Is Honey Good for Diabetes?

Are you looking for natural sweeteners that you can substitute in place of sugar? Do you love to have sweeteners, and think including honey in your diet will be helpful? Don’t be so sure. 

In this article, we will take a look at whether or not substituting honey in diabetes is a safe idea, how it affects blood sugar, which type of honey is good for those who have diabetes, and more such concerns and questions that you may have about honey, especially if you have diabetes. 

Is Honey Good for Diabetes?

As such there are no great benefits of adding honey to diabetes.

However, because honey is much sweeter than the regular granulated sugar that is otherwise used to make food items sweet, you will end up using a lesser amount of honey, which can make using honey in diabetes a good idea. 

Is Honey Bad for Diabetes?

When eaten on a regular basis or if not taken in moderation, honey can be bad for those who have diabetes.

Honey in diabetes does not have any real health benefits, and often, if you end up having too much of it, it can have similar negative effects on your blood sugar levels as eating sugar. 

Keeping this in mind, it is a better idea that you consume honey in diabetes as less frequently as you can.

• As per a study that was conducted over 8 weeks in adults who have diabetes, it was found that consuming honey with diabetes did not have any specific health benefits. 
• This is because while the consumption of honey did have some benefits on the weight and blood lipid profile of those adults who have diabetes, there was also an increase in the haemoglobin or A1C levels. 
• This suggests that it is important that honey for diabetes should only be consumed in very moderate amounts and should not be had too frequently or too much.

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Does Honey Increase Blood Sugar Slowly or Quickly?

Honey stands on a lower glycaemic index scale as compared to sugar. While sugar has a glycaemic index or GI score of 60, honey stands at 58. But even a GI score of 58 is not considered very low.

This means that while honey will not spike your blood sugar levels as fast as that when you consume sugar, honey in diabetes may raise your blood sugar levels, just not as fast as when you eat sugar. 

Nutritional Value of Honey

In 1 tablespoon of honey, you will find: 

• Calories – about 64 
• Protein – about 0.06 grams
• Sugar – about 17 grams 
• Fiber – about 0.04 grams
• Carbohydrate – about 17 grams 

Honey also contains some amount of vitamins and minerals, such as vitamin C, antioxidants, potassium, zinc, and calcium. But the amount of these vitamins and minerals found in honey is so less and negligible that it does not really make up for any specific health benefits. 

Glycemic Index of Honey

Honey has a glycaemic index of 58.

Is Honey Good for Diabetics Type 2?

• There are no great benefits of adding honey to diabetes. 
• On the other hand, because honey is much sweeter than the regular granulated sugar that people use as sweeteners, you will need to use a lesser amount of honey as compared to sugar.
• This can make using honey in diabetes less harmful than using sugar in diabetes.
• However, as per studies, using honey for diabetes type 2 has no health benefits.

Benefits of Honey in Diabetes

There are no concrete studies or research to suggest that honey in diabetes is good. However, honey does have some antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that may help those people with diabetes who have a higher amount of inflammation in their bodies. 

Do keep in mind that there are various other food options and sweeteners that can still do the same with their anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties without raising your blood sugar levels as honey in diabetes, and that are much lower on the GI scale.

You can always substitute even honey with lower GI sweeteners, such as stevia, which is very easily available these days.

FitterTake

Consider consulting our expert diabetologists and dieticians onboard Fitterfly’s Diabetes Care Program to know how to identify nad control prediabetes at the earliest. You can also directly  sign up for our programme if you wish to know more.

To know if you can reverse your prediabetes, try our Fitterfly Diabetes Reversal Calculator.

You can also, speak to one of our counselors by just giving us a missed call at 08069450746, and we will definitely get back to you.