Can sugar be replaced with honey? Find Out!

Honey and sugar are the most popular ingredients that add sweetness to the food you eat. They are carbohydrates consisting of glucose and fructose. Sugar consists of 50 % fructose and 50 % glucose, whereas honey contains 40 % fructose and only 30 % glucose. Due to more glucose content, sugar raises blood sugar levels quickly. Consuming more sugar is considered unhealthy.

As honey contains less glucose and is a healthier option than sugar, let us find out a little more about them.

Honey

Primarily composed of fructose and glucose, honey also has trace amounts of Vitamin C, minerals, amino acids and antioxidants. The antioxidants in honey have flavonoids that have anti-inflammatory properties. It packs many nutrients and is less processed than sugar. But as honey has slightly more calories than sugar, you must use it in small quantities.

The benefits of using honey are as follows –

• It contains partially broken down sugars, so honey is easier to digest
• It helps in fighting germs due to its anti-microbial properties
• Being rich in antioxidants, honey is linked to reducing the chances of strokes, heart attacks and certain cases of cancer. These antioxidants are also responsible for lowering blood pressure.
• It has the ability to reduce coughs in children
• It reduces the amount of bad LDL cholesterol and raises the level of good HDL cholesterol in your body

Sugar

Sugar is made of glucose and fructose that together form sucrose. Sugar is developed from sugar cane plants and sugar beet. The table sugar that we usually consume goes through a lot of processing before it is made into granulated form.

But sugar does not have any additional nutrients.

The advantages of using sugar are –

• Sugar is low in calories than honey. It contains 49 calories per tablespoon whereas honey has 64 calories.
• It provides you with an immediate boost of energy. After the glucose is converted into energy by the body, some of it is stored as an energy reserve for later usage.

However, sugar is linked to heart diseases, obesity and high blood pressure.

Therefore, if the pros and cons of both honey and sugar are taken into consideration, switching to honey instead of sugar for daily use seems a healthier choice to make. You can add a quarter teaspoon of honey to your tea or lemonade instead of putting cubes of sugar for more health benefits. However, watch your intake, as overconsumption of honey may be linked to other health problems.