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How much honey should be consumed per day? Nutrition experts tell you!
As everyone knows, honey is a food with high nutritional value, containing various vitamins, maltose, amino acids, reductase, and various trace elements. Therefore, it has many benefits for health, such as promoting digestion, enhancing the function of the cardiovascular and cerebrovascular system, and enhancing resistance, etc. So, how much honey should one eat per day?
How much honey should be eaten per day
It is appropriate for healthy adults to consume 1-2 tablespoons (about 20 grams) of honey per day.
Honey has good health-preserving effects and is suitable for taking in small, long-term, and slow doses, but not eating too much at one time.
What are the bad effects of eating too much honey
Prone to obesity
Honey has a high sugar content, and eating too much can lead to excessive sugar intake. These sugars cannot be decomposed in time and will be converted into fat and stored in the body, causing obesity.
Causes tooth decay
Honey contains a high amount of sugar, and eating too much can leave sugar residue in the teeth, which becomes the nutrient source for bacteria. The growth of bacteria can also produce organic acids that corrode the teeth, leading to tooth decay.
Harms the spleen and stomach
According to traditional Chinese medicine theory, eating too much sweet food can easily harm the spleen and stomach. Honey has a high sugar content and a rich taste, and eating too much can hinder the transportation and transformation of the spleen and stomach, leading to dampness and phlegm, which is not conducive to health.
Increase the risk of diabetes
Honey has a very high sugar content, and glucose and fructose in honey are easily absorbed by the body. Eating too much can cause a rapid rise in blood sugar levels, and doing so for a long time will increase the risk of diabetes.
What should be paid attention to when eating honey
Diabetics should not consume honey
Approximately 35 grams of glucose and 40 grams of fructose are present in every 100 grams of honey, with about 2 grams of sucrose and 1 gram of dextrin. Glucose and fructose are monosaccharides that can be absorbed directly into the blood without digestion after entering the intestines, causing a rise in blood sugar levels. Sucrose and dextrin can be absorbed after slight hydrolysis, making the hypoglycemic effect of honey particularly obvious. From this point of view, diabetics should not consume honey.
Do not feed infants under one year of age with honey
Scientists in foreign countries have found that infants under one year of age who consume honey and pollen products may suffer from food poisoning due to contamination by Clostridium botulinum. This is because: soil and dust often contain bacteria known as ‘Clostridium botulinum’. During the process of collecting pollen to make honey, bees may bring back contaminated pollen and honey into the hive.
Even a small amount of toxin can cause poisoning in infants, with severe cases presenting with constipation lasting from 1 to 3 weeks, followed by flaccid paralysis, weak crying sounds, weak suckling, and difficulty breathing. However, adults will not be poisoned by this. This is because botulinum toxin is produced during the reproduction of Clostridium botulinum, and adults have strong resistance, which can inhibit the reproduction of Clostridium botulinum. Infants, due to the unstable balance of intestinal microecology, have poor resistance, making it easy for ingested Clostridium botulinum to reproduce in the intestines and produce toxins, leading to poisoning.
