If you happen to read an article published recently in the journal Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity, you would certainly form the impression that honey is a potent medicine, as it has been considered by physicians for thousands of years. That is if it is certified organic, a requirement that is apparently necessary in order to make sure that it has not been adulterated on its journey to your table with the kind of sugars that actually cause diabetes.

A recent scandal in Australia has highlighted the commonplace practice of adulteration that is possible due to inferior testing standards, with the result that the honey you eat may be entirely fake, a blend of syrups derived from beet, wheat, rice sugar and corn that improve the importers bottom line but add to the nation’s spiralling statistics on diabetes.

Nevertheless, because honey is rich in carbohydrates it has long been prohibited for diabetics who are usually told to avoid all sugars by their doctors. Now if the honey is cut with high-fructose corn syrup and refined sucrose, or actually has no real honey in it at all, then this brew is no better than a common soft drink and the advice is sound.¹

The global number of diabetics is actually said to reach 439 million by 2030,² and patients who eventually follow their doctor’s advice will to a large extent rely instead on synthetic sweeteners like aspartame, acesulfame-k and saccharine to satisfy their cravings. Unfortunately these ‘light’ or ‘diet’ replacement compounds also promote metabolic syndrome and diabetes.³

By comparison, authentic honey is actually known to lower blood sugar, and the mechanism is thought to relate to the beneficial effect of selenium, zinc, copper, vanadium, phenolic acids and antioxidant flavonoids on energy metabolism. Even the fructose in the honey apparently acts in a beneficial manner in the context of this rich array of cofactors, inhibiting absorption, prolonging gastric emptying and reducing food intake.

Now it might seem counter-intuitive for a diabetic to benefit from energy-rich organic honey, but cofactors are the key to understanding this paradox, because these nutrients are crucial to insulin signaling and to prevent insulin resistance. For instance, when compared to diets where the sugars come in the form of refined glucose (dextrose) or sucrose, honey consumption improves lipid profiles, lowers triglycerides, lowers c-reactive protein, lowers homocysteine and moderates plasma glucose.⁴

The point is that honey has to replace sucrose and high-fructose corn syrup entirely, the two main pancreatic toxins in the urban diet, as well as synthetic sweeteners. It also goes without saying that the total calories in a snack or meal, portion size, the consumption of adequate fibre, as well as ample exercise, are also considerations that are integral to the regulation of energy metabolism.

Apart from the widespread deficiency of essential cofactors, another key problem arising from the modern urban factory-food diet is chronic inflammation and oxidative stress. These are key processes underlying chronic organ damage that lead to degenerative diseases such as obesity, heart disease and diabetes, and organic honey contains powerful antioxidants that can help offset this threat. If you add blueberries, pomegranate, turmeric, green tea, a little red wine and other wholefoods, then you are going to be well ahead of the urban masses in your antioxidant defences.

The first step is to go sugar-free (except raw honey or whole fruit) because this strategy cuts out most factory-foods and their toxic load. The next step is to improve the provenance of the remaining wholefoods by going organic in order to eliminate residues which play havoc with hormonal homeostasis.

Such endocrine disrupting chemicals are a little-known but crucial hurdle for those trying to restore health. These chemicals are found not only as common additives and adulterants in factory food, but as agricultural residues including herbicides, pesticides and fungicides and can only be avoided by transitioning to a diet of organic wholefoods. Unfortunately, these chemicals are also responsible for bee colony decline, in particular a class of agriculture chemical called neonicotinoid.⁵

Raw honey also contains important antimicrobial properties and its use is even being encouraged again for wound management in line with ancient practice.⁶ Almost two thousand years ago, Dioscorides wrote that honey is ‘cleansing, opens pores, and draws out fluids.’ He also says that it is good for treating rotten ulcers and soothes dry coughs, so it seems that the modern evidence-base is substantiating a long tradition of therapeutics.⁷

The advantages of going sugar-free are detailed in the the eBook Sweet Tooth, Rotten Health.

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References:

1. Simopoulos AP. Dietary Omega-3 Fatty Acid Deficiency and High Fructose intake in the Development of Metabolic Syndrome Brain, Metabolic Abnormalities, and Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease. Nutrients 2013;5:2901–23.
2. Shaw JE, Sicree RA, Zimmet PZ. Global estimates of the prevalence of diabetes for 2010 and 2030. Diabetes Res Clin Pract 2010;87:4–14.
3. Nettleton JA, Lutsey PL, Wang Y, Lima JA, Michos ED, Jacobs DR. Diet soda intake and risk of incident metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). Diabetes Care 2009;32:688–94.
4. Bobiş O, Dezmirean DS, Moise AR. Honey and Diabetes: The Importance of Natural Simple Sugars in Diet for Preventing and Treating Different Type of Diabetes. Oxid Med Cell Longev 2018;2018:4757893.
5. Woodcock BA, Bullock JM, Shore RF, et al. Country-specific effects of neonicotinoid pesticides on honey bees and wild bees. Science 2017;356:1393–5.
6. Molan P, Rhodes T. Honey: A Biologic Wound Dressing. Wounds Compend Clin Res Pract 2015;27:141–51.
7. Dioscorides P. De Materia Medica. South Africa: Ibidis; 2000.