3 ms·

I would expect that there's something else at play, it's entirely possible that natural honey contains some organic chemical that increases metabolism in humans

I would expect that there's something else at play, it's entirely possible that natural honey contains some organic chemical that increases metabolism in humans.

ReptileMan 4y ago
Honey is acidic. I think that the main problem in the western diet is that we don't balance sugar and starch with enough spices, hot stuff or acid.
- CaptainNegative 4y ago
  Whatever you eat gets dissolved by something like 10-20 teaspoons of stomach acid, which is roughly 100x-500x more acidic (linear scale) than honey. By the time it gets there a teaspoon of honey is not making a dent in the overall acidity.
  - karlshea 4y ago
    My father got caught up in nutrition conspiracy and "alkaline diets", and now won't have a milkshake with a hamburger because "all the milk makes it harder to digest" since according to him it's neutralizing your stomach acid. I think it's mostly that somewhere along the line he missed how logarithmic scales work.
    - Fnoord 4y ago
      Oh yeah, I read a book on that ages ago (start of millennium), by some fellow called Harvey Diamond. Just looked him up, looks like his royalties have dwindled and his son got jail time for a ponzi scheme. Hey, if it leads to your father consuming less unhealthy food (which milkshake and hamburger both arguably are) it works. Just for a different reason. And that different reason gives the faulty one credibility.
      - karlshea 4y ago
        > Hey, if it leads to your father consuming less unhealthy food (which milkshake and hamburger both arguably are) it works Unfortunately not, he just eats them at separate times!
  - schiffern 4y ago
    >stomach acid Apples and oranges. Unlike eating and excreting, the production (and destruction) of stomach acid doesn't change the body's overall pH. Rather, the body produces acid by dumping alkalinity (specifically potassium bicarbonate) into the blood plasma.[0] [0] https://teachmephysiology.com/gastrointestinal-system/stomach/acid-production/ https://teachmephysiology.com/gastrointestinal-system/stomac...
    - CaptainNegative 4y ago
      Excretion is the key point. There's no conservation law for acidity in a system that can selectively excrete acids or bases as necessary, as can all individuals without serious metabolic conditions. If those who ate too few acids found a way to induce the excretion of too many of them, then they'd be in trouble.
      - schiffern 4y ago
        I agree, it's not as simple as pH balance. The body is a complex adaptive system. However, the mere fact that the body can remove something doesn't mean it's healthy, or that it doesn't stress the excretory system. See: ethanol, for example.
- aidenn0 4y ago
  Most soft-drinks are acidic, and those seem to be consumed widely in the western diet.
scythe 4y ago
Honey contains a few percent of "misformed" — not joined by the usual 1,4-saccharide linkage — disaccharides and oligosaccharides such as nigerose, kojibiose, etc. These likely persist into the large intestine and affect the balance of intestinal flora. Another significant (0.5-1%) component is gluconic acid, which supports mineral absorption. But translating these into anti-diabetic activities still requires some, er, creative thinking. There are also very small amounts of polyphenols — "antioxidants" — which are believed to affect insulin signaling, but these are present in other foods as well and no particularly strong candidate has been found to show an effect. More obviously, honey is buffered at pH 4 (maybe due to 0.05% potassium content), which is roughly optimal for human tastes, and sweeter than sugar on a dry-weight basis (due to fructose). So, use less, etc.
Alex3917 4y ago
> it's entirely possible that natural honey contains some organic chemical that increases metabolism in humans. Not sure about honey, but this is true for figs. Since humans co-evolved with figs and our ancestors have likely been eating them for tens of millions of years, they don't spike your blood sugar as much as their sugar content would suggest on its own. (The book Gods, Wasps and Stranglers talks extensively about how humans likely co-evolved with figs.)

I would expect that there's something else at play, it's entirely possible that natural honey contains some organic chemical that increases metabolism in humans.

ReptileMan 4y ago

Honey is acidic. I think that the main problem in the western diet is that we don't balance sugar and starch with enough spices, hot stuff or acid.

CaptainNegative 4y ago
Whatever you eat gets dissolved by something like 10-20 teaspoons of stomach acid, which is roughly 100x-500x more acidic (linear scale) than honey. By the time it gets there a teaspoon of honey is not making a dent in the overall acidity.
- karlshea 4y ago
  My father got caught up in nutrition conspiracy and "alkaline diets", and now won't have a milkshake with a hamburger because "all the milk makes it harder to digest" since according to him it's neutralizing your stomach acid. I think it's mostly that somewhere along the line he missed how logarithmic scales work.
  - Fnoord 4y ago
    Oh yeah, I read a book on that ages ago (start of millennium), by some fellow called Harvey Diamond. Just looked him up, looks like his royalties have dwindled and his son got jail time for a ponzi scheme. Hey, if it leads to your father consuming less unhealthy food (which milkshake and hamburger both arguably are) it works. Just for a different reason. And that different reason gives the faulty one credibility.
    - karlshea 4y ago
      > Hey, if it leads to your father consuming less unhealthy food (which milkshake and hamburger both arguably are) it works Unfortunately not, he just eats them at separate times!
- schiffern 4y ago
  >stomach acid Apples and oranges. Unlike eating and excreting, the production (and destruction) of stomach acid doesn't change the body's overall pH. Rather, the body produces acid by dumping alkalinity (specifically potassium bicarbonate) into the blood plasma.[0] [0] https://teachmephysiology.com/gastrointestinal-system/stomach/acid-production/ https://teachmephysiology.com/gastrointestinal-system/stomac...
  - CaptainNegative 4y ago
    Excretion is the key point. There's no conservation law for acidity in a system that can selectively excrete acids or bases as necessary, as can all individuals without serious metabolic conditions. If those who ate too few acids found a way to induce the excretion of too many of them, then they'd be in trouble.
    - schiffern 4y ago
      I agree, it's not as simple as pH balance. The body is a complex adaptive system. However, the mere fact that the body can remove something doesn't mean it's healthy, or that it doesn't stress the excretory system. See: ethanol, for example.
aidenn0 4y ago
Most soft-drinks are acidic, and those seem to be consumed widely in the western diet.

scythe 4y ago

Honey contains a few percent of "misformed" — not joined by the usual 1,4-saccharide linkage — disaccharides and oligosaccharides such as nigerose, kojibiose, etc. These likely persist into the large intestine and affect the balance of intestinal flora. Another significant (0.5-1%) component is gluconic acid, which supports mineral absorption. But translating these into anti-diabetic activities still requires some, er, creative thinking. There are also very small amounts of polyphenols — "antioxidants" — which are believed to affect insulin signaling, but these are present in other foods as well and no particularly strong candidate has been found to show an effect. More obviously, honey is buffered at pH 4 (maybe due to 0.05% potassium content), which is roughly optimal for human tastes, and sweeter than sugar on a dry-weight basis (due to fructose). So, use less, etc.

Alex3917 4y ago

> it's entirely possible that natural honey contains some organic chemical that increases metabolism in humans. Not sure about honey, but this is true for figs. Since humans co-evolved with figs and our ancestors have likely been eating them for tens of millions of years, they don't spike your blood sugar as much as their sugar content would suggest on its own. (The book Gods, Wasps and Stranglers talks extensively about how humans likely co-evolved with figs.)