Honey for exercise: energy, performance and recovery

Honey has served as a natural sweetener and a readily available energy source for thousands of years, helping people sustain labour and physical effort.

More recently, it has returned to the spotlight as a natural way to fuel training, with some social media users suggesting it is the ideal pre-workout option when you want an energy lift.

Notably, Sebastian Sawe, the first man to run a sub two-hour marathon, prepared for his race by eating bread and honey.

Evidence does indicate that honey can perform similarly to commercial fuels such as energy drinks and gels. Where it may offer the greatest advantage, however, is as part of post-exercise recovery.

Honey and energy

Honey is mostly carbohydrate-specifically the simple sugars glucose and fructose. Because these carbohydrates are easy to digest and use, they provide a fast source of energy, which is particularly useful during exercise when the body needs fuel quickly.

Carbohydrate is stored in the body as glycogen in the muscles and liver. During moderate-to-high intensity exercise, these stores are used up-especially in longer sessions lasting more than 60 minutes. As glycogen drops, tiredness rises and performance typically worsens.

Taking in carbohydrate before or during a session helps keep energy available, supporting your ability to continue for longer.

Glucose, fructose and glycogen

In that sense, honey’s role is simple: it supplies quickly available energy when it is needed. What makes honey more interesting is that it naturally combines both glucose and fructose.

Because glucose and fructose are absorbed via different routes in the gut, the body can process them at the same time. This can increase total carbohydrate absorption, reduce gastrointestinal strain, and help keep energy flowing to working muscles during training. In turn, it may help postpone fatigue.

This same principle explains why many sports drinks and energy gels use more than one carbohydrate source to improve fuelling efficiency.

Studies have found that consuming glucose and fructose together increases the amount of carbohydrate the body can use for energy compared with relying on a single sugar. Honey can therefore be seen as a natural version of this evidence-based strategy.

From a practical perspective, one generous tablespoon of honey contains roughly 20 grams of carbohydrate-similar to what you would get from a commercial energy gel.

Having around 1tbsp or 1.5tbsp of honey before training may help top up glycogen, particularly in the liver. That can be especially relevant for morning sessions, when liver glycogen may be lower after overnight fasting.

What the studies show on performance

Even so, while honey can supply energy during exercise, it is less clear whether it reliably improves performance.

Earlier research reported that providing honey as a drink before and during 75 minutes of football training (around four heaped tablespoons per participant in total) did not improve performance.

The researchers also tested a commercial sports drink with the same carbohydrate content. Neither the sports drink nor the honey offered any advantage over the placebo (water only), suggesting that in this setting both carbohydrate drinks made no difference.

That said, other research suggests honey can match other carbohydrate sources and may enhance performance.

For example, in a study where cyclists consumed 15g of honey every 16km during a 64km time trial, those given honey produced more power in the final 16km than participants given a placebo.

A more recent study in trained cyclists, who consumed 90g of honey per hour over three hours of cycling, found performance was comparable to traditional sports gels.

Overall, honey may not outperform other carbohydrate options-but it may be just as effective.

Additional benefits

Honey’s strongest case may be in recovery. Research shows that drinking a honey-based beverage after exercise can help keep blood glucose higher, which may influence later performance-particularly when the body is under extra strain (such as in hot conditions).

In one study, ten recreational runners completed two one-hour runs in the heat, separated by a two-hour rest. After the first run, they received a drink containing honey.

The researchers observed that, after consuming honey, the runners covered around 10% further in the second trial than they did in the first.

This points to honey being especially useful for restoring energy between bouts of exercise. Because it provides both glucose and fructose, it may help replenish energy stores quickly.

Recovery and honey types

Alongside carbohydrate, honey contains small amounts of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and plant compounds such as flavonoids and phenolic acids.

These compounds may have antioxidant, antimicrobial and potentially antiviral effects, which could be particularly helpful for athletes during demanding training blocks.

However, honey is not uniform. Flavour, texture, sugar profile and overall composition differ depending on factors including the flower source, climate and processing.

For instance, Malaysian and Manuka honey are reported to contain higher levels of anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory compounds, which could offer greater support for recovery and immune function.

Some studies also suggest that certain honeys may affect inflammatory signalling pathways, potentially helping to regulate the response. This could mean less muscle soreness and improved recovery-making honey more than just an energy source.

Even so, there is currently limited evidence that any one type of honey is clearly better than another for use as an exercise fuel.

On the balance of existing evidence, honey appears comparable to sports products such as energy gels, making it an effective, low cost, natural alternative to commercial sports fuels for athletes.

Henry Chung, Lecturer, School of Sport, Rehabilitation and Exercise Sciences, University of Essex; Charlotte Gowers, Senior Lecturer- Performance Physiology and Nutrition, Anglia Ruskin University, and Justin Roberts, Professor of Nutritional Physiology, Anglia Ruskin University

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

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