Honey vs Sugar – Which is Better For Your Health?
Since the dawn of time, the argument between honey vs sugar has raged among sweet-toothed individuals. But to no avail. While doctors, nutritionists, and dieticians tout honey’s health advantages and natural sweetness, some individuals still prefer to sweeten their drinks and pastries with sugar because it tastes better. Is it wise to risk one’s health for the sake of taste?
Is it true that sugar tastes better than honey? With all of the processing and health issues that sugar is known to create, we frequently hear that honey is a healthy option for sugar, but is this true? Below is a comparison of honey and sugar.
What is Honey?
Honey is made by bees from floral nectar, but there’s a lot more to this sticky sweetener. Honey is made up of water and two sugars: fructose and glucose. Acacia, eucalyptus, golden bloom, and even blackberry or blueberry honey are among the many varieties. Honey’s colour varies depending on the source. Most people are familiar with fair-skinned honey because it is the most prevalent, but there is also dark brown honey (such as buckwheat).
What are the Pros of Honey?
Honey has useful components such as enzymes, amino acids, B vitamins, vitamin C, minerals, and antioxidants because it originates from a natural source. Honey’s antioxidants contain flavonoids, which help to reduce inflammation.
Honey has a higher fructose content than glucose, so you may use less and yet satisfy your sweet taste. Some studies, such as this one by Finnish researchers, have found that raw, unpasteurized honey, which retains trace levels of local pollen, can help people desensitize to seasonal allergies.
Honey contains additional therapeutic properties. It has been used to treat sore throats and dry, hacking coughs. It’s also available in topical formulations, which can help heal small burns and wounds.
What are the Cons of Honey?
While honey offers many health benefits, it is not something that should be ingested at random. For starters, it’s heavy in calories (a tablespoon contains 64 calories). Because honey has a relatively high glycemic index, it is also bad news for patients with diabetes and heart disease. Honey should not be given to children under the age of one year because it can cause botulism, an uncommon but serious sickness.
What is Sugar?
Sugar is made up of glucose and fructose, which are bonded together to form sucrose. It comes from a sugar club or sugar bean. While it is derived from natural sources, it is subjected to extensive processing before reaching your kitchen table. The three most often used sugars are white, brown, and raw, with raw sugar becoming the least refined of the three.
What are the Pros of Sugar?
Sugar, while lacking the nutritional advantages of honey, is substantially lower in calories, with one tablespoon containing approximately 48 calories. Sugar is also frequently less expensive than honey, is more readily available, and has a limited shelf life. It’s also thought to be better for baking.
What are the Cons of Sugar?
Sugar has no leftover nutrients due to the extensive processing it undergoes. Even while raw sugar is less processed than white sugar, it provides no additional nutritional benefits. Sugar has a higher carbohydrate content than honey and can cause a rapid surge in blood sugar levels followed by a rapid drop. (This is why, after eating chocolate chip cookies, you may experience a rush of energy followed by a sharp decrease.)
Sugar consumption can induce weight gain, obesity, tooth decay, and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, among other health issues (because your liver has to work extra hard to process refined fructose.)
So, Which is the Better Choice?
When it comes right down to it, both sweeteners should be consumed in moderation. Overconsumption of either can create major health problems and while honey has a pretty good reputation because of the added nutrients, it is by no means a healthy option. Sugar is also commonly used in baking, but the sugar surge collapse is no laughing matter. The moral of the story is to indulge sometimes but not excessively with either sweetener.
Calories in Honey vs. Sugar
Sugar contains more calories per serving than honey since it contains more sweetness per serving. Sugar has 387 calories per 100 grams, while honey has 304 calories per 100 grams. Honey, on the other hand, contains somewhat more calories than sugar because it is a liquid when measured by volume: one tablespoon of honey includes 63.8 calories, while one teaspoon of sugar contains 46.5 calories.
Misconceptions About Honey
Honey, for all of its advantages, is the target of some misunderstandings.
- Many people believe that honey has an expiration date and that after it has passed that period, it should be discarded. Honey, on the other hand, never goes bad when stored properly and according to the instructions on the bottle. You can keep going to use it after the passing date has expired.
- Another prevalent belief is that honey crystallization indicates spoilage. It’s not a sign that it’s ruined, but rather that it’s overly sweet. A sugar solution that is too saturated will crystallize. As a result, one should always choose organic or raw honey to ensure that anything they purchase is good for their health.
- If you have diabetes, your first impulse is to eliminate all sweet foods from your diet. On the contrary, depending on your kind of diabetes, you can continue to eat sweets as long as they contain a natural form of sweetness and are consumed in moderation.
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Health Benefits of Honey vs Sugar
Honey isn’t merely a repository of health advantages any longer. It’s also a good alternative to refined sugar. While both honey and sugar contain glucose and fructose, honey also contains a unique enzyme added by the bees during the production process. Furthermore, sugar lacks proteins, enzymes, and vitamins, all of which are lost during the manufacturing process. Honey, on the other hand, is natural sugar, thus its nutrients are preserved. Honey appears to be a convincing switch because it contains so many health benefits. We trust that the information in this article was beneficial to your health.
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