Is Honey a Good Substitute for Sugar for Type 2 Diabetics?
Both honey and sugar have similar sugar content and are equally bad if you are a type 2 diabetes patient.
What Are the Similarities Between the Sugar and Honey?
Ordinary table sugar is a 1:1 combination of glucose and sucrose. Honey contains ~30% glucose and 60% of fructose. They come from sugar cane and beets, which contain sucrose.
Sugar has a GI value of 60, and honey has a GI score 58. Both sugar and honey (like all carbohydrates) raise blood sugar quickly.
What are the Differences Between Sugar and Honey?
Sugar and sugar-containing products are crucial sources of inflammation. They are responsible for chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes, cancer, arthritis, heart disease, and high blood pressure.
Despite their diversity (flowers extracted from, sourced, and processed), honey varieties share many everyday essential nutrition characteristics.
Natural, unprocessed pure honey has carbohydrates (mainly glucose and fructose and small amounts of other sugars), proteins, amino acids, minerals, vitamins and antioxidants, and phytochemicals like phenolics and flavonoids. Honey has different trace elements the body needs, which depend on its source. The trace elements of honey were determined in mg kg−1 as follows: Ca (221.9), Mg (54.15), K (579.6), Na (351.4), Fe (8.3), Cu (0.2), Cr (0.5), and Pb (1.1) and depends on the source it comes from.
Honey is healthier compared to sugar. Honey is anti-inflammatory and beneficial to the heart and for a better lipid profile and cholesterol.
Is There a Diabetes-Friendly Honey?
Natural honey does not have added sugar. If your diabetes is well managed, pure organic is better.
Just to add: monk fruit extract and Stevia, both made from plant sources, are good options for diabetes.
Honey is Never a Replacement for Sugar for a Type 2 Diabetes Patient
Healthy and nutritionally rich nutrition for a person with type 2 diabetes consists of whole grains, lentils, legumes, fruits and vegetables, fish and eggs, omega-3-rich fats, oils, and nuts.
Sugar is the source of energy. The brain needs 130 grams of sugar, as do your body’s cells. Your consumed food has sugar. Adding sugar or honey to meals is unnecessary when you have higher blood sugar than expected.
Disclaimer. Always consult your diabetes team (PCP, dietician) when choosing and changing your diet.
