Honey vs. Sugar: Is It Safe To Eat Honey and Sugar If You Have Diabetes?
Is it safe to use sweeteners if you have diabetes? Although Raw honey and sugar are both carbohydrates, there are some differences between them that might help you make better choices.
When you have diabetes, every carb counts, so does it matter whether you use Natural honey or sugar? Is it safe to use sweeteners if you have diabetes? Although Organic honey and sugar are both sweet carbohydrates, there are certain distinctions between the two that can aid in decision-making. Lark for Diabetes can provide further assistance with healthy eating and otherwise blood sugar-lowering choices.
Honey vs. Sugar: What Is the Difference?
Sucrose is extracted and refined from sugar cane or sugar beets to produce white and brown sugar. organic Honey is made by honeybees from nectar. Sugar has a consistent composition, whereas Natural honey’s composition, as well as flavor and color, changes depending on the flowers, used to manufacture it.
Organic Honey Sugars vs. Sugar
Organic Honey and sugar are both sweet, although their components are slightly different. Sugar is made primarily of sucrose, a form of simple carbohydrate. One molecule of glucose is linked to one molecule of fructose in each molecule of sucrose. Sugar, also known as sucrose, is made up of 50% glucose and 50% fructose.
Honey, on the other hand, is made up of around 35% glucose and 40% fructose. It contains roughly 9% sucrose and a few other simple carbs in lower proportions. Despite the fact that both sugar and honey are mostly composed of glucose and fructose, honey has a sweeter flavor because most of its glucose and fructose are not bonded together into sucrose.
Honey vs. Sugar: Calories and Other Nutrients
Sugar offers 46 calories per tablespoon. According to the Department of Agriculture, one tablespoon of Organic honey contains 64 calories. Organic Honey contains several necessary vitamins and minerals that sugar lacks. They are, however, only present in trace amounts. To achieve 100 percent of the daily intake for potassium or zinc, for example, you’d have to eat 20 cups of organic honey. That’s around 20,000 calories or about two weeks’ worth of calories for some people.
Natural Honey and sugar have different glycemic indexes.
The glycemic index, or GI, is a measurement of how quickly and how much blood sugar levels rise after eating carbohydrates. For a given amount of carbohydrate, the higher the GI, the faster and higher your blood sugar level will rise.
According to Harvard Medical School sucrose, or sugar, has a glycemic index of 65. Organic Honey’s glycemic index fluctuates due to the fact that its composition differs. It was reported to be 61 in a research published in Diabetes Care. Organic Honey’s glycemic index can range from low to high, and there’s no way to know whether it’s low or high before you consume it, so it’s not safe to assume it’s low. It’s safer to presume that Organic honey will have the same effect on your blood sugar as white sugar.
