It is a widely held belief that honey is said to be healthier than sugar. Finally, honey is considered the more natural product. You can find out what this claim actually means here.
Is honey healthier than sugar? Many people who want to change their diet and above all want to eat less sugar ask themselves this question. Then it would of course be particularly easy to simply replace the sugar with honey. But does that really mean anything? We show you how honey compares to beet and cane sugar.
Is honey healthier than sugar?
Honey is ultimately made up of different types of sugar and water. 80 percent of the ingredients make up primarily fructose and glucose. Fructose and glucose are exactly the two types of sugar that are found in sucrose, i.e. the white household sugar. The remaining 20 percent is water. Honey is therefore primarily a sugar solution whose nutritional values hardly differ from conventional sucrose.
The typical white household sugar in this country consists of sugar beet. Accordingly, it is also referred to as beet sugar. Cane sugar or raw cane sugar, on the other hand, is made from sugar cane. Because of its brown color, it is considered “more natural” and healthier. In fact, in all three cases it is simply sucrose. In terms of the type of sugar we ingest, there is no difference between beet sugar, cane sugar and honey.
According to the Federal Center for Nutrition, all three products therefore have the same effect on our blood sugar levels. Because when we ingest it, the body treats every form of sucrose in the same way: it breaks it down into its components, fructose and glucose.
However, honey actually contains more valuable ingredients than white sugar. According to Öko-Test, these include minerals, proteins, enzymes and vitamins. However, the substances occur in honey in such small quantities that they hardly have any effect on our nutrient balance. So the answer to the question “Is honey healthier than sugar?” is a resounding “No”.
You can get more information about different sweeteners here: Maple syrup, honey, agave syrup & Co.: the truth about sugar substitutes.
Honey vs Sugar: Which is Better for the Planet?
(Photo: CC0 / Pixabay / stevepb)
So honey is no healthier than beet sugar or cane sugar. Nevertheless, due to its characteristic aroma and consistency, honey is popular, among other things, as a sweetener for teas or as a spread. But which sweet fabric is actually better for the environment?
In a comparison between beet and cane sugar, beet sugar clearly performs better in terms of its life cycle assessment. Because sugar cane only grows in tropical areas. Sugar beets, on the other hand, can also be grown in Germany. According to analyzes by the Research Institute for Organic Farming, regional organic beet sugar from southern Germany pollutes the environment by around a third less than organic cane sugar from Paraguay. This is not only due to the significantly shorter transport routes, but also to the fact that more environmentally friendly fertilizers are used and processing is more efficient.
How environmentally friendly honey is depends entirely on its origin. In supermarkets you can often find a mixture of honey that comes from different parts of the world. The origin is then usually not clearly declared on the label. In this case, honey products often have to travel long distances and cause correspondingly high CO2-Emissions. If you use regional honey from the beekeeper around the corner, the ecological balance is significantly better. At the same time you support local businesses. You can find more facts about honey here: Honey: 15 top facts – healthy or unhealthy? calories? Vegan?
We also recommend that all sugar and honey products are organic. In this way you promote sustainable agriculture that does not use chemical-synthetic pesticides.
Read more on Techzle.com:
- Vegan honey: The 6 best alternatives to honey
- Honey types at a glance: You should know these
- Honey – from the beekeeper next door, organic or fair trade – a comparison