What Are the Calories in Honey
Does It Differ From Sugar?

Many people wonder if honey has more calories than sugar.

It does, there are 64 calories in one tablespoon of honey, and one tablespoon of sugar has 46 calories.

The calorie in honey may be more per tablespoon compared to sugar, but most people use less honey to sweeten their beverages or food.

Honey Calories vs Sugar Calories

Not all calories are the same, especially when you consider the nutritional values that honey has compared to sugar.

A lot of people actually prefer honey to sugar because honey contains important amino acids, minerals probiotics and vitamins that they body needs to help stay balanced.

Different types of raw honey actually contain more healthy ingredients than processed honey because it isn't subjected to heat.

belly with a measuring tape sizing the waist

Glucose and Fructose Differences

Honey has the same basic units of sugar (glucose and fructose ) that table sugar contains.

But, regular table sugar (sucrose) has fructose and glucose molecules that are connected to each other. In honey, these molecules are not connected, but are completely separate.

Fructose is actually sweeter than glucose, and this is one of the main reasons fructose is added to so many different types of food products nowadays.

It's important to note that fructose doesn't convert to body energy as well as glucose does.

Because of this, highly processed foods that have sugar or fructose in them will be more easily stored as fat in your body.

In other words, this means sugar calories react differently in your body compared to honey calories.

Empty Calories in Table Sugar

Most regular sugar today is highly processed so most of healthy ingredients being removed.

So when you think about it table sugar really contains empty calories because it has no nutritional value.

Commercial pasteurized honey does go through a heat process so crystals or yeast fermentation won't form when the honey is stored, but it still contains some nutrients.

Today, many nutritionists believe the reason why there are so many overweight people in the U.S. is because they eat too many foods that have fructose in them.

Actually, people who are overweight can often suffer from malnutrition.

This is another good reason not to eat those empty calories.

Overall, honey really is more nutritious than sugar.

Whether you are trying to lose weight or cut back on your sugar intake, you should seriously consider using honey instead of table sugar because the calorie in honey is very low overall.

And, you will most likely end up using less honey because it is more flavorful than sugar.