Honey is a sweet, thick liquid made by bees using the nectar of flowers. It is commonly used as a natural sweetener in foods and beverages and has been valued for its medicinal properties for centuries.
According to a new study by researchers at University of TorontoConsuming raw honey from a single floral source may have significant benefits for cardiometabolic health.
In a systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials, researchers found that honey consumption was associated with lower blood glucose, total and LDL (‘bad’) cholesterol, triglycerides and a marker of fatty liver disease. Additionally, honey consumption was associated with higher levels of HDL (“good”) cholesterol and several markers of inflammation.
Tauseef Khan. Credit: Nema McGlynn
“These results are surprising because honey is about 80 percent sugar,” said Tauseef Khan, a senior researcher on the study and a research associate in nutritional sciences at U of T’s Temerty School of Medicine. “But honey is also a complex composition of common and rare sugars, proteins, organic acids and other bioactive compounds that most likely have health benefits.”
Previous research has shown that honey can improve cardiometabolic health, especially in vitro and animal studies. The current study is the most comprehensive review to date of clinical trials and includes the most detailed data on the processing and source of the flower.
The results were recently published in the journal Nutrition reviews.
“The word among public health and nutrition experts has long been that ‘sugar is sugar,'” said John Sievenpiper, principal investigator and an associate professor of nutritional sciences and medicine at U of T, who is also a clinician-scientist at Unity. Health Toronto. “These results show that this is not the case, and they should stop defining honey as free or added sugar in dietary guidelines.”
Sievenpiper and Khan emphasized that the context of the findings was critical: clinical trials in which participants followed healthy dietary patterns, with added sugars making up 10 percent or less of daily calorie intake.
Professor John Sevenpiper. Credit: University of Toronto
“We’re not saying you should start drinking honey if you’re currently avoiding sugar,” Khan said. “Usage is more about substitution – whether you’re using table sugar, syrup or another sweetener, swapping these sugars for honey can lower cardiometabolic risks.”
The researchers included 18 controlled trials and over 1,100 participants in their analysis. They assessed the quality of this evidence using the GRADE system and found that there was a low certainty of evidence for most studies, but that honey consistently produced neutral or beneficial effects, depending on processing, floral source and amount.
The average daily dose of honey in the trials was 40 grams, or about two tablespoons. The average duration of the trial was eight weeks. Raw honey produced many of the beneficial effects in the studies, as did honey from monofloral sources such as Robinia (also marketed as acacia honey)—a honey from false acacia or black locust trees—and clover, which is common in North America.
Khan said that while processed honey clearly loses much of its health effects after pasteurization — typically 65 degrees[{” attribute=””>Celsius for at least 10 minutes — the effect of a hot drink on raw honey depends on several factors, and likely would not destroy all its beneficial properties.
He also noted other ways to consume unheated honey, such as with yogurt, as a spread, and in salad dressings.
Future studies should focus on unprocessed honey, Khan said, and from a single floral source. The goal would be higher quality evidence and a better understanding of the many compounds in honey that can work wonders for health. “We need a consistent product that can deliver consistent health benefits,” said Khan. “Then the market will follow.”
Reference: “Effect of honey on cardiometabolic risk factors: a systematic review and meta-analysis” by Amna Ahmed, Zujaja Tul-Noor, Danielle Lee, Shamaila Bajwah, Zara Ahmed, Shanza Zafar, Maliha Syeda, Fakeha Jamil, Faizaan Qureshi, Fatima Zia, Rumsha Baig, Saniya Ahmed, Mobushra Tayyiba, Suleman Ahmad, Dan Ramdath, Rong Tsao, Steve Cui, Cyril W C Kendall, Russell J de Souza, Tauseef A Khan and John L Sievenpiper, 16 November 2022, Nutrition Reviews.
DOI: 10.1093/nutrit/nuac086
The study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation, and Diabetes Canada.
