Honey

Food · Pantry & Condiment · Food, Typed Supps

Sugar with trace extras — and one genuine, well-evidenced use.

Stage by stage

Intake (Pharyngeal coating): Its viscosity coats the throat, which is the mechanism behind its evidenced cough effect.
Digestion (Minimal required): Fructose and glucose arrive already separated, so almost no enzymatic breakdown is needed.
Absorption (Small intestine): Both monosaccharides are absorbed rapidly, with glycaemic impact close to that of table sugar.
Fructose handling (Liver): The fructose half is metabolised hepatically, as it is from any other free-sugar source.

Timing

Any time nutritionally. For cough, the tested regimen is a single dose at bedtime, in children over 12 months only.

Time to effect

Immediate: Throat-soothing effect is immediate and short-lived.
—: There is no accumulating nutritional benefit from regular intake.

Allergens

None of the fourteen major allergens. Derived from what this food is, not from a product label.

Eating patterns

Fits: Vegetarian, Pescatarian, Halal, Kosher, Gluten-free.

Satiety

Not scored: the satiety index is measured on 240 kcal servings, and nobody eats a 240 kcal serving of this. The question does not apply rather than the answer being unknown.

Environmental footprint

3.2 kg CO2e and 202 litres of freshwater per kg, matched to "Cane sugar" in Poore & Nemecek (2018), Science 360.

Cost band

Mid — roughly £9 per kg, as a band midpoint rather than a price.

Key nutrients

Fructose
Glucose

Nutrition per 100g

Calories: 278
Protein: 0.3g
Carbohydrate: 72.3g
of which sugars: 72.3g
Sodium: 8mg

Food vs. supplement

For paediatric cough, honey outperforms no treatment in Cochrane-reviewed trials and rivals some over-the-counter suppressants. As nutrition, it is ~82% sugar and the trace minerals are not a reason to eat it.

Kitchen tip

Never give honey to an infant under 12 months — the botulism spore risk is absolute, and cooking does not reliably destroy the spores.

Common myth

“Honey is a healthy alternative to sugar.” In reality: It is roughly 82% sugar with a glycaemic index only marginally below sucrose, and counts as free sugar in every dietary guideline. Its trace minerals are real and nutritionally irrelevant at any amount you would actually eat. The honest case for honey is the cough evidence, not the nutrition.

Recipes that use it

In the glossary

Absorption