"Honey is better for you than regular sugar." This statement has been made by many for years, but now researchers have demonstrated this in tests with real people. The author, Dr Philip Shambaugh who published the results in the July/August 1990 Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, tested equal amounts of three common sweeteners: table sugar (sucrose), fructose (fruit sugar) and honey. The thirty three people involved in the tests had their blood sugar measured before and after ingesting the sweets.

Honey consistently showed less elevation in blood sugar levels as compared with sucrose, and honey did not cause any side effects in the test subjects. Fructose displayed no elevation in the blood sugar but some subjects complained of headaches and drowsiness. Sucrose elevated blood sugar levels in all those tested and in addition caused the same side effects as the sucrose group (headaches and drowsiness).

The study suggested that honey may be better to use because 1) it is sweeter than sucrose (therefore people could use less) and 2) honey contains other nutrients, especially minerals, that may be of nutritional benefit.

(Editors note: Tupelo honey is the sweetest type and may be the best choice because it is approximately 50% fructose and 50% sucrose. Other honeys can have a much higher sucrose content. Cheaper honey may actually be mostly sucrose because some producers feed their bees sucrose.)