Honey glycemic index: GI value, range and honey vs sugar GI

The University of Sydney’s glycemic index work defines GI as a ranking of carbohydrates, from 1 to 100, by how much they raise blood sugar after eating, measured in ten or more healthy people fed a 50 g portion of available carbohydrate. Honey’s recorded value is 63, an average across seven tests of plain honey in the database, and that lands it in the medium band: readings of 55 or less count as low and 70 or more as high, which leaves honey in the middle, with white sugar’s 70 just inside the high band.

The table below lines up the three sweeteners this page compares.

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; USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy), FDC ID 168833, NDB 19334. 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.

The honey glycemic index vs sugar question has a close answer. White sugar’s GI of 70 is the mean of 25 tests of sucrose dissolved in water, and those tests run from 48 to 110; brown sugar’s GI of 71 rests on a single recorded entry from China with six subjects, for which the database gives no reference, so 71 is a data point more than a settled number. Honey’s 63, averaged from seven plain-honey tests, sits a few points below both.

None of the three is low-GI, and none is a reason to relax; the practical gap between 63 and 70 is small, which is what the honey vs sugar page walks through on calories, taste and trials.

Behind the mean sits a wide spread: the seven recorded plain-honey tests run from 49 to 87, gathered in China, Germany, Egypt, Canada and Australia. Two of those readings come from one honey: a German linden honey was recorded at 49 in its heated form and at 60 unheated, one test each. A 2008 review gives a wider span, placing honey’s GI between 32 and 85 depending on the botanical source.

The honest way to read that: the GI of honey is an average of different honeys, not a property of the jar in your kitchen. Two jars from different flowers can sit far apart on that 49 to 87 line, so use 63 as the working number and the range as the margin around it.

GI describes a test, not a spoon. The test feeds 50 g of available carbohydrate, while a 7 g teaspoon of honey carries 5.8 g of carbohydrate, about a tenth of the test load, and a 21 g tablespoon carries 17.3 g. What that means is arithmetic, not a pass: each spoon still counts as free sugar under the WHO guideline, and the GI number does not shrink the sugar in it.

What is eaten with the honey also moves the blood-sugar answer. The Indian dietary guidelines note that dietary fibre delays and retards the absorption of carbohydrates, so honey eaten with high-fibre food may act differently from honey alone; for anyone counting blood sugar, the honey for diabetes page works through that with the trials.

Glycemic load often comes up beside the glycemic index, so the honest line: this page gives honey’s GI only, with no glycemic load figure. Glycemic load is the natural next question, but inventing it from GI would be exactly the kind of number this page avoids.

The useful summary stays short: honey’s GI of 63 is medium, its range is wide, and its sugar still counts. Per 100 g the food is 82.4 g of carbohydrate and 304 kcal, so the GI changes how honey is described, not how much of it belongs in the day; the honey hub links every page in this guide, and the sugar in honey page covers the carbohydrate side.

Used well, the GI reading does three small jobs. It ends the idea that honey is a low-GI sweetener: 63 is medium, and two recorded honeys sit in the high band, one at 87. It ends the idea that honey beats sugar by much: 63 against 70 is a small gap, and the 2015 crossover trial put honey, sucrose and high-fructose corn syrup side by side at 50 g of carbohydrate a day and found them acting alike. And it keeps the portion in charge: a 7 g teaspoon is 21 kcal and 5.8 g of carbohydrate whatever the GI says.

Choose honey for taste and origin, not for a GI edge; for choosing a jar, the product notes below cover the two honeys on this page, and the honey benefits page separates the evidence from the claims.

Cook with it: see all honey recipes; try Honey laddu, Honey water, Honey chilli potato.

What is the glycemic index of honey?

Honey’s glycemic index is 63, an average of seven plain-honey tests recorded in the University of Sydney GI database, with readings from 49 to 87. The bands place 55 or below as low and 70 or above as high, so 63 is medium. White sugar averages 70.

Is honey high or low GI?

Neither: honey’s GI of 63 sits in the medium band, between the low band at 55 or below and the high band at 70 or above. Some recorded honeys do reach the high band, up to 87, and a few sit low, which is why the range matters as much as the mean.

Does honey spike blood sugar?

Honey does raise blood sugar: its GI of 63 is close to white sugar’s 70, and in a 2015 crossover trial honey acted like sucrose on glucose and insulin. The portion decides the size of the rise; the honey for diabetes page has the numbers.

Does honey contain sugar?

Yes: 82.4 g of carbohydrate per 100 g, the sugars being mainly glucose and fructose, and honey’s sugars sit in the WHO’s free-sugar count. The GI is a separate question from the sugar content; the sugar in honey page covers that one in grams.

Is honey good for diabetes?

Not as a special sweetener: honey’s GI of 63 is medium, only a few points below white sugar’s 70, and the crossover trial found the sweeteners acting alike. A small amount may fit a meal plan like any sugar; agree it with your doctor or dietitian first.

Which honey has the lowest GI?

The lowest recorded plain-honey reading is 49, a German linden honey tested in its heated form, and the highest is 87; the same honey read 60 unheated, and each figure comes from a single test. 63 is the working average, not a promise about any single jar.