If your doctor has put you on cholesterol watch, there’s probably a few things you’ve been told to do:
- Clean up your diet to have less fatty foods
- Lose weight
- Take a daily statin
Chances are you’ve been told to do some/all of the above. But how can Manuka Honey fit into that and will it be helpful for someone with high cholesterol?
The first study that suggests honey might be helpful with cholesterol issues is this one from 2009.
While the study didn’t suggest the honey intake impacted cholesterol levels overall, it did show some positive effects in women:
“Although ingesting honey did not reduce LDL cholesterol values in general, women may benefit from substituting honey for sugar in their diet.”
The next study which shows honey might have some promise is this one on Pakistani males. This study did in fact show that honey intake had a positive impact on cholesterol:
“Natural honey consumption significantly limits the rise in blood glucose along with a significant decrease in the levels of total cholesterol, LDL and triglycerides, and increase HDL in young healthy adults.”
Based on these two studies, it’s clear that honey intake could be a positive addition to your diet if you’re doctor currently has you on cholesterol watch. Honey has the benefit of having a lower glycemic index than sugar, and is also extremely nutritious as well.
The thing to note about these studies is they weren’t specifically using manuka honey.
As we know, manuka honey has several properties that make it quite unique from other honeys.
This includes being anti-bacterial and having a positive impact on clearing unwanted bacteria from your gut to improve your gut flora balance, as well as being anti-fungal which helps keep yeast in the gut under control.
While manuka honey may or may not have specific properties that helps it address cholesterol, we think if you’re going to add honey to your diet you would be best to add the highest quality and most nutritious type of honey available, and you definitely cannot go wrong with Manuka!
As we’ve written many times on our site, Manuka honey has the ability to assist with so many ailments and deficiencies that we think adding it as part of your daily diet is a great idea for everyone, high cholesterol or not.
If you’d like to read more about the amazing properties of Manuka honey, check out our article here.
If you’re interested in sampling some Manuka honey, we review all the best brands in our annual review here.
Best of luck and sending you many years of health your way!
