Honey may be the natural buzz you need to fuel your workouts

Interestingly, Sebastian Sawe, the first man to run a sub two-hour marathon, fuelled up before his race with bread and honey.

Research actually does suggest honey can work comparably to commercial products such as energy drinks and gels. But where it may be most beneficial is when it’s used as a recovery tool.

Honey and energy

Honey is primarily made up of carbohydrates - more specifically, glucose and fructose, which are simple sugars. These carbs provide a rapid and accessible source of energy, which is particularly useful during exercise when your body needs fuel quickly.

Our bodies store carbohydrate as glycogen in the muscles and liver. These stores are depleted during moderate‑to‑high intensity exercise - especially during prolonged bouts of physical activity lasting longer than 60 minutes. When glycogen levels fall, fatigue increases and performance declines.

Consuming carbohydrates before or during exercise ensures energy is available, allowing us to sustain exercise for longer.

The science behind honey’s role in exercise is therefore straightforward - it supplies fast‑acting energy when needed. However, what is more interesting is that honey contains a natural combination of both glucose and fructose.

These sugars are absorbed through different pathways in the gut, allowing them to be used simultaneously. This increases the amount of carbohydrates absorbed, puts less strain on the gut, and helps sustain the amount of energy being delivered to working muscles during workouts. This may also potentially delay fatigue.

This science is also behind why many sports drinks and energy gels contain multiple carbohydrate sources to maximise fuelling efficiency.

Research has shown that consuming both glucose and fructose together enhances the amount of carbohydrate your body is able to use for energy compared to a single sugar source. Honey therefore represents a natural version of this evidence‑based approach.

In practical terms, one generous tablespoon of honey provides around 20 grams of carbohydrate. This is comparable to the amount of carbs found in a commercial energy gel.

Consuming around 1 tablespoon or 1.5 tablespoons of honey before training can top up glycogen stores, particularly in the liver. This can be important if training in the morning when liver glycogen stores are lower from an overnight fasting period.

But while honey can help provide your body with the energy it needs during a workout, whether honey actually boosts performance is less certain.

Previous research found that using honey as a drink given before and during 75 minutes of football training - a total of around four heaped tablespoons per participant - was not found to have improved performance.

A commercial sports drink containing the same amount of carbohydrates was also tested. Neither the sports drink nor the honey proved to have any performance benefit over the placebo (water only) - showing that both carb drinks had no effect.

However, other studies have shown that honey does perform similarly to other carbohydrate sources and may improve performance.

For instance, a study which gave cyclists 15 grams of honey every 16 kilometres over a 64 kilometre time trial resulted in cyclists having greater power output in the final 16 kilometres compared to those who were given a placebo.

Additionally, a recent study in trained cyclists who were given 90 grams of honey per hour over three hours of cycling found that performance was comparable to traditional sports gels.

So while honey might not boost your performance over other types of carbs, it may work just as well.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.