Three months of daily honey, measured in blood
10 g
a daily spoonful, for three months
LDL cholesterol fell, HDL cholesterol rose, and body mass index dropped — though the study cannot prove the honey caused it.
What they did
Thirty healthy adults ate 10 grams of Sidr honey every day for three months, with blood work and body measurements taken at the start and the end.
What they found
LDL cholesterol fell, HDL cholesterol rose, and body mass index dropped — though the study cannot prove the honey caused it.
mg/dL — lower is generally considered better
This is the most recent study on the list and one of only two carried out in people rather than animals or a laboratory dish. It is also the only one that measured what happens in the blood of healthy adults over months rather than days.
LDL cholesterol went from 109.33 to 91.13 mg/dL, HDL from 37.15 to 51.77, and average BMI from 27.85 to 26.27. All three changes reached statistical significance, and all thirty participants completed the study.
The dose is worth noting: 10 grams is about two teaspoons. That is an ordinary amount of honey, not a supplement regime.
What this study does not show
- Participants were also told to avoid white sugar and late-evening fruit. Cutting sugar alone would be expected to improve BMI and cholesterol, and the design cannot separate that from the honey. This is the single biggest problem with the study.
- Thirty people is a small group. Changes of this size in a group this small can happen by chance.
- The HDL result carries a standard deviation of ±32.71 — larger than the average change itself, meaning individual responses varied enormously.
- Red blood cell count, haemoglobin and haematocrit all fell significantly. That is a change in an unfavourable direction and the paper does not explain it.
- One trial, not yet repeated by anyone else.