Honey Nutrition & Calories - Complete data of all nutrients

by Victoria Mazmanyan | Last updated on April 23, 2022

Education: General Medicine at YSMU

Summary

Around 95% of honey’s dry weight is composed of net carbs, mainly fructose and glucose. Honey also contains small amounts of protein, vitamins, minerals, and various health-beneficial phytochemicals.

Introduction

Honey is one of the most popular natural sweeteners worldwide. In traditional medicine, it is often used for its protective and healthful qualities. In this article, we will delve into the nutritional properties of honey and discuss its components in detail.

Nutrition

This article will mainly focus on the nutrition of commercial honey while also mentioning key distinctions of raw honey.

Honey’s nutrient content consists of 82% carbs, 17% water, and less than 1% other nutrients.

Serving Size

The nutritional infographics are presented for a 100g serving of honey. However, honey is often used in smaller quantities. One average serving size of honey is one tablespoon, equal to 21g.

Other serving sizes include one teaspoon, equal to 7g, one packet or half an ounce, weighing 14g, and one cup containing 339g of honey.

Calories

The unusually rich carbohydrate content of honey makes it a higher-than-average calorie product. One hundred grams of honey contains 304 calories.

We compared honey to all foods in our database and found it is in the top 29% percent of foods high in calories. So 71% of foods contain fewer calories than honey does.

Calories per Serving

It is necessary to mention that honey is rarely used in such large amounts.

One tablespoon contains roughly 21 grams of honey and 64 calories accordingly. A teaspoon of honey contains 21 calories only.

Burning Estimates

In the table below, we have calculated which duration of a specific workout will burn the number of calories (64kcal) provided by one tablespoon of honey, using a method called Met or Metabolic Equivalent of a Task (2, 3).

The burning estimates naturally vary based on body weight. We present calculations for a 70kg and a 100kg person.

In the following table, you can see the number of minutes a 70kg would need to walk in order to burn the calories provided by different serving sizes of honey.

Carbohydrates

As expected, honey has a very high carbohydrate content. About 95 to 97% of honey’s dry weight is made up of carbohydrates.

A 100g serving of honey, equalling around 5tbsp, contains 82.2g of carbohydrates.

This puts honey in the top 2% of foods in our database as a source of carbohydrates.

Five tablespoons of honey provide 27% of the daily needed intake of carbohydrates.

While the difference is not outstanding, raw honey tends to be slightly lower in carbohydrates, containing 81g per 100g serving.

Due to this high carbohydrate content, honey can be an excellent source of energy for athletes (4).

Carbohydrates per Serving

One average serving size of honey per person is 1tbsp, weighing 21g. The average serving size of honey provides 17.3g of carbohydrates.

One teaspoon of honey weighs 7g on average. This means when eating a teaspoon of honey, you’re consuming almost 6g of carbs.

Dietary Fiber

Honey consists of 99.8% of net carbs, containing 82.1g of net carbs and only 0.2g of dietary fiber in total.

Net Carbs

The sugar content of honey consists predominantly of fructose (50%) and glucose (44%).

Honey also contains sugars such as sucrose, maltose, and galactose in smaller amounts.

Raw honey is also lower in sugars, containing 76g per 100g serving.

Protein

Honey contains a negligible amount of protein - less than half a gram per 100g serving.

This low content includes free amino acids and enzymes, such as diastase, invertase, and glucose oxidase. These enzymes help break down the carbohydrates of honey (5).

The main free amino acid of honey is the non-essential proline, making up about 50% of the total amino acid content (5).

Fats

Honey is entirely absent in fats.

Vitamins

Honey is relatively low in vitamins overall.

The vitamin found in the highest amount is vitamin C, with 0.5mg per 100g serving. However, this only covers 1% of the daily needed value of this vitamin.

Honey also contains small amounts of vitamins B2, B3, B5, and B6 and the folate form of vitamin B9.

Honey completely lacks fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K, as well as water-soluble vitamin B1 and vitamin B12.

Minerals

Honey contains most minerals but in small quantities. It can not be considered a good source of minerals, considering the small serving sizes of honey.

Honey is relatively rich in iron and manganese. It also contains low levels of zinc, selenium, copper, calcium, potassium, magnesium, and phosphorus.

Honey is low in sodium, containing only 4mg per 100g serving.

Various essential trace components can also be found in honey, including silicon, rubidium, vanadium, zirconium, lithium, and strontium. However, some heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, and arsenic are present as pollutants (6).

Phytochemicals

The nutritional content of honey is not only determined by its well-known nutrients but also by various phytochemicals. These compounds are found in small amounts but can play a significant role in the biomedical properties of honey.

Organic Acids

The primary organic acid found in honey is the product of glucose oxidation, gluconic acid. Other organic acids include acetic, formic, and citric acids (6). These compounds give honey its acidic quality.

Phenolic Compound

Phenolic compounds are naturally strong antioxidants that help prevent cell damage by oxidative stress.

The two predominant polyphenolic compounds in honey are flavonoids and polyphenols. Nearly thirty types of polyphenols can be found in honey. These vary greatly depending on the floral source and production conditions but usually include galangin, quercetin, kaempferol, luteolin, and isorhamnetin (6).

Volatile Compounds

The volatile compounds found in honey are low in amount but large in variety. These include aldehydes, alcohols, hydrocarbons, ketones, acid esters, benzene and terpene and their derivatives, pyran, as well as sulfur, furan, and cyclic compounds (6).

These compounds are often responsible for the aroma and physical characteristics of honey.

Glycemic Index

The glycemic index of honey differs based on its variety. Yellow box honey with 46% fructose has a glycemic index of 35, while this value for tupelo honey, with high fructose to glucose ratio, can go up to 74 (7).

Based on 17 types of honey, the mean glycemic index has been calculated to be 60. This puts honey’s glycemic index value in the moderate category, despite its high carbohydrate content.

To find a full list of the glycemic index values of over 350 foods, you can go to our glycemic index chart page.

Insulin Index

The insulin index of a given food shows how much it raises the insulin level in the blood after consumption.

Honey has been researched to have an insulin index value falling in the range of 40 to 67, depending on the variety (8).

A commercial blend of honey was found to have an insulin index of 62 ± 4 (8). This puts the insulin index of honey in the moderate category as well.

You can find the complete list of insulin index values of over 140 foods our insulin index chart page.

Acidity

Depending on the variety, honey was found to have a pH value falling in the range of 3.67 to 4.11 (9). This shows honey to be acidic.

Besides the pH value, the acidity of foods can also be measured by the potential renal acid load or PRAL. The PRAL value demonstrates how much acid or base the food forms in the body.

Honey has a PRAL value of -0.9, making it slightly alkaline-forming.

Comparison to Similar Foods

In the table below, you can look at how honey compares to other sweeteners in terms of carbohydrate content.

Compared to maple syrup honey contains more carbohydrates, protein, and calories. Honey also has a higher glycemic index. To read a full nutrition and health impact comparison of honey and maple syrup, you can visit this page.

Agave nectar is higher in calories and fats, while honey is higher in carbohydrates and protein. However, the average serving size of agave nectar is over double that of honey. If interested, you can also read the complete comparison of “Agave Nectar vs. Honey”.

Compared to granulated sugar, honey is lower in net carbs and calories while containing more fructose, minerals, and vitamins.

References

1. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/454314/nutrients
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4428382/
3. 2011 Compendium of Physical Activities
4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6683082/
5. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/224906029
6. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5424551/
7. https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/114/5/1625/6320814
8. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236880818
9. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/81170038.pdf

Author name: Victoria Mazmanyan

Education: General Medicine at YSMU

Last updated: April 23, 2022