Q: I’m trying to limit sugar, but I love sweets. Are “natural” sweeteners like honey and agave syrup healthier alternatives to table sugar?
You probably know that the sugars in fruits, vegetables and other plants are far better for you than the added sugars often found in processed foods like sodas, candy bars and many baked goods.
But in that category of added sugars, there’s an array of sweeteners that are often seen as more “natural” or healthier than others. Honey, maple syrup and agave nectar, for instance, are commonly touted as “better for you” swaps for regular sugar, such as in many health-focused baking recipes and on social media.
Is that right? We asked three nutrition experts to help us sort it out.
Why Excess Sugar Is So Harmful
The sugar in an apple is made of the same building blocks (like glucose and fructose) as the sugar in a candy bar. But the way your body processes that sugar differs depending on how it’s packaged in a food, said Karen Della Corte, an assistant professor of nutritional science at Brigham Young University in Utah.
When you eat a whole fruit or vegetable, for instance, the fiber that’s also present slows digestion, preventing harmful spikes in blood sugar, said Kimber Stanhope, a nutrition researcher at the University of California, Davis.
When you consume added sugars like refined sugar or high-fructose corn syrup, they enter your bloodstream more quickly — and often in larger quantities — causing your blood sugar to rise drastically. (The same can happen after drinking fruit or vegetable juices, even if they don’t contain added sugars, Dr. Della Corte warned. This is because the foods are stripped of their beneficial fiber when processed into juice.)
When these large blood sugar spikes happen repeatedly over time, your cells can become less responsive to the hormone insulin, known as insulin resistance, which could eventually develop into Type 2 diabetes.
Consuming excess added sugars may also prompt your liver to convert some of that sugar into fat, which can accumulate in your liver and increase the risk for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease, or MASLD, a chronic condition that can lead to liver cancer and liver failure. The excess fat from your liver may also enter the bloodstream and clog your arteries, increasing the risk for heart attack and stroke, said Dr. Robert Lustig, an endocrinologist and professor emeritus of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco.
This is why federal health officials recommend limiting added sugars to no more than 50 grams per day. The American Heart Association sets stricter guidelines: no more than 36 grams per day for men and 25 grams for women.
The Verdict on Whether ‘Natural’ Is Better
Despite their abundance in health food stores, sweeteners like honey, maple syrup and agave nectar are still considered added sugars and can be harmful when eaten in excess, Dr. Stanhope said.
Your body can’t recognize whether the sugar came from honey or table sugar or agave syrup, Dr. Della Corte said. “It breaks it down into the same molecules.”
But are some “less bad” than others? Most studies that have tried to answer this question have received industry funding, Dr. Stanhope said, so it’s hard to know how much you can trust their findings.
In 2024, for instance, a study funded by the maple syrup industry suggested that maple syrup was better for blood sugar levels and heart health than table sugar. But there were concerns that the method of analysis made maple syrup look better than the data actually showed, Dr. Stanhope said.
One small study from 2015, however, did have some funding from the honey industry but was well-designed and did not appear to have compromised findings, Dr. Stanhope said. In it, 55 adults drank a mixture of water and either honey, high-fructose corn syrup or sucrose (table sugar) every day for two weeks. Each drink contained 50 grams of added sugars. The researchers found no differences in their blood glucose, cholesterol or inflammation levels, suggesting that honey was no better — or worse — for the participants than high-fructose corn syrup or table sugar.
If you’re inspired to use artificial sweeteners like aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal) or sucralose (Splenda), or plant- or fruit-based sweeteners like stevia or monk fruit, know that researchers are still untangling how they may affect, or even potentially harm, your health.
When hankering for something sweet, think about ways you can satisfy that craving without resorting to added sugars or artificial sweeteners. Try fruits and vegetables with natural sweetness like berries, apples or roasted sweet potatoes. If that doesn’t do the trick, a little sugar — like a drizzle of honey on apple slices — can help, as can eating some dark chocolate, which tends to have less added sugar than milk chocolate.
Caroline Hopkins Legaspi is a Times reporter focusing on nutrition and sleep.
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