey.


• In a saucepan over low heat, combine soymilk, honey and unsweetened dark chocolate to make a deliciously nutritious chocolate "milk" drink.

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