Honey May Help Muscles Recuperate after Workouts

[capinatl]

by Hong Mautz
http://cbshealthwatch.medscape.com/cx/viewarticle/218056

June 23 (CBSHealthWatch)--Sure, honey is sweet to your taste buds, but new research shows that it also is "sweet" to your muscles, and this natural carbohydrate may just be the booster your body needs after a hard workout.

Previous studies have shown that the combination of carbohydrates and protein supplements are beneficial to boosting muscle recovery, but they did not look at what types of carbohydrates. Using honey as the carbohydrate source, researchers found that when it is combined with a protein supplement, subjects maintained better glucose levels, or blood sugar levels, which is an important part of post-workout recovery.

"The beneficial thing with honey is that it helped maintain glucose levels positively after two hours of workout," says Dr. Richard Kreider, lead author of the study and director of the Exercise and Sport Nutrition Laboratory at the University of Memphis, Tennessee.

Researchers studied 39 weight-trained athletes who underwent an intensive weight-lifting workout and then immediately consumed a protein supplement blended with sugar, maltodextrin (a synthetic carbohydrate) or honey as the carbohydrate source.

Researchers found that only the honey group maintained optimal blood sugar levels throughout the two hours following the workout. Additionally, subjects taking honey showed favorable changes in a hormone ratio that indicates a positive muscle recuperative state.

Researchers say glucose, a form of sugar, is the body's main fuel. Hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, occurs when blood levels of glucose drop too low to fuel the body's activity.Carbohydrates (sugars and starches) are the body's main dietary sources of glucose.

"After workout, you need to get an insulin increase to promote protein metabolism," says Kreider, "The worry is that if your insulin goes up, your blood sugar level may go down and cause hypoglycemia. But honey maintained the blood sugar level well," according to Kreider.

Other sports nutritionists say it is heartening to know that something as inexpensive as honey can do an equally good job as some of the pricey supplements in the market including maltodextrin and Endurox. "The name of the game is recovery," says Susan Kleiner, PhD, RD, and owner of High Performance Nutrition, a sports nutrition consulting firm in Seattle, Washington. "Honey is affordable and widely available. To know that it works for recovery is good news for everyone who is fitness minded."

The study was funded by the National Honey Board and conducted in collaboration with IMAGINutrition, a nutritional research and technology think tank located in Aptos, California. It was presented this week at the annual National Strength and Conditioning Association meeting in Orlando, Florida.

- Thought this was an interesting article, only goes to reiterate what Mr. X and others have been saying about post workout meals.

 

[The mann]

very good post!!!!!!!!!!!! very informative

 

[riskybiz007]

can you eat the honey w/ some bread or something? to me it's a bit gross to eat straight honey.

 

[depressive SP juicer]

how much honey is needed and what kind of honey?

 

[ESQ]

good info!

 

[SCHNiKEN]

Ok two things i noticed about this study that looks kind of fishy. Maybe not but just check it out..

First off:

The study was funded by the National Honey Board and conducted in collaboration with IMAGINutrition, a nutritional research and technology think tank located in Aptos, California.

Now just the fact that the study was funded by THE NATIONAL HONEY BOARD means that the scientist etc.. "think tank" were paid to do this study by the group of companies that make and profit off honey. Sounds like a PR effort to me.

Second:

Researchers studied 39 weight-trained athletes who underwent an intensive weight-lifting workout and then immediately consumed a protein supplement blended with sugar, maltodextrin (a synthetic carbohydrate) or honey as the carbohydrate source.

Ok now I think its wierd that they only used three carbohydrate sources. They claim that honey provided the best insulin response for the best amount of time compared to only sugar and maltodextrin . It seems wierd that they would only use pure sugar and maltodextrin as carbs to compare it too. I would think it would be better to compare it to things such as rice, potatoes, carbs use in carb drinks. Just any other carb source that is not as generic as sugar which probably just spikes your insulin and drops it.

Now I am not a scientist.. tell me im wrong.. i probably am.. but to me it seems a little fishy.. Not to say that honey is a bad postworkout carb, it probably is.. but i dont think that this study proves it to be the best post workout carb.

 

[blood_drinker]

This study is just one in many others that say the same thing. WHile this one is kind of , let me search for the right word, incomplete, there have been others posted that are more complete/better. Lately I have been experimenting with honey, and while it does work beautifully, I hate swallowing it pure. Its plain nasty after the third scoop.
But it will sure as hell satisfy all carb cravings.

 

[M56M]

This study is just one in many others that say the same thing. WHile this one is kind of , let me search for the right word, incomplete, there have been others posted that are more complete/better. Lately I have been experimenting with honey, and while it does work beautifully, I hate swallowing it pure. Its plain nasty after the third scoop.
But it will sure as hell satisfy all carb cravings.

Mix it with some oatmeal and it really is pretty good. To be honest i really never like honey, but have growned to like it with my oatmeal. Give it a try.

M56M

 

[MrTestosterone]

There seems to be a whole in this study: What about insulin??? The study only showed that blood glucose levels increased and remained sustained for a period of time after ingestion. When glucose levels don't budge for 2 hours (esp. in a post-workout environment), this tells me that there was minimal insulin secretion. Mind you, this is quite probable considering the low-glycemic nature of honey. First of all, honey is quite viscous, so without a lot of water, it takes a while for amylase to hit all of the saccharide bonds. In other words, digestion is slow. Secondly, since honey is almost pure fructose, it has a remarkably high affinity for hepatic reception. So before it can ever make it to precious muscle glycogen stores, it has to sit for a while in the liver. Granted, the sustained blood-glucose benefits of honey may be beneficial for someone that is trying to reduce insulin response, but for someone that is trying to elicit an insulin response, if just seems unreasonable.

Coe

 

[MS]

I agree with Mr T. It would seem obvious that the honey is not causing much of an insulin response which is a well documented effect of lower GI carbs in general, and particularly for fructose that sits in the liver and slowly releases over time. What is more puzzling to me is the conflicting research in this area. First, in type II diabetics we see that honey elicits a "spike and crash" response even more than white bread:

Metabolic effects of honey (alone or combined with other foods) in type II diabetics.
Katsilambros NL, Philippides P, Touliatou A, Georgakopoulos K, Kofotzouli L, Frangaki D, Siskoudis P, Marangos M, Sfikakis P.
The metabolic effects of honey - alone or combined with other foods - were investigated in type II diabetics using 2 protocols: A) 33 g honey and 50 g bread (same amounts of carbohydrate) were given on alternate days to 12 patients. Blood levels of glucose, insulin and triglycerides were determined in venous samples before and every 30 min after meal ingestion (for a total of 3h). Areas under glucose curves were equal, although honey - compared to bread - resulted in higher blood sugar concentrations at 30 min (p less than 0.01) and lower at 90 min (p less than 0.05). B)

And then in non-diabetics we see a resonably stable blood glucose response to honey compared to sucrose (more in line with Blood's article).

Differential effects of honey, sucrose, and fructose on blood sugar levels.
Shambaugh P, Worthington V, Herbert JH.
It is now recognized that dietary carbohydrate components influence the prevalence and severity of common degenerative diseases such as dental problems, diabetes, heart disease and obesity. Fructose and sucrose have been evaluated and compared to glucose using glucose tolerance tests, but few such comparisons have been performed for a "natural" sugar source such as honey. In this study, 33 upper trimester chiropractic students volunteered for oral glucose tolerance testing comparing sucrose, fructose and honey during successive weeks. A 75-gm carbohydrate load in 250 ml of water was ingested and blood sugar readings were taken at 0, 30, 60, 90, 120 and 240 minutes. Fructose showed minimal changes in blood sugar levels, consistent with other studies. Sucrose gave higher blood sugar readings than honey at every measurement, producing significantly (p less than .05) greater glucose intolerance. Honey provided the fewest subjective symptoms of discomfort. Given that honey has a gentler effect on blood sugar levels on a per gram basis, and tastes sweeter than sucrose so that fewer grams would be consumed, it would seem prudent to recommend honey over sucrose.

What is the relevance of this to BBs?? Well if you want to refill your muscle glycogen in the quickest possible time I would stick to the higher GI sugars rather than honey. However if you want to maintain blood glucose control post workout then honey, or probably any other lower GI food would be a better choice. Remeber that honey refills liver glycogen in preference to muscle glycogen.