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Honey for Overweight and Diabetes
Diabetes patients suffer a reduced amount of Insulin secreted in
response to any glucose introduced into their blood. Overweight people
suffer reduced response to their secreted insulin.
Consequently,both have a restricted food amounts and varieties.
The restrictions put on their food deprive them of many elements in
their natural form.
Diabetes patients and overweight people are banned from sugar,
yet they can't abandon sweeteners. To replace sugar in their food and
drinks, diabetes patients and overweight people use synthetic sweeteners
like Aspartam which is a synthetic chemical agent without
any nutritive value, and sometimes it is combined with starch
derivatives which releases glucose into the blood.
In many countries, dibetes patients and overweight people use honey
in place of sugar.
Apart from the debate about the compared absorbed amounts of glucose
after ingesting sugar or honey which favours honey to avoid high
concentration of glucose after eating sugar, I will stress 2 points in
honey, these are:
1- CALORIE CONTENT:
Honey is 3 times as sweet as sugar, then if one needs 30 g of sugar, he
may replace them with 10 g of honey. The needed amount of sugar (30g)
produces 120 Kcal, while the equevalent honey amount(10 g) produces
32 Kcal.
2- MICRO-NUTRIENTS: These are subdivided into 2 cateories:
l- Vitamins:
Some vitamins are highly needed by diabetes patients and are
recommended by physicians to all dibetes patients, they are vitamin B1,
B6,B12,C,E and Biotin. Honey- specially the unfiltered summer homey
when the bee only uses nectar to make honey- is a good source of most
of these vitamins, at least to supply a part of the RDA in natural form
There was vitaminized honey in the former USSR, where the bee was fed
fruits and vegetables juice to produce this sort of honey, otherwise
synthetic vitamins were added to honey to be used by diabetic patients.
The same vitamins can accelerate metaolism in overweight people.
ll- Trace elements:
* Chromium is a critical nutrient in diabetes and overweight people.
It is presented as a supplement for people with, diabetes, pre-diabetic glucose intolerance
and women with diabetes associated with pregnancy. It is also
prescribed for overweight people
* Manganese is present in diabetics in 1/2 its amount that is present
in normal individuals.
* Magnesium is significantly lowered in diabetes patients.
* Vanadium given to diabetics proved to decrease their Insulin needs.
* Zinc deficiency has been suggested to play a role in the development
of diabetes in humans. It is involved in virtually all aspects of
Insulin metabolism, synthesis, secretion and utilization.
* Potassium supplementation yields improved Insulin sensitivity which
is reduced in overweight people.
Honey contains all elements of the soil, specially if it is not
deprived of pollen grains.
If you cut 40-50 g of your carbohydrate intake daily and replace them
with honey, you will make a great favour to your body.