By Benedette Cuffari, M.Sc.Nov 20 2022Reviewed by Danielle Ellis, B.Sc. In a recent Nutrition Reviews journal study, researchers from the University of Toronto performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of previous controlled trials to better understand the impact of honey on mitigating certain cardiometabolic risk factors.
Despite this evidence, extensive human studies on the health benefits of honey have not been performed. Furthermore, the different types of honey, their sources, and whether it is raw or processed must be elucidated to determine whether these factors contribute to its potential health benefits. Importantly, the studies analyzed by the researchers in this review involved otherwise healthy patients who did not consume excessive amounts of sugar on a daily basis.
Taken together, honey was found to improve lipid outcomes by reducing total cholesterol, LDL-C, and fasting triglyceride levels and increasing HDL-C levels. Furthermore, the oral consumption of honey increased IL-6 and TNF- α levels. Regarding the other health outcomes examined in these studies, no other beneficial effects of honey were reported.
The word among public health and nutrition experts has been that ‘sugar is a sugar…’ these results show that’s not the case.”