Is it really any better than HFCS or sugar?

This study seems a bit weak, but I'm glad someone is at least challenging the notion.

Sucrose, whether it comes from cane or beets, is a fructose and glucose molecule bound together by something that is dissolved shortly after it goes down the pie hole. Can your body really tell that a glucose or fructose molecule came from a cane, beet, corn, or bee? I doubt it.

The usual excuse given to honey is that it is full of other stuff, and it probably is if it wasn't refined, I just don't think the "other stuff" makes up for the fact that you're eating glucose and fructose.

It is just like the warm patina of health given to sweet fruits versus HFCS. Seriously, your body doesn't know that the fructose you're eating came from rice (rice syrup) versus corn. It doesn't care that you're eating coconut sugar versus sucrose. It is like pretending that brown sugar is healthier than white sugar because there's a little bit of molasses still in the brown sugar.

I like the title of the article, anyways.



seems to have devolved into the idea that all sugar-containing sweeteners are just swell.

Some of my friends have written on facebook that they're excited about the return of Booberry, Count Chocula and Frankenberry. I liked these at the time--but even the memory of how they tasted is gross now.

Google "the hibernation diet" take some raw honey every night before bed, sleep better, increase metabolism and still lose weight?

I wonder if that's what a beekeeper was thinking of when he told me that eating honey would cure diabetes. Right. About as likely as sourdough bread curing it - something I was told by a baker.

When I worked in NICU, we put honey on the sores the premies would get from having various tubes taped to their bodies. Because their skin was so fragile, even paper tape could leave terrible sores.

Honey is a natural antibiotic, and was gentler than neosporin, or the like. Of course, they weren't ingesting it; we were putting on their skin.

I have had issues with hypoglycemia from way back into my childhood. My episodes were never really severe, but I have NEVER gotten worse episodes than when I eat honey. I remember some years ago packing a quick whole wheat bread-peanut butter-honey (generous with the honey) sandwich for a "quick, healthy" lunch... I was vegan at the time. Within a half hour of eating that sandwich I was feeling nauseated, weak and sick, cold and clammy... my most usual symptoms. There's something about honey, more than other sweeteners, for me. Anyone else?

Thats because honey has a form of botulism(?) in it to keep it from spoiling.
The Bees are the source of it when they puke it up...

Honey is Bee puke you know

This is actually part of the paleo philosophy with which I don't agree - the free use of honey and pure maple syrup and all of the paleo baking/treats. Most paleo blogs and cookbooks have a really large number of sweetened baking recipes that use more "natural" sugars like honey, coconut sugar, or maple syrup. While I think occasional treats may be okay for some people, there's this patina of health surrounding these natural sugars that I believe is just false. It's still sugar. It still affects your blood glucose the same way as any other type of sugar, and it's still not a very nutrient dense source of calories. If you are metabolically compromised in any way, I don't think there's a whole lot of difference between honey and table sugar. If you eat sweet treats a lot, even sweetened with honey, and you are metabolically compromised, then paleo probably isn't your best weight loss philosophy, in my opinion.

Keith... you might want to fact check yourself a bit. :-)

Dang, I've been lied to again.

Ah, Keith. It happens to all of us.

When in doubt, use google scholar.

That'll teach you for using The Onion as your news source. :-)

Pffft the Onion is as reliable as any news source, and more fun to read.

And Miki, I wasn't in doubt! I knew it to be true :P

In person, I have been told that I have a tone of absolute conviction and knowledge when I make a statement. Even if I preface it with "I'm not certain, but I believe that..."

So I tend to look things up a lot. Even things I am certain of. Because somebody will believe me, if I say it's true.

I have a friend that conveys a lot of authority. Usually he is right, but he uses that assumption sometimes to utterly BS us. :-)