Will eating honey make you fat? 5 major myths busted at once!

Honey is fragrant and sweet. It can be made into honey water or made into various desserts. It is really irresistible! However, honey is so sweet, will it make you fat if you eat it? Is drinking honey water in the morning really good for intestinal health? Don’t eat it wrong again! Nutritionists debunk 5 common honey myths one by one and teach you how to eat honey wisely!

Honey contains more nutrients than regular refined sugar and can also help soothe sore throat symptoms of a cold.

Honey is not only delicious, it also has many health benefits. The National Honey Board points out that honey is a natural sweetener that has more nutrients than refined sugar. Honey is also rich in carbohydrates, which can provide energy to the body. In addition, when you have a sore throat due to a cold, moderate intake of honey can also help relieve the symptoms.

Five honey myths solved by nutritionists

Although honey is good, it is healthy only if consumed correctly. The following is a clear explanation by domestic nutritionist Song Minghua on the frequently asked questions about honey!

Myth 1: There are many types of honey. Do different types have the same nutritional value?

The main nutrients of honey are glucose and fructose, accounting for 70-80%. It also contains small amounts of organic acids, amino acids, minerals, etc. Different types of honey have mostly the same nutritional value. Generally speaking, longan honey is sweeter and multi-flower honey is less sweet.

Myth 2: When traveling, is it the most natural to buy wild honey?

Honey collection and honey making is an "open-air" operation. The collected raw honey contains impurities such as dead bees, flowers and plants, dust, etc. If it is not disinfected and sterilized, there may also be metal residues. Therefore, properly processed honey not only reduces the unsafety of being "exposed to the open air", but also fully evaporates the moisture in the honey during the processing, and its nutrient content and safety may be relatively higher.

Myth 3: Will eating or drinking too much honey make you fat?

As mentioned earlier, the main components of honey are glucose and fructose. Although it also contains other trace elements, 1 gram of honey still contains 3.2~3.3 calories. Any food that contains calories will lead to obesity if consumed in excess, and must be consumed in moderation to be healthy. It is recommended that adults take no more than 1 tablespoon per day and children take 1/2 tablespoon per day.

It is not recommended to drink honey water on an empty stomach in the morning to avoid diarrhea.

Myth 4: How to use honey in the most nutritious way?

It is best to drink it 1 to 2 hours before or after a meal. Many people like to drink a glass of honey water on an empty stomach in the morning, but honey has a laxative effect and can easily cause diarrhea. Therefore, it is not recommended to drink it on an empty stomach early in the morning. In addition, it is recommended to take it with warm boiled water below 60°C (not too hot) to avoid excessive heating that will destroy its nutrients.

Myth 5: How long can honey be stored? Does the appearance of crystallization mean that it is broken?

Generally speaking, unopened food can be stored at room temperature for one year, but the nutritional value will be lost more as the storage time increases. Since the main components of honey are fructose and glucose, when the temperature is low, the glucose crystal nuclei in the honey will aggregate with each other and crystallize. Therefore, crystallization is an inherent physical property of honey and is a normal phenomenon. Different types of honey have different degrees of crystallization, and the quality of honey cannot be judged by the degree of crystallization.