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Is honey better than sugar for people with diabetes?

Answered by the AskDoc Medical Team · Medically reviewed under our Medical Director, MBBS

Metabolically, honey is sugar with better marketing: roughly the same glucose and fructose, the same spike, a few trace nutrients that do not change the math.

Swapping sugar for honey, jaggery or agave changes the label, not the effect on your meter.

If sweetness matters, use less of whichever you prefer, pair it with protein or fiber, and check your own two hour reading. Numbers end this argument quickly.

If you are buying a meter

Any major-brand glucose meter is accurate enough for home tracking. The real cost is the strips, so compare strip prices before choosing the meter.

See glucose meters and strips

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