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Honey

Honey contains 4 calories per gram.

Honey is as sweet as sugar. The image below demonstrates the relative sweetness of honey compared to sugar, high fructose corn syrup, fruit juice concentrates, fructose and glucose.

More than 300 different types of honey exist, with various flavor nuances depending on the blossoms visited by the honeybees. In the United States, clover honey is most common, with other varieties available such as sage, orange blossom, alfalfa, blueberry and buckwheat honey.

A typical honey might contain 38% fructose 31% glucose 7% maltose 2% sucrose, 4% other sugars including isomaltose, maltulose, turanose, kojibiose, erlose, theanderose and panose, and 17% water. Another 0.5% is made up of proteins, amino acids, vitamins and minerals.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that, in 2007, the per capita consumption of honey was 1.0 lbs per year.*

Honey is considered a natural food ingredient under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's definition of the term “natural.” Under FDA rules, “natural” means that “nothing artificial or synthetic (including all color additives regardless of source) has been included in, or has been added to, a food that would not normally be expected to be in the food.”(1)

In addition to its sweet taste, honey holds moisture to extend product freshness, promotes color and flavor development, and can act as a browning agent in microwaveable products.

Honey exhibits different levels of antioxidant activity. The amount and type of these antioxidant compounds depends largely upon the floral source. In general, darker honeys have been shown to be higher in antioxidant content than lighter honeys.

Research has found that honey enhances growth, activity and viability of specific strains of Bifidobacteria, which is a beneficial bacteria in the colon.

Honey is produced through an enzymatic process within honeybees. Nectar gathered by bees, similar to sugar water, is converted into glucose and fructose by enzymes in their bodies. A small amount of the glucose is converted into gluconic acid and hydrogen peroxide by the enzyme glucose oxidase, which preserves the mixture. Bees evaporate the water in honey by fanning it with their wings. Producers extract honey from the honeycomb by centrifugal force, gravity or straining. It is then pasteurized by heat treatment and filtered under pressure.

*See "Table 50—U.S. per capita caloric sweeteners estimated deliveries for domestic food and beverage use, by calendar year, Sugar and Sweeteners Yearbook

1) 58 Federal Register 2302, 2407 (Jan. 6, 1993).

See generally Alexander RJ. 1998. Sweeteners: Nutritive. Eagan Press; National Honey Board. 2007. Honey: A Reference Guide to Nature's Sweetener.