Honey

Honey is the sweetener the 50 Man Foods keep, because it is the one that comes from a hive rather than a refinery and because its sugar profile does something useful at night.

It is still sugar — that is what makes it work — so it is used in spoonfuls, not cups.

  • Before bed
  • 2 recipes
  • Sweetener
  • Updated Sep 2026

What it supplies

Nutrient · per 100 g (about 5 tablespoons) Amount % DV Relative amount
Sugars 82 g 0%
Fructose 41 g 0%
Glucose 36 g 0%
Potassium 52 mg 1%
Energy 304 kcal 0%

Source: USDA FoodData Central.Percent Daily Values are based on adult reference intakes. The bars stop at 100%; the numbers do not.

Why it works

The fructose half restocks liver glycogen, which is what the brain draws on overnight; when the liver runs empty around 3 a.m., cortisol and adrenaline rise to make glucose and you wake. A spoon of honey before bed delays that. It is an old remedy with a mechanism.

Honey's glucose also carries tryptophan into the brain by raising insulin briefly, which is why milk and honey together is a better bedtime drink than either alone.

How much, how often

  • 1 tbsp

    Before bed

    Restocks liver glycogen so cortisol does not rise to make glucose overnight.

  • 1–3 tbsp

    Daily ceiling

    It is sugar; use it where sugar earns its place.

How to buy and prepare it

Raw and unfiltered, from a beekeeper or a label that names one. Honey that never crystallises has usually been heated and filtered or cut with syrup; real honey sets over months. Local honey is not medically special, but it is more likely to be real.

Manuka is honey with a marketing budget; for eating it offers nothing wildflower honey does not.

It needs none. A tablespoon in warm milk before bed, on yoghurt, or stirred into the kefir smoothie. Do not cook it hot; heat turns the fructose into hydroxymethylfurfural and the flavour to caramel.

Room temperature, lid on, out of the sun. Honey does not spoil. If it crystallises, stand the jar in warm water; do not microwave it.

Recipes that use it

In these guides

Questions

How much honey a day?
One to three tablespoons. It is fruit-level sugar and behaves like fruit; it is not a free food.
Does honey help sleep?
A tablespoon before bed keeps liver glycogen topped up through the night, which prevents the stress-hormone rise that wakes people at 3 a.m. It is worth trying for a week.
Is honey better than sugar?
Slightly — it carries enzymes and trace minerals and the fructose has a specific use at night — but the difference is small. The real advantage is that a jar of honey is hard to overeat.