Saturday, November 28, 2009

Study: Diabetics May Use Honey as Sugar Substitute

The Glycemic and Peak Incremental Indices of Honey, Sucrose and Glucose in Patients with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus: Effects on C-Peptide Level - A Pilot Study
Acta Diabetol. 2009 Nov 26
Abdulrhman M, El-Hefnawy M, Hussein R, El-Goud AA.
Department of Pediatrics, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt, mamdouh565@hotmail.com.

Our study was a case-control cross-sectional study that was conducted on 20 children and adolescents suffering from type 1 diabetes mellitus and ten healthy non-diabetic children and adolescents serving as controls. The mean age of patients was 10.95 years. Oral sugar tolerance tests using glucose, sucrose and honey and measurement of fasting and postprandial serum C-peptide levels were done for all subjects in three separate sittings. The glycemic index (GI) and the peak incremental index (PII) were then calculated for each subject.

Honey, compared to sucrose, had lower GI and PII in both patients and control groups. In the patients group, the increase in the level of C-peptide after using honey was not significant when compared with using either glucose or sucrose. However, in the control group, honey produced a significant higher C-peptide level, when compared with either glucose or sucrose.

In conclusion, honey, because of its lower GI and PII when compared with sucrose, may be used as a sugar substitute in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus.

1 comment:

Honey For Wounds said...

It would be good to this research further extended, and also done on adult diabetics since they need to have confidence on how much honey would be safe for them to take.

Diabetics can also find honey very useful for using on wounds.