# How much Fructose in Honey



## ToeOfDog (Sep 25, 2013)

Can anyone point me to information about what percent honey is made out of fructose?


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

The percentages of various sugars vary by nectar source. Typically nectar starts out as mostly sucrose most of which is broken down into fructose and dextrose. So typically it runs between 38-64% fructose and between 31-50% dextrose (glucose). The rest is sucrose, maltose and other sugars. Average is 56% fructose to 44% glucose according to this study:
http://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn/2013/825318/


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## JWChesnut (Jul 31, 2013)

Read the "Composition of American Honeys" USDA Bulletin 1261 
free download at: http://naldc.nal.usda.gov/download/CAT87201204/PDF

1) it varies with the nectar source -- (note that the old bulletin uses older names for glucose/fructose -- dextrose & levulose )








Detection of adulterated honey uses high resolution analysis to the various ratios
See this factsheet -- 
https://www.perkinelmer.com/lab-sol...APP_Analysis-of-Sugars-in-Honey-012101_01.pdf

summary from the Bulletin


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## AR Beekeeper (Sep 25, 2008)

oops! did not see above posts.


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## ToeOfDog (Sep 25, 2013)

Thank you for the responses. I having been reading about the negative effects fructose has on the human body, especially HFCS.


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## Cloverdale (Mar 26, 2012)

ToeOfDog said:


> Thank you for the responses. I having been reading about the negative effects fructose has on the human body, especially HFCS.


I believe if HFCS overheats that's when it can be problematic.


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## aunt betty (May 4, 2015)

"The final composition of different honeys is variable and complex, and differs according to the plant source.
Sugars make up 95% or more of the solids present. The simple sugars (levulose and dextrose) account for nearly 70%, and levulose is usually predominant. As many as 12 complex sugars including maltose are present in small quantities. Although sucrose is often found in high concentrations in nectar, as in nectar from the clovers, it makes up only 1 or 2% of honey on average".


Source: Beekeeping in the Midwest by Elbert R. Jaycox.

It was suggested that levulose and fructose are the same thing. (they're not)
Fructose is man-made
Levulose is not 
They have the same chemical equation. One is left polarized and the other right (so to speak if you follow me).
All it takes is a different angle of a chemical bond and it's a different variation of the same chemical. That's what's going on.

Should point out the chemical nature of bees to the chemical-free guys. Everything is chemicals so there are no such chemical-free bees.


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## AR Beekeeper (Sep 25, 2008)

Aunt Betty; Levulose is fructose.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

It would be less confusing if we only had one name for them but as AR pointed out:
levulose=fructose
dextrose=glucose
levulose + dextrose = sucrose


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## CrazyTalk (Jan 27, 2015)

ToeOfDog said:


> Thank you for the responses. I having been reading about the negative effects fructose has on the human body, especially HFCS.


Fructose and HFCS aren't really a problem in themselves - the problem is that some time in the 70s/80s the diet industry decided that fat in food was a bad thing. The problem with that is fat tastes good, and our bodies regulate appetite with fat and protein. 

Because fat-free food tastes terrible, they added tons of sugar to get back some flavor (and now, sugar substitutes). We essentially ended up with food with tons of sugar in it that doesn't make you feel full. Its eating tons of carbohydrates that is the problem - not HFCS or Fructose.


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## jbeshearse (Oct 7, 2009)

The higher the fructose content of honey, the slower it is to crystallize. Tupelo honey has a higher fructose to glucose ratio than most honeys, and that is why it seldom crystallizes.


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## ToeOfDog (Sep 25, 2013)

CrazyTalk said:


> Fructose and HFCS aren't really a problem in themselves - the problem is that some time in the 70s/80s the diet industry decided that fat in food was a bad thing. The problem with that is fat tastes good, and our bodies regulate appetite with fat and protein.
> 
> Because fat-free food tastes terrible, they added tons of sugar to get back some flavor (and now, sugar substitutes). We essentially ended up with food with tons of sugar in it that doesn't make you feel full. Its eating tons of carbohydrates that is the problem - not HFCS or Fructose.


CrazyTalk:

We agree on some but disagree on others.

In 1977, failed Presidential candidate George McGovern was the head of a Senate committee that wrote the Federal guidelines for the American diet which codified US diet policy. This changed the traditional High Fat/ low carb diet into a low fat/ high carb diet. His expert had grain state connections and had given a previous speech stating that if the US adopted a wheat based diet the rest of the world would follow suit and we would become the wheat producer of the world. Wheat is one of the few net exports left in the US therefore wheat is a sacred cow. The high carb diet is now ingrained in peoples mind though major studies have discredited it. 

We agree that low fat tastes terrible and the food industry has added salt, sugar, MSG, etc in an attempt to make the food tastier.

Cane sugar is 55% glucose and 45% fructose. Glucose is metabolized by the organs and blood cells but fructose is metabolized by the liver and is sent to FAT. 

People are free to eat what they want to but personally I have returned to the high fat diet and abandoned *added *sugar and wheat based on the evidence.


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## Richard Cryberg (May 24, 2013)

ToeOfDog said:


> CrazyTalk:
> 
> 
> Cane sugar is 55% glucose and 45% fructose.


Cane sugar is 50% glucose and 50% fructose. So is beet sugar. Both are a disaccharide named sucrose. One molecule of sucrose contains exactly one molecule of glucose and one molecule of fructose minus one water molecule.


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