How Honey Can Boost Performance
With athletic populations striving to perform better and within a shorter time frame, the use of nutritional ergogenic aids has vastly increased. Whether you have a strong coffee, a portion of fruit, sports drinks and supplements, or a whole meal prior to training, many people have their ‘go to’ to ensure optimal work output.
The importance of nutritional aids has been widely researched, with many studies indicating an intake of carbohydrates before exercise increases muscle glycogen which in turn will lead to stronger muscle contractions, along with prolonging fatigue and muscle breakdown. Muscle glycogen is used more favourably in relation to increases in exercise intensity and exertion, your glycogen stores are also utilised along with oxygen to produce ATP the fuel used in the ATP-PC system; the energy system in which supplies you with short large bursts of power. Carbohydrates are key to optimising performance.
This being said, before you stock up on all the carbs you can get your hands on, a high amount of carbohydrate before exercise can cause great gastrointestinal upset and nausea, hence why many athletes opted for ingesting sports gels which offers fast acting carbohydrates to prevent hypoglycaemia, yet low risk of digestion issues.
Instead of sports gels, a more assessable and economical option could already be in your cupboards! That’s right we’re talking about HONEY! With a similar consistency and nutritional content to sports gels, honey has also been shown to positively impact exercise performance. This natural sweetener is being used by many cyclists, long distance runners, triathletes and MMA fighters to boost their workouts.
All in the Taste
George Lockhart, a nutritionist to many of the top MMA fighters, suggests a tablespoon of honey; offering 16g of carbohydrates, 15 minutes prior to exercise to optimise performance. “Only 15 grams?” You say…. but there is more than just carbs that honey offers you.
The sweetness and viscosity of honey triggers sweet taste receptors which are involved in metabolic and behavioural responses, nutrient sensing and monitoring of energy stores. George Lockhart utilises the ingestion of honey to signal to the brain that the body has an excess of its glycogen stores causing an increased level of energy for his fighters. He calls this the theory of perception; the brain senses a high carbohydrate sensation or sweetness so releases a high amount of energy. A common example of this theory is children bouncing off the walls and being silly after having many sweets. With an increase in energy production the ability to overreach during workouts becomes easier leading to greater progression and sporting adaption.
What About a Spoon of Sugar Instead?
If it’s the sweet taste that boosts performance why not use granulated white sugar? This is a fair assumption to make considering sugar is on the highest of the glycaemic index (GI) scale, indicating very short, very fast absorbing carbohydrates. Although both are natural, white sugar undergoes a lot more processing. Both sugar and honey have similar levels of glucose and fructose yet the molecular structure of sugar bonds these two together to make sucrose whilst honey consists of fructose and another carbohydrate group called oligosaccharides, making the digestion different to honey. With more research finding sugar to be a big factor towards insulin resistance, honey on the other hand has been found to possibly lower blood sugar and cholesterol in diabetics. However, the real deciding factor to choose honey over sugar is honey triggers more sweet taste receptors compared to sugar with the body perceiving honey to be sweeter than sugar.
What Research Has Found
A study carried out by Kreider et al. in 2002 showed that 15g of honey before and every 10 minutes during a 40-mile cycling time trail made subjects perform just as well as trials performed using sports gels. This double bind study found a significant improvement in the time trials when the cyclists ingested honey compared to placebo trials.
Earnest et al. 2004 performed a study comparing the effects of low vs high GI carbohydrate gels on 64km cycle time trail performance. Although not significant, there was a strong trend between the ingestion of honey and improvement in time and wattage within the final 16km.
To Sum up:
-
Honey’s sweet taste triggers your brain to make the stored glycogen in your muscles more easily available.
-
1 Tbs 15 minutes prior to exercise is recommended to trigger this response.
-
Honey is more effective than sugar in making glycogen more accessible.
-
Honey is a lower GI than sugar reducing chances of insulin resistance. Those performing strenuous exercises especially cyclists have already shown to benefit from honey pre-exercise.
References
Kreider, R.B., Rasmussen, C.J., Lancaster, S.L., Kerksick, C. and Greenwood, M., 2002. Honey: An Alternative Sports Gel. Strength & Conditioning Journal, 24(1), pp.50-51.
Earnest, C.P., Lancaster, S.L., Rasmussen, C.J., Kerksick, C.M., Lucia, A., Greenwood, M.C., Almada, A.L., Cowan, P.A. and Kreider, R.B., 2004. Low vs. high glycemic index carbohydrate gel ingestion during simulated 64-km cycling time trial performance. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 18(3), pp.466-472.
Recommended Articles
