Is Honey Good for You?

I delight myself on making the Primal Blueprint an easy-to-follow life-style. If you have been simply beginning out, I might provide you with a one-page handout with the ten Primal Blueprint Laws, the PB Food Pyramid, and the PB Fitness Pyramid, and it will be fairly simple so that you can get the gist of every little thing we’re attempting to do right here.

That mentioned, when you get previous the fundamentals, generally issues get a bit of murky. Like with honey.

See, as a common rule, I’m towards the consumption of refined sugars, particularly sucrose and excessive fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Check out my definitive submit on the topic to grasp why. But what concerning the preeminent unrefined pure sweetener, the wealthy amber nectar that’s been accessible to people from the very begin (albeit protected by barbed, flying suicide stingers)?

People have been utilizing honey for hundreds of years not solely as a culinary ingredient but in addition for its supposed medicinal properties. Must we eschew honey just because it’s candy, even when it has quite a few (potential) advantages? Are a few of the dangerous results of the sugar mitigated by the presence of bioactive compounds?

Personally, I get pleasure from some honey at times. Let’s discover out in the event you’ll come down on the pro-honey or anti-honey facet of the talk after reviewing some proof.

I get requested this infrequently, and I all the time reply, “Define ‘good.’”

Better, and extra fascinating, questions are:

Does honey have any useful results that make it price consuming?
Is honey higher for you than different sweeteners?
Is honey a “health food” that it’s best to make a concerted effort to incorporate in your eating regimen?

I’ll prevent time by telling you that I feel the solutions are in all probability, perhaps, and in all probability not, respectively. If you need extra element, hold studying.

Types of Honey

Before stepping into the query of advantages, it’s essential to perceive that there are various various kinds of honey. The attributes of any explicit batch —taste, shade, consistency, and nutrient and antioxidant profile—depend upon what vegetation the honeybees pollinated. There’s buckwheat honey, wildflower honey, clover honey, and tupelo honey, to call a couple of. Don’t neglect concerning the darling of the alt-health world, manuka honey, which comes from bees in Australia and New Zealand that pollinate the Leptospermum scoparium bush. (Fun reality: Australia and New Zealand are locked in a heated battle over whether or not Australian-sourced manuka honey is the actual deal.) Honey aficionados will wish to search out the uncommon purple honey and black honey varieties, which, because the names recommend, shouldn’t have the attribute golden hue.

Beyond the numerous varieties, the honey you decide up at your native grocery retailer or farmer’s market could also be uncooked or refined. Raw honey is just frivolously strained to take away particles, usually. It will nonetheless include small items of honeycomb in addition to bee propolis (aka “bee glue”), pollen, and royal jelly. Propolis and royal jelly are prized in their very own proper for his or her supposed well being advantages. Raw honey typically appears cloudy or crystallized.

In distinction, honey not labeled as uncooked has virtually definitely undergone further filtration plus pasteurization, which may take away or destroy the very compounds that make honey so fascinating. Worse, the cheap honey you discover on the retailer will not be pure honey in any respect however a mixture of different candy, viscous liquids like rice syrup or high-fructose corn syrup. Gross.

All issues being equal, I’m all the time keen on much less processed variations of any meals. I would like entry to all of the compounds that nature included, and honey isn’t any exception. I additionally go for darker honey as a result of it’s usually increased in bioactive compounds and has larger antioxidant exercise. It additionally tastes higher, in the event you ask me.

Potential Health Benefits of Honey

I’m hesitant to make any sweeping claims concerning the well being advantages of honey as a result of there are such a lot of varieties. Also, honeybees don’t precisely have strict manufacturing requirements. The traits of a given batch of honey range primarily based on area, season, and doubtless different components I’m not conscious of.

That mentioned, there’s various proof that honey and its constituents have antiinflammatory, antioxidant, antibacterial, antifungal, anticancer, and immune-boosting properties, to call a couple of. However, in the event you’re hoping for one thing particular, you may’t essentially seize any jar off the shelf and anticipate it to ship the specified results. You’re going to want to dig into the analysis your self and see what varieties could or will not be probably the most useful.

Here, I’ll briefly cowl a few of the most typical makes use of and purported advantages.

Honey for Sore Throat, Cough, and Respiratory Infections

When I used to be a child, my mother would have me swallowing massive glugs of honey on the first signal of a sore throat or tightness in my chest. I not often get sick anymore, however once I do, one of many first indicators I’m coming down with one thing is that I crave scorching tea with honey.

It is smart that honey would be capable to knock out a sore throat because of its antibacterial and anti inflammatory properties, however there aren’t numerous research to again up this people knowledge.

With regards to cough, the (restricted) analysis means that my mother was on to one thing. A 2018 Cochrane assessment, which included 9 randomized managed trials and greater than 1,000 examine contributors—all youngsters—concluded that honey appears to be equal to or higher than normal pharmaceutical remedies. However, the authors famous that almost all of the research solely adopted the sufferers for one night time.

Another meta-analysis of research higher respiratory tract infections in youngsters concluded, “Honey was superior to usual care… It provides a widely available and cheap alternative to antibiotics.” Good information for these of us who’re leery about speeding to antibiotics on the first signal of sickness. Even the CDC recommends utilizing honey for chest colds with cough in adults and youngsters older than one.

I’ll persist with my honey tea subsequent time my chest begins to really feel tight, though I’d attempt honey in espresso as an alternative. One obscure examine discovered that honey with espresso was more practical than honey or espresso alone and more practical than prednisone for assuaging coughs in adults following higher respiratory tract infections.

Honey for Cancer

There’s fairly a little bit of promising information that means honey could possibly be helpful in combating varied types of most cancers. Much of the present analysis goals to grasp how, precisely, honey exerts antitumor and cytotoxic (cell-killing) results. Proposed mechanisms embrace decreasing oxidative stress, stopping the proliferation of most cancers cells, inhibiting cancer-causing genetic mutations, and selling apoptosis (programmed cell dying).

While the analysis is fascinating, virtually all of the related research have been completed in vitro, which means that they checked out most cancers cells in petri dishes. It stays to be seen how this would possibly translate into precise most cancers therapies in people. How nice would it not be if we might simply eat fistfuls of honey, Winnie the Pooh model, and remedy the most cancers epidemic? Alas, that’s too good to be true. Far extra possible, scientists will isolate particular bioactive compounds inside honey and discover methods to harness their results.

Honey for Skincare

Honey seems to be nice in your pores and skin. It might help with every little thing from diaper rash to dandruff to wrinkles, once more thanks largely to its anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and antioxidant properties.

Honey has lengthy been utilized in dressings for burns, boils, surgical incisions, ulcers, and different varieties of pores and skin afflictions. The consensus appears to be that whereas extra analysis is required, honey exhibits vital promise as a topical wound therapy. Honey produces hydrogen peroxide, which appears to account for a lot of its infection-fighting functionality. Certain honeys are even efficient towards drug-resistant micro organism like MRSA. It appears to stimulate the immune system to hurry up the pure therapeutic course of and helps the physique’s personal enzymes break down lifeless tissues across the wound that may result in an infection, a course of referred to as autolytic debridement.

You can get over-the-counter honey dressings—bandaids infused with honey, basically—if you wish to see what all of the fuss is about for your self.

(Local) Honey for Allergies

Any hayfever or seasonal allergy sufferer has heard that the very best pure therapy is honey. But it needs to be native honey, since you want the honeybees to have been accumulating nectar from the identical vegetation which are inflicting your sneezing and itchy eyes. So the logic goes anyway. It’s all very homeopathic, however does it work?

I discovered three research that talk to this query, and the outcomes are inconsistent:

Forty people with allergic rhinitis (hayfever) took an antihistamine for 4 weeks together with a day by day dose of both honey or honey-flavored corn syrup. At the tip of the 4 weeks, each teams’ signs had improved, however the group who ate the honey reported feeling considerably higher 4 weeks after that. In different phrases, the constructive results appeared to persist solely within the honey group. It’s price noting, although, that the contributors have been consuming large quantities of honey—1 gram per kilogram of body weight, which equates to greater than three tablespoons per day for somebody who weighs 150 kilos!
In one other examine, 36 sufferers with allergic rhinoconjunctivitis took one tablespoon of unpasteurized, unfiltered native honey; filtered, pasteurized, non-local honey; or honey-flavored corn syrup. The examine lasted for 30 weeks, however a 3rd of the contributors ended up dropping out, presumably as a result of they couldn’t stand the candy routine. At the tip of the examine, neither honey group reported being any higher off symptom-wise than the management group.
Finnish researchers recruited 44 individuals with birch pollen allergy symptoms. They all acquired unpasteurized, unfiltered native honey that both was or was not fortified with birch pollen. Over two months, each teams had extra symptom-free days in comparison with a management group who obtained no honey. However, the pollen-enhanced group had considerably fewer complete signs, they usually have been much less more likely to want antihistamines in the course of the examine interval.

That’s hardly a slam dunk. The Finnish examine is promising, however I’m not satisfied that consuming jars of honey for months at a time is a good trade-off for a modicum of allergy reduction, particularly if the result isn’t assured.

What concerning the Fructose in Honey? Isn’t Fructose Bad for You?

Honey is 40 p.c fructose and 30 p.c glucose. The remaining 30 p.c includes water, pollen, and over 100 different compounds, together with enzymes, minerals, amino acids, and nutritional vitamins. Table sugar, which is sucrose, comprises half fructose, half glucose, and none of the good things. So proper off the bat, it doesn’t make a lot sense to uniquely fear concerning the fructose in honey.

That apart, the ancestral group has lengthy accepted as undeniable fact that fructose is probably the most dangerous type of sugar due to the way in which it’s metabolized within the liver. Some of us—members of the carnivore group, specifically—are difficult that notion. They argue (accurately) that honey is an animal product that has lengthy been part of the human eating regimen. It continues to be a staple for contemporary hunter-gatherers just like the Hadza, who derive between 15 and 50 p.c of their energy from honey—or, extra exactly, honey and bee larvae. Yet the Hadza stay largely freed from so-called ailments of civilization, together with ailments linked to extra fructose consumption, similar to metabolic syndrome and non-alcoholic fatty liver illness.

This will get into some thorny science (par for the course within the diet world), however on the subject of fructose, it appears the poison is within the dose and the supply technique. There’s little doubt in my thoughts that consuming giant portions of fructose, particularly within the context of a high-sugar, hypercaloric eating regimen, poses vital well being dangers. High-fructose corn syrup, particularly drinks sweetened with HFCS, ought to be strictly prevented. Nothing about our evolutionary historical past has ready our genes for big boluses of extremely concentrated, liquid fructose.

I’m far much less involved about comparatively small quantities of fructose consumed within the context of low-to-moderate-carb, eucaloric or hypocaloric Primal diets, the place the fructose comes packaged in complete meals like fruit and honey. Presumably, you aren’t consuming a number of tablespoons of honey at a time day in and time out (except you’re Paul Saladino, perhaps).

I’m not saying anybody wants to devour honey (or fruit, for that matter). People who already battle with metabolic syndrome or sort 2 diabetes ought to be conscious of how a lot they’re consuming. (I ought to be aware right here that some scientists imagine that honey may very well be antidiabetic, although the jury remains to be out.) Likewise, anybody who suffers from fructose malabsorption and intolerance, which may result in IBS-like signs, ought to tread frivolously with fruit and honey.

The Verdict: Is Honey Good for You?

Let’s return to the three questions I posed originally of this submit:

Does honey have any useful results that make it price consuming?

Overall, I feel the reply is sure, however with a major caveat.

Honey isn’t a panacea that’s going to unravel all of the world’s main well being issues. Still, honey (in addition to bee propolis and royal jelly) is clearly anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antibacterial, and it appears to have varied antitumor and anticancer properties. Another profit I haven’t talked about but is that honey acts as a prebiotic, which means it will possibly promote intestine well being by stimulating the expansion of useful microbes.

While that’s all incredible, I wouldn’t enterprise to make particular suggestions concerning what varieties of honey, or how a lot, may be optimum for you. That depends upon your targets and your present metabolic well being.

Is honey higher for you than different sweeteners?

I’d say sure, notably if we’re speaking about honey in comparison with desk sugar or pure glucose or fructose.

Overall, honey doesn’t appear to have the identical downsides as different sweeteners. For instance, one set of research in contrast the consequences of honey, sham-honey (a mixture of fructose and glucose), dextrose (which is simply glucose), and sucrose on a number of well being markers in varied teams of individuals. There’s quite a bit to wade by, however the gist is that honey carried out effectively. Honey resulted in smaller blood glucose spikes (+14%) than dextrose (+53%). Sham honey elevated triglycerides, whereas actual honey lowered them (together with boosting HDL and reducing LDL). After fifteen days of honey feeding, CRP and LDL dropped. Overall, honey improved blood lipids, lowered inflammatory markers, and had minimal impact on blood glucose ranges.

That mentioned, it absolutely depends upon the context. It’s secure to say that honey is best than desk sugar throughout the board, particularly, it appears, for diabetics. However, somebody attempting to take care of a strict caloric deficit could want a low-calorie or noncaloric sweetener like stevia, monk fruit, or erythritol. By the identical token, the carbohydrates in honey would possibly offset any potential upsides for folk following a ketogenic eating regimen.

Is honey a “health food” that it’s best to make a concerted effort to incorporate in your eating regimen?

I’m undecided “should” is the fitting phrase right here. I’ll proceed to make use of honey as a house treatment for sore throats and coughs, and I’ll benefit from the occasional honey-sweetened dessert. But will I’m going out of my technique to devour honey to keep off well being issues or in any other case keep wholesome? No, I don’t assume the accessible proof justifies that.

Bottom line: Can you eat it? Sure. Should you eat it? It relies upon. There’s little doubt in my thoughts that honey is an ancestral meals, which means that our long-ago ancestors loved honey when it was accessible. So if that’s the standards you utilize to resolve whether or not a specific meals deserves a spot in your kitchen, the reply is sure, go for it.

At the tip of the day, I want to attenuate my consumption of all sweeteners, largely as a result of I select to prioritize savory meals (mmm, steak). If you’re going to devour honey, which is okay in my guide, go for the uncooked, unfiltered stuff, as darkish as you will get.

What do you assume? Does honey match into your means of consuming? Is it Primal? Let me know what you assume.

FAQs About Honey

Is honey allowed on a vegan eating regimen? What a couple of carnivore eating regimen?

This is a heated debate inside each the vegan and carnivore communities. Many, however not all, vegans say no as a result of harvesting honey probably exploits or harms honeybees. Some carnivores do eat honey, arguing that it qualifies as an “animal product” since it’s produced by bees. Most nonetheless don’t.

Can honey be natural?

The U.S. has no official normal for certifying honey as natural. Small-scale producers could label their honey as natural, however any licensed natural honey have to be imported. Nevertheless, in follow, it’s tough to unattainable to make sure that honeybees are solely accumulating nectar from natural vegetation.

Can you eat honey on a keto eating regimen?

Ketogenic diets permit as much as 50 grams of carbohydrates per day. A teaspoon of honey solely comprises 6 grams of carbohydrates, and it appears to impress a smaller blood glucose response than pure glucose. Therefore, honey can in all probability be loved carefully on keto.

Can I substitute honey for sugar in Primal, Paleo, or Keto recipes?

Yes, although you could want to regulate the recipe. Honey is sweeter than refined sugar, so begin with half as a lot honey as sugar. In baked items, additionally, you will want to scale back the opposite liquids within the recipe and add baking soda to counteract honey’s pure acidity.

If you’re utilizing honey in keto recipes, understand that honey will not be a low-calorie or low-carb sweetener. You’ll have to depend these carbs towards your day by day complete, and even reasonable quantities will add up shortly.

Is uncooked honey higher for you than refined or processed honey?

Raw honey comprises pollen, bee propolis, and royal jelly, which have a number of useful properties in their very own proper. Refined honey removes these compounds through filtration and pasteurization. Pasteurization might also harm enzymes and different parts you need in your honey. Opt for uncooked every time potential.

About the Author

Mark Sisson is the founding father of Mark’s Daily Apple, godfather to the Primal meals and life-style motion, and the New York Times bestselling writer of The Keto Reset Diet. His newest guide is Keto for Life, the place he discusses how he combines the keto eating regimen with a Primal life-style for optimum well being and longevity. Mark is the writer of quite a few different books as effectively, together with The Primal Blueprint, which was credited with turbocharging the expansion of the primal/paleo motion again in 2009. After spending three a long time researching and educating of us on why meals is the important thing element to reaching and sustaining optimum wellness, Mark launched Primal Kitchen, a real-food firm that creates Primal/paleo, keto, and Whole30-friendly kitchen staples.

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Is Honey Good for You?