Is Honey Really Helpful?

Experts have long claimed that consuming lots of sugar is very dangerous for health. Eating excessive sweets can increase the risk of diabetes, heart disease and poor brain function. Calorie content in high sugar can also cause obesity.

However, many people believe honey is a "natural sugar" that is more nutritious and safe for health.



Consumption of honey is indeed better than artificial sugar such as corn syrup which contains high fructose.

This is why those who do the paleo diet use honey as a sweetener for the food they consume.

Honey is a sweet and thick liquid produced by working honey bees from flower nectar. The taste and color varies depending on the flowers visited by bees when collecting honey. Orange flower honey, for example, is made from bees that pollinate citrus plants. Then, the farmer extracts honeycomb containing honey to remove substances in wax. For those who have problems with teeth, sweetness in honey will not make the teeth hurt.

Research published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research has proven the benefits of honey for performance in exercise. Research was conducted by recruiting nine bicycle racing athletes who were given a tablespoon of honey, dextrose (a form of glucose), or placebo gel.

All three types of substances are given before and when participants exercise bicycle 10-mile intervals from the simulated 40-mile race. As a result, those who took placebo had worse performance. While those who consume honey and dextrose both increase speed and strength towards the end of the trial.

This finding shows that natural sugars such as honey are as effective as helping endurance athletes, including runners.

"In the end, any carbohydrate can be used to supply energy to athletes," said Lori Nedescu, a sports diet expert.

According to Nedescu, the way is to make sure we can tolerate carbohydrate sources under high performance pressure. Meanwhile, honey can be well tolerated by most people because of the ratio of fructose and glucose. There is other evidence that shows the benefits of honey for body performance.

One study showed that consuming honey after exercising can improve subsequent endurance performance compared to just drinking water. According to Nedescu, people need to immediately replenish their depleted glycogen muscles after long and heavy exercise. "Simple sources that can be digested quickly, such as honey, produce the best energy," said Nedescu. So, a spoonful of honey after exercise is an easy way to regain energy.

Eating foods that contain low glycemic carbohydrates such as honey before exercise has also been shown to improve endurance performance, help maintain sugar levels and change fuel use during exercise. Nedescu said, filling energy with sugar sources such as honey before exercising is an easy way to ensure the body is able to work hard.

German scientists also found that men who consumed about three tablespoons of honey 90 minutes before exercising a bicycle, experienced less oxidative stress and DNA damage due to the effects of exercise.

Researchers suspect that the natural antioxidants contained in honey can play a role in helping to reduce some of the less desirable effects of intense exercise on the body such as inflammation. It could be that consuming other antioxidants such as blueberries before exercising also has the same benefits.

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