Background – Obesity is a major concern for westernised populations and one of the leading contributors is the prevalence of foods that are high in fats and sugars. Honey is a ready source of sugar that offers nutritional benefits over the use of sucrose.
Objectives – To assess whether replacing sucrose in a standard western diet with honey would have any impact on weight, food intake or blood sugar and cholesterol levels.
Design – Forty rats, aged 6 weeks were fed one of four experimental diets that contained either no sugar, 8% w/w sucrose, 8% w/w mixed sugars as in honey or 10% w/w high peroxide/high antioxidant rewarewa honey (honey is 20% w/w water). The diets were fed ad libitum for 6 weeks. The carbohydrate/fat/protein ratio of each diet was formulated to be equivalent to a typical New Zealand diet based upon data from the 1997 NZ National Nutrition Survey. During the experiment, the rats were housed in standard rat cages (2 animals per cage) that had a raised mesh floor. Animals’ weights and food intakes were assessed weekly. On day 42, all rats were anaesthetised using CO2 gas. Blood samples were taken via cardiac puncture, and analysed for glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) and fasting lipid profiles. After euthanisation, each rat was minced using a Sunmile SM-G50 mincer (Vantage) and total body fat and protein levels determined using soxtec fat extraction and LECO total combustion method, respectively. Outcomes – Overall percent weight gain in honey-fed rats was significantly reduced by 16.7% compared with sucrose-fed rats (p < 0.01), and similar to that observed in rats fed a sugar-free diet after 6 weeks. Total food and calorie intake was significantly higher in all sugar treatments compared with the sugar-free treatment group (P<0.01); however, no statistically significant differences in total food intake were observed between the three sugar treatments. No differences in HbA1c, total-, LDL- and HDL-cholesterol or triglyceride levels were observed between the three sugar treatments. Body fat measurements were inconclusive due to large data variability, but no significant differences in total body protein levels were observed.
Conclusion – The replacement of sucrose with honey in the diet can lead to lower weight gains in young animals despite a similar food intake. Mixed sugars (as in honey) did not show decreased weight gains suggesting the effect with honey may be due to other components of the honey.