#CALORIE COUNTER 1 TSP HONEY FULL#

It’s important to consume honey in moderation, experts say. The body pretty much perceives sugar and honey added to foods the same way.”Ĭertain terms on products - like “natural sugars,” “no artificial sugars” or “naturally sweetened” - are often simply marketing tactics, says Price. “However, in the long run, the nuance is more meaningful to the mind than the body. “A lot of people feel better when they read a food label and see honey instead of sugar,” says Friedman. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently required that food labels start differentiating between types of sugar: specifically by calling out added sugars, or sugars that are added to foods when they’re processed or prepared.Īnd even though honey comes from a natural source, it is still an added sugar, like corn syrup or cane sugar. “Consuming sugar in excess amounts has been implicated in causing increased weight gain as well as increased risk of chronic diseases like heart disease and diabetes,” says Meredith Price, a registered dietitian at Priceless Nutrition & Wellness in New York. The American Heart Association recommends limiting added sugar to about six teaspoons per day for women and about nine teaspoon per day for men, but the average American adult consumes about two to three times more than this. Remember: Honey is sugar - something that Americans consume in excess. “And unfortunately, consuming a lot of honey means consuming a lot of calories.” To get many of these benefits, “we’d have to eat a lot of honey,” says Friedman.

#CALORIE COUNTER 1 TSP HONEY FULL#

Want to eat healthier but don’t know where to start? Sign up for TIME’s guide to food myths, debunkedīut it’s important to consider the full nutritional picture. Because of honey’s trace nutrients, the sweetener has been thought to have antibacterial, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, along with healing potential for ailments such as sore throats, digestive disorders and burns, Friedman says. Research has linked honey to an improvement in gut microbial balance, coughing and other respiratory conditions. “These compounds are responsible for some of honey’s potential health benefits and part of what distinguishes the sweetener from more traditional ones like sugar.” Is honey healthy? Honey also contains trace amounts of vitamins, minerals, electrolytes, enzymes, amino acids and flavonoids, says Jenny Friedman, a Philadelphia-based registered dietitian. The sweet substance is mostly fructose and glucose - simple sugars that are easily converted by the body into energy - and water. “Bees collect the dilute-sugary nectar of flora plants, produce an enzymatic activity after ingestion, regurgitate it into honey cells and evaporate a high percentage of the water out of it, producing a super-sweet viscous liquid known as honey,” explains Dana Hunnes, a senior dietitian at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.

But is honey really healthy? Here’s what dietitians say about the health benefits of honey. Because it comes from nature - from bees, no less - honey has a health halo.

Calorie counter 1 tsp honey