Evidence suggests that increased consumption of calorific sweeteners such as fructose, high fructose corn syrup, glucose and sucrose are responsible for the rise in obesity cases over the last half a century. In particular, the consumption of these products in soft drinks is thought to be particularly damaging to health. Honey is a natural mixture of fructose and glucose, with small amounts of sucrose and other disaccharides, which suggests that its consumption could lead to obesity. However, evidence suggests that honey is not associated with the same obesogenic effects as the individual component sugars it contains. For example, one study in rats has shown that honey consumption results in 17% less weight gain compared to sucrose Another study found that rats fed ad libitum diets containing uncooked honey consume 13% less food and gain 15% less weight compared to isocaloric sucrose containing diets.
A human study has also compared honey consumption with sucrose consumption and reported that the subjects consuming honey lost weight. Overweight and obese subjects consuming 70g of uncooked clover honey experienced a 1.3% reduction in body weight and a 1.1% reduction in body fat, when compared to subjects consuming an identical diet containing sucrose. Because of the potential benefits, a more recent study1 has attempted to investigate potential mechanisms of action by comparing the physiological responses to a sucrose and honey containing meal. The study design was double blind and randomised, with 14 healthy non-obese female subjects receiving an isoglucidic meal of 450kcal containing either honey or sucrose. Blood samples and hunger ratings were measured at baseline and then every 30 minutes following breakfast. Subsequent ad libitum food intake was also measured at a later meal.
The results showed that the consumption of honey significantly delayed postprandial ghrelin release and concomitantly increased peptide YY response. The honey breakfast also caused a delay in the glycaemic response when compared to the sucrose breakfast. However, there was no change to the subsequent food intake during the ad libitum meal and no difference between treatments for insulin response or hunger ratings. Ghrelin is an appetite stimulating hormone, while peptide YY is a hormone with satiety inducing properties. This hormonal profile change following honey consumption therefore fits with the reported weight prevention effects of honey. It is unclear why honey would alter the hormonal profile when compared to sucrose, but may relate to nuances in the ratio of sugars, or result from phytochemicals within the honey. Honey is a complex mixture of plant chemicals that have not been comprehensively studied.
The delay in glycaemic response supports previous work on honey and suggests that part of the beneficial effects of honey are related to changes in postprandial blood sugar concentrations. This may be because raw honey contains hydrogen peroxide which acts as a strong insulin-mimetic. Heating the honey may significantly decrease the concentration of hydrogen peroxide. Lactate response was also blunted with honey ingestion compared to sucrose. Lactate is produce following fructose absorption because glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate and dihydroacetone phosphate increase following hepatic breakdown of fructose 1-phosphate. The increase pyruvate leads to increases in lactate that spills into the circulation. This suggests that a decrease in the flux through glycolysis occurs with honey, which would likely be a result of the decreased glycaemic response. Honey therefore produces physiological changes following ingestion that help explain its anti-obesity effects.
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