Is a Spoonful of Honey a Day Good for You? Benefits, Side Effects (2024)

FAQs

What happens if you eat a spoon of honey every day? ›

Health benefits of eating a spoonful of honey everyday include diabetes management, cancer management, better heart health, and other benefits. Honey is a brown, sticky, sugar-saturated solution made by bees.

Our body requires energy that can sustain throughout the day. Morning is the best time to eat honey for boosting energy levels and staying all charged up.

Honey has been linked to health benefits like improved heart health, wound healing, and blood antioxidant status. However, consuming too much may cause adverse effects due to its high sugar and calorie content. Thus, it's best to use honey to replace other forms of sugar and enjoy it in moderation.

Diabetes: Using large amounts of honey might increase blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes. Honey contains sugar and should be used in moderation. Pollen allergies: Avoid honey if you are allergic to pollen. Honey, which is made from pollen, may cause allergic reactions.

Botulism is a rare but potentially fatal illness that affects your nervous system. Infants are at the highest risk of developing botulism. Honey is a common cause of botulism in babies under 12 months old. Children under 1 year of age shouldn't be given any type of honey due to the risk of botulism.

When it comes to choosing the healthiest honey, you should look for one that is raw. Raw honeys are not pasteurized and bypass filtration, a process that may reduce its nutrients. A great variety of raw and unfiltered honey is available on Amazon.

Honey contains several compounds that are good for liver health. One of these compounds is antioxidants. Honey is rich in antioxidants, including flavonoids, phenolic acids, and ascorbic acid. These are essential for protecting the liver from damage caused by free radicals.

Honey is still a form of sugar and intake should be moderate. The American Heart Association recommends that women get no more than 100 calories a day from added sugars; men no more than 150 calories a day. This is a little over two tablespoons for women and three tablespoons for men.

Drinking a glass of warm water and honey helps you develop a strong immunity system and prevents you from falling ill easily. Honey is known to be packed with anti-microbial properties and is a rich source of multiple vitamins and minerals.

Honey may also help prevent heart disease. According to one review, honey may help lower blood pressure, improve blood fat levels, regulate your heartbeat, and prevent the death of healthy cells — all factors that can improve your heart function and health ( 6 ).

What does a spoonful of honey do at bedtime? ›

Honey helps sleep better

This is because honey contains tryptophan which is a hormone that helps relax and send sleep signals to the body. Because tryptophan is an essential amino acid but cannot be produced naturally in the body, supplementing through honey before bed brings many benefits to the body.

Honey has the unique ability to promote skin cell regeneration and healing, while also softening, brightening, and clarifying the skin. Incorporating honey into your daily routine promotes skin health naturally, making it an essential part of any skincare regimen.

Individually, both honey and cinnamon may lower risks of developing heart disease. Honey has been shown to lower LDL (bad) cholesterol levels by 6%, triglyceride levels by 11%, and potentially boost HDL (good) cholesterol levels. Cinnamon, in turn, has been shown to reduce total cholesterol levels.

Raw honey and pure honey are terms often used but they differ slightly. They are both taken directly from the hive but pure honey is gently filtered whereas raw honey isn't, its honey in its purest form.

Honey is still a form of sugar and intake should be moderate. The American Heart Association recommends that women get no more than 100 calories a day from added sugars; men no more than 150 calories a day. This is a little over two tablespoons for women and three tablespoons for men.

Pregnancy and breastfeeding: There is no sufficient data on its safety during pregnancy or breastfeeding. Children: Avoid using honey in infants under 12 months of age. It is possibly unsafe when taken by mouth by children under 12 months of age. Botulism poisoning is a risk at this age.

It's high in antioxidants, such as phenolic acids and flavonoids, which may support better health. Small studies in humans show honey's antioxidants could help improve cholesterol levels, which could help decrease the risk for heart disease, although larger long-term studies are needed to confirm those findings.

Several studies have been done on the effectiveness of honey. Studies in rats showed that honey does have a modest effect on lowering blood pressure, but studies in humans have not shown a consistent, significant drop in blood pressure. One study used 20 grams, about 1 tablespoon, daily.