Why Honey Is Better For You Health Than Sugar?
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Honey is sugar, right?
While it's true that honey and refined sugar share a similar make-up for the most part (both being largely made up of fructose and glucose sugars), there are some important differences.
- Regular white sugar: Almost 100% fructose and glucose in a nearly 50/50 ratio, with very few trace minerals.
- Honey: Typically contains around 40% fructose, 30-35% glucose, and the remaining 25-30% consists of water, other complex sugars, minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants. High-quality unfiltered honey also includes small particles of pollen, bee propolis, and beeswax.
Nutritional Benefits of Honey
Natural honey contains flavonoids, phenolic acids, ascorbic acid (vitamin C), tocopherols, glutathione, and other compounds. These antioxidants occur naturally in honey due to its flower nectar origins. The specific antioxidants present depend on the type of flower the bees visit while collecting nectar.
- Pure Raw Brands Unfiltered Honey is supercharged with important vitamins. Each teaspoon contains 25% of your recommended daily allowance of vitamins D, C, B6, and B12 to help support your immune system. Along with honey's unique texture, health-boosting nutrients, and naturally occurring antioxidants, this makes our honey a very different product from sugar, which has no added nutrients. Honey contains amino acids, vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, and antioxidants.
Is Honey Healthier?
While honey is largely made up of the same fructose and glucose as sugar, it also contains other compounds that make it a better choice for most people.
But does that make it healthier?
While honey clearly has benefits over refined white sugar, there is still a lot of sugar in honey. As with any sugar, it may be beneficial to limit your intake. However, we believe that honey is the best alternative to sugar.
- A big benefit: Honey tastes sweeter while containing less fructose and glucose, so you can use less to get the same level of sweetness. For instance, I’ve gone from using two heaped spoonfuls of sugar in my coffee to just ½ a teaspoon of honey.
Honey vs. Artificial Sweeteners
Many artificial sweeteners, like aspartame, saccharin, and sucralose, are offered as sugar substitutes. However, they come with their own concerns, such as increasing sugar cravings and disrupting gut bacteria. These sweeteners also have zero nutritional value, making them "non-nutritive."
- Compared to artificial sweeteners: Honey offers both sweetness and nutritional value, making it a far better and more natural choice.
Why Choose Honey?
By choosing pure, unfiltered honey like ours, you not only enjoy its natural sweetness but also benefit from its wholesome composition. Our honey retains natural enzymes, antioxidants, and other health-promoting compounds, making it a superior choice for those seeking a healthier sweetener option.
Honey and Our Body
It's also believed that honey may be easier on our digestive system compared to refined sugar. Regular refined sugar has to be ingested before being broken down. However, bees add enzymes to honey, meaning the sugars are partially broken down before we consume them, making honey easier to digest. Sugar, by contrast, does not contain enzymes to aid digestion.
- Our bodies need sugar: It’s our daily fuel. While honey is mostly made up of sugar, it only contains about 30% glucose. Glucose is what our bodies break food down into for energy. The lower glucose content in honey means our bodies do more work and use more energy to break it down.
- Calories: Though a tablespoon of honey contains 64 calories (compared to sugar's 49 calories), the energy required to break it down could mean we accumulate fewer calories from honey.
Conclusion
It's easy to say that honey is "mainly" sugar, but this ignores the chemical diversity and complexity of honey.
- In honey, we find: proteins, amino acids, phenolic acids, ascorbic acid, folic acid, pollen, propolis, beeswax, flavonoids, enzymes, and minerals like calcium, iron, zinc, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, selenium, chromium, and manganese.
- Honey also contains B vitamins, such as riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, and vitamin B6.
If honey were "just" sugar, then sugar would logically be "basically honey"—and clearly, it isn’t. Besides a huge hit of glucose, there’s little else we get from sugar. By using honey as an alternative, we gain the benefits of everything found in honey. We can also use less honey to reduce our sugar intake, and perhaps just as importantly, enjoy the complex flavors of pure natural honey.
Shop Pure Raw Brands
Explore the essence of nature's sweetness with Pure Raw Brands, where convenience meets quality with hassle-free online shopping and reliable delivery options.
For those who prefer a hands-on experience, you can also find our Pure Raw honey at stores near you, bringing the goodness of nature closer to your home.
FAQs
1.Is honey easier to digest than sugar?
Yes, honey may be easier on the digestive system because the enzymes added by bees partially break down the sugars, making honey easier to digest compared to regular sugar.
2. How does honey compare to artificial sweeteners?
Unlike artificial sweeteners, which offer no nutritional value and may disrupt gut bacteria, honey is a natural sweetener that provides essential nutrients, enzymes, and antioxidants, making it a healthier option.
3. Can honey help reduce my sugar intake?
Yes, honey is sweeter than sugar, so you can use less of it to achieve the same level of sweetness. This can help reduce your overall sugar intake.
4. How many calories are in honey compared to sugar?
One tablespoon of honey contains 64 calories, while sugar has 49 calories per tablespoon. However, since honey requires more energy for the body to break down, you may absorb fewer calories from honey than sugar.
5.What makes Pure Raw Brands Unfiltered Honey different?
Our honey is unfiltered and contains natural enzymes, antioxidants, vitamins (D, C, B6, B12), and small amounts of pollen, bee propolis, and beeswax, making it a nutrient-rich and healthier alternative to refined sugar.