Honey is better for you. Better is not the same thing as good.
But before this discussion moves to extreme, I'd like to point out an important point: it's not about the sugar (or honey or whatever) - it's about what it does to your body. To that end, the glycemic index and the glycemic load is a lot more important. For example, raw carrots have slightly more sugar than steamed carrots (the latter loses some of its sugar to the water). However, steamed carrots have a much higher glycemic index than raw ones because the cooking breaks down the fibers and allows their sugar to be absorbed faster (and more thoroughly). Something similar happens with your honey vs table sugar. Your table sugar is absorbed quickly, whereas pure honey has some of its sugar trapped in the wax. Which is likely what you understood as a different digestion process. Whether or not this still remains true if your honey is filtered and/or dissolved in your tea and to what extent is beyond my knowledge.
Along the same lines, the combination of stuff that you eat and how you cook them also makes a difference. Different items are combined in your stomach and different enzymes react with them to create other things and change biochemical chains your body. I don't think anyone really understands all the interactions. For example, I once read that vitamin C combined with stomach acid and saturated fat is converted into some carcinogenic compound. As always, the devil is in the details and I don't know how much of the vitamin is converted, how bad the said carcinogenic compound is, and how much of it is absorbed or whether or not anyone verified the findings.
So from where I stand, focus on the glycemic load of your meals. If something gives you a sugar rush, it is bad for you. If the sugar is trapped in a lot of fiber and you only taste it in your mouth but not much else, you're probably ok. A spoon of sugar in your pasta sauce, probably fine. The same spoon of sugar in your coffee, likely worse. |
