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Effect of Honey on Measurable Sport
Nur’aini Safitri*, Pipit Pitriani, Mulyana Mulyana, Mesianna Simbolon, Alimin Hamzah, Desmi Sartika
School of Postgraduate Studies, Faculty of Sport and Health Education
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia
Bandung, Indonesia
*triisafitri16@gmail.com, pipitpitriani@upi.edu, mulyanafpok@upi.edu, mesianna.simbolon@upi.edu, aliminhamzah@upi.edu,
desmisartika@upi.edu
Abstract—For more than 5000 years, people have used honey
to improve the physical attributes of the musculoskeletal system
as well as for health reasons. Honey is mainly composed of
carbohydrate (CHO), minerals, and vitamins which are
properties that are proved to be able to improve sports
performance and general health. Honey has the potential to
improve aerobic exercise performance. Meanwhile, honey in
combination with exercise improves bone health, boosts the
immune system, and improves performance in sports. It is
believed that Carbohydrate (CHO) and honey constituents play
an important role during training in providing the benefits of
improving sports performance on cycling, and running. Honey is
a source of carbohydrates that contain flavonoid compounds
which act as antioxidants and have ergogenic properties. The
natural nutrition and biochemical properties of honey make it an
energy food status. Carbohydrate (CHO) make up the largest
portion of honey's nutritional composition (95-99%) with the
glycemic index (GI) varying from 32 to 87, in the average water
content range of 13.6% to 19.2%. Other important compositions
of honey include vitamins and minerals. Its composition is highly
dependent on the type of flower extracted by bees, as well as
regional and climatic conditions. This paper presents to elaborate
the findings about the effect of honey on measured sport
performance as well as the combined effect of honey and exercise
on health-related outcomes. Trainers and athletes should know
the positive effects of using honey and how to use it so, that the
results are felt more leverage in sports performance.
Keywords: carbohydrate, honey, cycling, running, performance
I. INTRODUCTION
The natural nutritional and biochemical properties of honey
make it obtain an energy food status. Carbohydrates (CHO)
make up the largest portion of honey's nutritional composition
(95-99%) with a glycemic index (GI) varying from 32 to 87 [1-
3], in the average water content range 13, 6 to 19.2%. Other
important compositions of honey include vitamins and
minerals. Its composition is highly dependent on the type of
flower extracted by bees, as well as regional and climatic
conditions [4]. Nutritional supplements have been widely
studied as prevention of exercise disorders and the risk of
infection [5]. Among various supplements, honey and honey-
derived products are newer supplements used which have been
shown to have immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory,
antibacterial, antiviral, and antioxidant properties [6]. The
effects of the supplementation of honey and honey products on
the athlete's immune response during the exercise program
have been investigated.
Fructose and glucose are the most abundant CHO found,
but other glucose polymers such as saccharose, maltose,
trehalose, and elizitose are also present. Depending on the
sugars, ratio of fructose to glucose, honey is absorbed at
different rates, where fructose, a low GI CHO is absorbed more
slowly and evenly than glucose, which is ideal for endurance
sports as pre-exercise nourishment. Meanwhile, glucose, a high
GI CHO enters the bloodstreams more rapidly. A study showed
that both high and low GI CHO (dextrose and honey
respectively) had shorter finishing time than placebo during a
64-km simulated cycling time trial (TT), however in the last
16-km dextrose group performed better than placebo [7].
This shows that in the final portion of a TT maintenance of
glucose concentration plays a role in preventing fatigue.
Another study, it also showed that honey supplementation
improved the distance covered in a 20 min TT following an
exhaustive exercise compared to water [7]. These findings
suggest that the CHO content of honey plays a comparable role
in prolonged exercise. Studies have shown that exercise-
induced oxidative stress and inflammatory-responsive
cytokines [8,9]. It can be attenuated by nutritional
supplementations. A study by Morillas, found that protein
carbonyl, an oxidative stress marker decreased significantly
following a 90-min cycling test when participants were
supplemented with polyphenolic antioxidants [10]. Honey
contains phenolic and flavonoid compounds that are shown to
exert antioxidant properties [11]. Besides, other anti-
inflammatory and antioxidants such as diastase (amylase),
invertase (glucosidase), phosphatase and catalase are also
present. Honey also contains minerals such as copper, calcium,
iron, manganese, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, sodium,
and zinc [12]. Other compounds found in honey are vitamins
B6, niacin, thiamine, pantothenic acid, and riboflavin. These
compounds have been shown to be important in enhancing
bone health [13].
Studies reporting the effect of honey consumption on
exercise performance per se are few. However, there are
relatively more studies that investigated the effect of honey
along with exercise on: bone health, inflammatory responses,
oxidative stress, and reproductive hormones production.
Unfortunately, no consensus can be reached due to issues such
as research designs, time of feeding either pre-, mid-, or post-
Advances in Health Sciences Research, volume 21
4th International Conference on Sport Science, Health, and Physical Education (ICSSHPE 2019)
Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Atlantis Press SARL.
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exercise, dosage prescribed and exercise measures tested in
previous studies.
II. METHOD
A. Honey Improve Exercise Performance
Three studies investigated the effect of honey on exercise
performance: 64-km cycling TT, 20-min running TT, and high-
intensity run [7,11], all three studies showed acute
consumption of honey improved exercise performance. In the
64-km TT study, low GI honey (0.97 g/kg BW) was compared
with high GI CHO (dextrose), the findings showed that both
improved performance. Generally, GI refers to the degree of
how quickly blood glucose rises after consumption of a food
relative to a reference food (eg. white bread or glucose
solution), by quantifying the amount (in grams) of available
CHO in the food that raises the blood glucose level. Ahmad
also prescribed low GI honey drink (1.9 g/kg BW), and found
that the distance covered in 20 min TT was significantly further
in the honey group compared to placebo. It should be noted
how-ever that typically a higher amount of CHO is prescribed
aspire-exercise supplementations, with amount ranging from
1.3 [14], to 2.67 g/kg BW [15]. The improvement in the time-
trials despite relatively low amount of CHO in honey might be
attributed to the combination of glucose and fructose found in
honey, which has been shown to improve total CHO oxidation
rate compared to glucose alone [16]. In a related study, low GI
CHO is shown to improve along duration event (20 minutes
longer) rather than short burst high-intensity exercise [17].
This could be achieved by sustaining the blood glucose
level [18], and preventing glycemic rebound phenomenon
which reduces fat oxidation [19]. Slow-release of glucose
provides a continuous supply during prolonged exercise and
delays muscle glycogen depletion [20]. In short, a low GI meal
reduces CHO oxidation and favors fat oxidation compared to
intermediate or high GI [21], which could optimally be
beneficial during prolonged exercise [22,23]. In agreement
with that, the ingestion of inter-mediate GI honey showed lack
of performance improvement as shown by Abbey, where honey
was pre-scribed at two intervals (30 min before soccer match
and at half time). The observation was attributed to low
frequency of CHO ingestion which failed to maintain the blood
glucose level especially in the second half of match play where
hypoglycemia sets in and glycogenolysis was favoured overfat
oxidation [21]. It was postulated that higher frequency feeding
would provide sufficient energy source for the activity.
Interestingly, a later study which pre-scribed a higher
frequency feeding of CHO (every 15 min) did not observed an
improvement in performance [24]. It seems that not only the
feeding rate but also GI level of the CHO fed should be
considered for such performance. Related to the CHO content
of honey during prolonged exercise, consuming honey will
prevent hypoglycemia, promote high rates of CHO oxidation,
and improve endurance capacity. Few studies have shown that
taking relatively small amounts of CHO (20 g/h) were adequate
to exert beneficial changes in performance [25,26]. Maughan
showed that consuming 16 g/h of glucose improved endurance
capacity by 14% compared to control [26]. In contrast,
consuming excessive amounts of exogenous CHO has been
shown to have no benefits on endurance performance. In the
review by Jeukendrup, they recommended an upper limit of 60
g/h of CHO intake during exercise before reaching saturation in
CHO oxidation [27]. Different types of carbohydrates when
ingested during exercise are metabolized at different rates and
the rate of exogenous CHO oxidation during exercise is limited
to 60 g/h [28,27]. This rate is regulated by intestinal absorption
of CHO (using SGLT1 transporter), interestingly, when
glucose was ingested simultaneously with another CHO,
oxidation rates rise above 60 g/h [29].
Many studies support that multiple transportable CHO
produced higher oxidation rates (as high as 75%) than glucose
that use SGLT1 only [30,28]. Glucose and fructose are the
most abundant CHO in honey and several studies have shown
that exogenous CHO oxidation rates observed with multiple
transportable CHO are able to delay fatigue and improve
exercise performance. In a study that prescribed 90 g/h
glucose-fructose drink during a 5-cycling exercise, and it was
shown that the subjects’ ratings of perceived exertion were
lower, and maintained better cadence towards the end of the
exercise with the mixture of glucose and fructose compared to
glucose [31]. Other researchers also support the findings that
improvements in performance (exercise lasting for 2 h or more)
are related to exogenous supply of glucose-fructose solution,
[32,33]. Meanwhile for exercise at higher intensity and shorter
duration (75% of maximal oxygen uptake; VO2 max for 1 h),
consuming honey is believed not to have many beneficial
effects. It was shown that even when CHO was intravenously
infused into the systemic circulation, rapid uptake of glucose
was reported, however, no performance effect was found [34].
B. Measurable Sports
1) Cycling: Contemporary research findings suggest that
cyclists ingest carbohydrate (CHO) during prolonged exercise
as a means of improving performance.
However, CHO ingestion may not be necessary for all
events, depending on the length and intensity of the event in
question. For example, CHO use during cycling time trial (TT)
studies has produced equivocal results. Some authors suggest
that CHO ingestion during shorter events might influence
performance via a placebo effect. A distinction not often
addressed is that the times necessary to complete a TT are often
separated by small differences. This is especially true for
accomplished riders, where small differences can make a very
real difference between winning and losing. This scenario can
be demonstrated by examining the top five riders’
performances during the longest TT of the 2001 Tour de
France. During this 61-km race, the difference between the top
five riders was only 1.8–3.1%. The difference between 1st and
2nd was only 1.8%. As another example, the separation
between 1st (Jan Ullrich) and 4th (no medal) during the 2001
World TT Championships (40 km) was only 25 seconds. Thus,
an examination of these subtle performance differences and
any factors affecting them are important, as recent
mathematical modelling studies suggest that CHO and
electrolyte solutions may improve 40-km TT performance by
32 to 42 seconds depending on the ability of the rider. The
length and time of the event needs to be considered when
comparing TT studies; shorter TT events lasting 20–40 km
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(30–60 minutes) may be affected differently than longer TT
efforts (90–120 minutes). In this regard, three common themes
emerge from the literature regarding CHO use. These are (a)
the glycemic index of the CHO, (b) the rate of gastric emptying
of the CHO alone or when combined with other macronutrient
sources and (c) the maintenance of blood glucose concentration
during a TT event.
2) Running performance:Carbohydrate can be ingested in
a bolus feeding or dispersed in intervals. It has been
mentioned that intake of CHO in the first 2 hours after
exercise allows fast rate of glycogen synthesis and fluid
should be consumed directly proportional or close to sweat
loss to maintain important physiological functions.
Additionally, if water is consumed, the volume ingested
needs to exceed the fluid deficit by approximately 150% to
compensate for the urinary loss that occurs with water
ingestion. Honey is one of the carbohydrate sources. To date,
the possible role of carbohydrate contained in honey during
recovery i.e. after exercise is still unclear. Thus, the present
study was proposed. Acacia honey used in the present study
was obtained from the Johor region, Malaysia, and it was
produced by Apis mellifera bees. Based on the laboratory
analysis done in department of Molecular Medicine, Universiti
Malaysia, Malaysia, it was reported that Acacia honey contains
31.2% of fructose, 22.9% of glucose, 3.3% of maltose, and
9.9% of sucrose, it also contains 13 mg of sodium per 100 g of
serving and 75 g of CHO per 100 g of serving. It was
speculated that honey consists of different types of
carbohydrates, and these multiple transportable carbohydrates
may lead to high carbohydrate oxidation rates and result in
better performance during exercise. This speculation was based
on a recent previous study which showed that a mixture of
glucose and fructose ingestion resulted in approximately 55%
higher exogenous carbohydrate oxidation rates compared to the
ingestion of an isocaloric amount of glucose during prolonged
cycling exercise. Additionally, in another previous study, it was
found that a mixture of glucose, sucrose and fructose ingestion
resulted in higher exogenous carbohydrate oxidation rates
compared with glucose ingestion alone during 150 min cycling
(9).
The beneficial effects of glucose and fructose
supplementation on endurance performance was also shown in
a meta-analysis done by Vandenbogaerde and Hopkins, in
which it was found that the best supplement inferred from the
analysis consisted of a ~3-10% carbohydrate-plus-protein drink
providing ~0.7g/kg/h glucose polymers, ~0.2 g/kg/h fructose
and ~0.2g/kg/h protein. According to Ivy, fructose contained in
honey is beneficial for the replenishment of liver glycogen.
Consumption of fructose or sucrose during recovery may
increase the supply of glycogen substrate to the liver and thus
increase the relative proportion of whole-body glycogen
resynthesis occurring within the liver. Moreover, ingestion of
CHO drink can maintain a higher osmolality of blood
effectively compared to plain water. It was mentioned that
fructose ingestion may produce deleterious effects on the
cardiovascular system, such as the increase in blood pressure
and also elicit adverse metabolic effects, for example, insulin
resistance and hypertriglyceridemia. However, fructose which
is contained in natural sources such as honey may produce
beneficial effects on human health. Besides, that fructose
intake at normal population levels but not hyper dosing does
not cause biochemical outcomes substantially different from
other dietary sugars. To date, the sports drinks available in the
market are mostly carbonated drinks which may cause gastric
discomfort. Acacia honey drink which will be prescribed to the
subjects in the present study is not a carbonated drink. It is
believed that this noncarbonated honey drink may not cause
gastric discomfort, while it is ingested by subjects after
exercise.
III. CONCLUSIONS
Only three randomized-controlled studies that investigated
the effect of honey on exercise performance were identified in
this review. Meanwhile, five studies reported changes in bone
health after consuming honey alongside some jumping
exercises or aerobic dance. Additionally, one of the studies also
reported that stress and reproductive hormones were positively
regulated. The remaining five studies reported an improvement
in immune response after ingesting honey together with intense
resistance or aerobic exercises. All studies showed benefits of
honey alone or together with exercise. It is believed that the
carbohydrates content of honey plays an important role in
sustaining endurance exercises, while other active properties in
combination with exercise stimulus may exert a positive
influence on bone health, immune system, reproductive
hormones, and inflammatory responses.
We believe that the reader must consider several
observations associated with this trial. These include consistent
statistically significant within CHO treatment findings
suggesting an improvement in performance with continual
CHO feedings during a 64-km TT effort. However, the small
subtleties associated with overall time differences may not be
fully elucidated because of the small sample size used in this
trial. We, therefore, recommend that similar investigations be
performed with larger samples and that particular attention be
given to the latter stages of the TT, because some riders may
increase power output during the final portions of this type of
event. It further appears that honey can serve as an effective
mixed CHO gel source.
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