Is honey good for diabetes? GI, carbs per spoon and what to know

No, honey is not good for diabetes in the sense of a sweetener that spares your blood sugar. Per 100 g it carries 82.4 g of carbohydrate and 304 kcal, and its GI of 63 sits in the medium band, only a few points below white sugar’s 70. What the research shows is more pointed: in a two-week crossover trial in adults with normal or impaired glucose tolerance, 50 g of carbohydrate a day from honey, sucrose or high-fructose corn syrup produced similar effects on glucose, insulin, lipids and inflammatory markers. For diabetes, honey is sugar; the only question is whether a small amount fits the day’s carbohydrate count. Talk to your doctor or dietitian before adding it.

Per 100 g (USDA FoodData Central), honey holds 82.4 g of carbohydrate, 304 kcal and 0.3 g of protein, its carbohydrate mainly the two simple sugars glucose and fructose. The same 100 g of white sugar holds 100 g of carbohydrate and 387 kcal. The minerals tell the rest of the story: 0.42 mg of iron, 6 mg of calcium and 52 mg of potassium in honey against 0.05 mg, 1 mg and 2 mg in white sugar, traces that barely register at a spoon a time. Because honey weighs more per spoon than sugar, the per-spoon comparison turns round: a 7 g teaspoon of honey brings about 21 kcal and 5.8 g of carbohydrate, against about 19 kcal and 5 g in a 5 g teaspoon of sugar. For the food itself, its names, storage and everyday uses, the honey guide is the place to start.

Per 100 g raw, edible portion. Composition: USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy), FDC ID 169640, NDB 19296; USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy), FDC ID 169655, NDB 19335. GI: University of Sydney GI database. — means not reported. These are average values for the food; the label on a pack gives the values for that product.

On the glycemic index, honey averages a GI of 63, the mean of seven tests of plain honey in the University of Sydney database. White sugar averages a GI of 70, the mean of 25 tests of sucrose. The database classes 55 and below as low and 70 and above as high, so honey sits in the medium band, a step below sugar, while the individual honey tests run from 49 to 87, which means some honeys score in the high band and a few sit low. Two things follow. First, honey is not a low-GI sweetener, so the GI is no reason to relax. Second, the GI of a food is not the whole meal: the Indian dietary guidelines point out that fibre delays and retards the absorption of carbohydrates, so what the honey is eaten with also matters. The numbers behind both foods are on honey’s glycemic index and white sugar’s GI.

Two sets of evidence deserve names rather than generalisations. The first is a 2015 crossover trial in the Journal of Nutrition: 55 adults, glucose-tolerant and glucose-intolerant, consumed 50 g of carbohydrate a day from honey, sucrose or high-fructose corn syrup for two weeks each. The paper reports similar effects on glucose, insulin, lipids and inflammatory markers across the three sweeteners, with triglycerides rising on all of them, body weight unchanged, and no honey advantage over sucrose.

The second is a 2023 systematic review and meta-analysis in Nutrition Reviews pooling 18 controlled trials with 1,105 participants. It found honey reduced fasting glucose, total cholesterol, LDL, triglycerides and ALT, all on low-certainty evidence, and raised HDL on high-certainty evidence, and in subgroup analyses robinia, clover and raw honeys showed beneficial effects on fasting glucose and total cholesterol. Its own conclusion is careful: honey may improve glycemic control and lipid levels when consumed within a healthy dietary pattern. The wider list of what honey does and does not do is on honey benefits and side effects.

No guideline gives a diabetic a honey allowance, so plan it as sugar. The WHO sugars guideline recommends keeping free sugars, honey included, below 10 percent of daily energy for adults and children, with a further cut toward 5 percent suggested. India’s dietary guidelines give the line in grams: avoiding sugar or restricting it to 20 g to 25 g a day for adults. Against that, one 7 g teaspoon of honey is 5.8 g of carbohydrate, already a quarter or more of a 20 g day, and a honey-laden drink or dessert can cross the whole line. The WHO also notes that higher free-sugar intakes threaten the nutrient quality of the diet by giving significant energy without specific nutrients.

So the honest framing is not how much honey a diabetic may have, but whether the day’s sugar budget has room after food. For a honey substitute for diabetics, the honest answer is less sweetening, not a different sweetener, since jaggery and white sugar draw on the same small budget (see jaggery and diabetes); how much of honey is sugar is on the sugar in honey page.

• Honey as a diabetic sweetener. The Raatz trial found no advantage for honey over sucrose, so honeyed drinks and desserts are sugar with a better story, nothing more.
• Morning honey-lemon water as a blood-sugar ritual. A glass of honey water is a drink, not a blood-sugar measure, and its honey still counts in the day’s sugar.
• Chasing the best honey for diabetes. The 2023 review’s subgroup analyses point to robinia, clover and raw honeys for fasting glucose, but its overall glucose finding is low certainty; any honey is still 82.4 g of carbohydrate per 100 g.
• Letting GI do the thinking. A GI of 63 is medium, not low; portion and meal decide the blood-sugar answer, and fibre in the same meal delays and retards the absorption of carbohydrates.
• Honey for babies in a diabetic household. The first-birthday rule applies to every baby whatever the parents eat; see honey for babies.
• Counting the honey but not the rest. The WHO’s free-sugar line, below 10 percent of energy, counts every source, so keep the dishes in the honey recipes roundup for occasions, not daily fare.

Diabetes care is individual: medicines, insulin doses and meal plans differ person to person, and no article can fold honey into yours. The crossover trial above found honey behaved like sugar in the body, so the useful question for your doctor or dietitian is concrete: does my day’s carbohydrate count have room for a 7 g teaspoon of honey, and what should it replace? Bring the numbers along, 21 kcal and 5.8 g of carbohydrate a teaspoon, since a plan is built on counts, not on a sweetener’s reputation. The answer may be yes on some days and no on others; what the research rules out is the idea that honey does not count as sugar. Talk to your doctor or dietitian before honey enters your meals.

Is honey good for diabetes?

No, not as a special sweetener. Honey is 82.4 g of carbohydrate per 100 g with a GI of 63. A 2015 crossover trial found 50 g of carbohydrate a day from honey, sucrose or high-fructose corn syrup produced similar effects on glucose, insulin, lipids and inflammatory markers. A 2023 review of 18 trials saw some gains, mostly on low-certainty evidence. Honey may fit a meal plan the way any sugar does; clear the amount with your doctor or dietitian.

Can honey cause diabetes?

None of the studies in the references tested honey alone as a cause of diabetes, but honey is a free sugar, and a 2023 review notes that excess calories from free sugars are implicated in rising obesity and type 2 diabetes. The WHO counts honey among the free sugars to keep below 10 percent of daily energy, a limit based partly on evidence that more free sugar goes with more body weight. Count honey as part of the day’s sugar.

What is the glycemic index of honey?

Honey averages a GI of 63, the mean of seven plain-honey tests in the University of Sydney database, which places it in the medium band, since the database classes 55 and below as low and 70 and above as high. The individual tests run from 49 to 87, so different honeys land differently. White sugar averages a GI of 70. Honey is not a low-GI sweetener; count it as sugar.

Does honey raise blood sugar?

Yes. Honey is 82.4 g of carbohydrate per 100 g, and its GI of 63 is close to white sugar’s 70. In the 2015 crossover trial, honey raised glycemic and inflammatory responses in glucose-intolerant adults just as sucrose did. Count honey’s carbohydrate in the meal plan.

How much honey can a diabetic eat per day?

No guideline gives a honey allowance for diabetes, so borrow the sugar numbers: the WHO’s free-sugar ceiling is 10 percent of daily energy, and its suggested target is under 5 percent, while the Indian guidelines advise adults to avoid sugar or keep it to 20 g to 25 g a day. A 7 g teaspoon of honey adds 21 kcal and 5.8 g of carbohydrate, a real share of that budget, so let your doctor or dietitian set the amount.

Is honey better than sugar for diabetics?

Not in any way that shows up in trials. Honey has a slightly lower GI, 63 against 70, and carries slightly more of a few minerals, but the 2015 crossover trial found honey, sucrose and high-fructose corn syrup produced similar effects on glucose, insulin, lipids and inflammatory markers, with triglycerides up on all three. For a diabetic the difference is a rounding error; amount and meal matter more.

What is the best honey for diabetes?

No honey is good for diabetes in the sense of being safe to ignore, so no best exists. In the 2023 review’s subgroup results, robinia, clover and raw honeys showed beneficial effects on fasting glucose and total cholesterol, and the authors call for more studies on floral source and processing to raise certainty. Any honey still counts as sugar, 82.4 g of carbohydrate per 100 g.