sugar vs honey? 1 perspective~ thanks~ Don

[Guest guest]

HONEY MORE HEALTHFUL THAN SUGAR?

Gabe Mirkin, M.D.

Many health writers make the topic of sugar so complicated that nobody can

understand it. It's very simple. Sugar is sugar is sugar. Your body treats the

sugar in an apple the same way that it treats all other sources of sugar. The

difference is that an apple also contains fiber that slows the rise of blood

sugar after you eat it.

Some people believe that honey is more healthful than sugar. They tell us that

honey is a quicker source of energy and a richer source of minerals, and is less

fattening. All of these clams are nonsensical. As far as your body is concerned,

there is no difference between honey and table sugar. Honey contains two simple

sugars called glucose and fructose. Table sugar has the same two sugars, only

they are bound together to form a double sugar called sucrose. In your body,

they end up in exactly the same way. Once sucrose, the double sugar, reaches

your intestine, it is broken down into the single sugars glucose and fructose.

Honey and table sugar are processed in the same way by your body, and honey

cannot be a quicker source of energy. An advertisement for honey claims that

" ounce for ounce, honey has fewer calories than refined sugar. " This is true but

deceptive because honey contains water which has no calories and refined sugar

does not. A tablespoon of table sugar has 64 calories while a tablespoon of

honey contains water so that it has only 46,but they are both equally fattening.

You add sweeteners by taste, not by careful measurement, and you will use the

same number of calories to obtain the same sweetness using either sugar or

honey.

It's ridiculous to claim that honey is an excellent source of minerals such as

iron and calcium, while sugar is not. To meet your needs for iron, you would

have to take in 10 cups of honey a day, and for calcium, you would have to take

in 40 cups.

By the same reasoning, your body handles white granulated table sugar in the

same way that it processes brown sugar, turbinado sugar, maple syrup, fructose,

and all other sugars. Brown sugar is slightly less refined than white sugar, but

the difference has no nutritional significance. It makes no difference to your

body whether extracted sugar comes from beets, sugar cane, honey, apples or

grapes, or maple trees. If you are a diabetic, or store fat primarily in your

belly, have high blood triglyceride levels, have a very low blood levels of the

good HDL cholesterol that prevents heart attacks, or are trying to lose weight,

you should avoid all refined carbohydrates, and that includes all sugars that

have been extracted from their source.