Does Honey Raise Cholesterol? What Studies Show Compared to Sugar

Honey vs. sugar and cholesterol: what the studies show

Updated: November 10, 2026

Short answer: honey contains no cholesterol. Cholesterol is found only in animal foods, and honey is made by bees from flower nectar. In clinical studies, replacing table sugar with honey did not raise total or LDL cholesterol, and a large review linked honey to slightly better cholesterol and triglyceride levels. But honey is still sugar: it helps only as a swap for the sugar you already eat, not as an extra on top.

Key takeaways

Honey has 0 mg of cholesterol and essentially no fat.
A 2023 University of Toronto review of 18 trials found small improvements in total cholesterol, LDL, HDL and triglycerides with honey.
In a 2020 San Diego State University trial, swapping sugar for honey for a month did not change total, LDL or HDL cholesterol, and triglycerides stayed elevated only on sugar.
Raw honey showed the most favorable results; processed honey did not show a clear benefit.
Honey is not a cholesterol treatment and still counts as added sugar.

Does honey contain cholesterol?

No. Dietary cholesterol comes only from animal foods such as eggs, meat, dairy and seafood. Honey is made from plant nectar, so it contains no cholesterol at all. A tablespoon of honey (about 21 g) has roughly 64 calories, 0 mg of cholesterol and no fat. Almost all of it is sugar (mainly glucose and fructose) and water.

Infographic: does honey have cholesterol? Animal foods contain cholesterol (egg ~186 mg, shrimp ~160 mg, ground beef ~75 mg, butter ~31 mg, cheddar ~29 mg per serving); plant foods including honey, sugar, walnuts, strawberries and almonds contain 0 mg. — Cholesterol per serving in common animal and plant foods. Honey contains 0 mg.

Cholesterol in common foods (approximate, per serving)
Food	Serving	Cholesterol
Egg	1 large	~186 mg
Shrimp	3 oz	~160 mg
Ground beef	3 oz	~75 mg
Butter	1 tbsp	~31 mg
Cheddar cheese	1 oz	~29 mg
Honey	1 tbsp	0 mg
Table sugar	1 tsp	0 mg
Walnuts, almonds, strawberries	any	0 mg

Source: USDA FoodData Central. Values vary slightly by product and preparation.

So the real question isn't whether honey contains cholesterol, but whether its sugars affect the cholesterol your body makes. That is exactly what researchers have tested.

Does honey raise LDL cholesterol?

Current studies say no, at least when honey replaces sugar in normal amounts. In the studies below, honey did not increase LDL ("bad") cholesterol, and in the pooled analysis LDL went slightly down.

Honey vs. sugar: what the studies found

Two studies are most often cited on this question: a large University of Toronto review that pooled many trials, and a controlled trial from San Diego State University that compared honey with table sugar head to head.

Infographic comparing two studies on honey vs. sugar and blood lipids. University of Toronto meta-analysis 2023 (18 trials, 1,105 people): total cholesterol -0.18, LDL -0.16, triglycerides -0.13, fasting glucose -0.20, HDL +0.07 mmol/L. San Diego State University trial 2020 (37 adults): no change in total, LDL or HDL cholesterol; triglycerides stayed elevated at week 4 only on sugar; lower calorie intake on honey. — Key results of the University of Toronto meta-analysis (2023) and the San Diego State University trial (2020).

University of Toronto review (2023)

This systematic review and meta-analysis combined 18 controlled trials with 1,105 participants. Compared with control diets, honey was linked to:

total cholesterol: −0.18 mmol/L
LDL cholesterol: −0.16 mmol/L
triglycerides: −0.13 mmol/L
HDL ("good") cholesterol: +0.07 mmol/L
fasting blood glucose: −0.20 mmol/L

These are small changes, and the authors rated most of the evidence as low certainty (the HDL result was rated high certainty). In other words: promising, but not proof that honey lowers cholesterol.

San Diego State University (2020)

Thirty-seven healthy adults ate either clover honey or table sugar every day for 4 weeks, then switched to the other sweetener after a break. The results:

Cholesterol: total, LDL and HDL cholesterol did not change on either honey or sugar. Insulin did not change either.
Triglycerides: rose in the first week on both, but by week 4 they stayed elevated only on sugar, not on honey.
Calories: during the honey period, people ate less energy, sugar, carbohydrate and saturated fat overall.

The researchers concluded that honey may be a favorable substitute for sugar without negatively affecting blood lipids.

Is honey OK if you have high cholesterol?

For most people, yes, in moderation and as a replacement for other sugars. Based on the research so far, using honey instead of table sugar is unlikely to make cholesterol worse. A few practical rules:

Swap, don't add. The benefits in studies came from replacing sugar, not from eating extra sweetener.
Count it as added sugar. The American Heart Association suggests keeping added sugars to about 6 teaspoons (25 g) a day for women and 9 teaspoons (36 g) for men, and honey counts toward that.
It's not a treatment. Honey does not replace diet changes or medication your doctor recommends. If you have diabetes or are on cholesterol-lowering medication, talk to your doctor about how much sweetener fits your plan.

Raw vs. processed honey: does it matter for cholesterol?

It seems to. In the University of Toronto review, raw (unprocessed) honey, as well as monofloral robinia (acacia) and clover honey, showed beneficial effects on fasting glucose and total cholesterol. Processed honey, the heated and filtered kind common on supermarket shelves, did not show the same benefit. The San Diego trial also used clover honey.

That's why our products use only raw honey from beekeepers we work with directly. We don't buy anonymous honey in bulk: we know where it comes from and who makes it. You can meet our beekeepers, explore our raw California honey, or try our nut & berry spreads sweetened only with raw honey, with no white sugar or syrups. 🐝

Honey is not recommended for children under 1 year of age.

FAQ

Does honey have cholesterol?

No. Honey is made from plant nectar and contains 0 mg of cholesterol. Dietary cholesterol is found only in animal foods.

Does honey raise cholesterol?

Studies so far say no. When people replaced table sugar with honey, total and LDL cholesterol did not rise, and a review of 18 trials found slightly lower total and LDL cholesterol with honey.

Is honey good for high cholesterol?

Honey is not a treatment for high cholesterol, but as a moderate replacement for table sugar it is unlikely to make cholesterol worse and may have a mild edge over sugar. It still counts as added sugar.

Does honey lower cholesterol?

Research doesn't show honey as a way to lower cholesterol. A meta-analysis found small reductions in total and LDL cholesterol, but most of that evidence was rated low certainty.

Is honey better than sugar for cholesterol?

On current evidence, slightly. In a San Diego State University trial, triglycerides stayed elevated after a month on sugar but not on honey, and cholesterol didn't change on either.

Is raw honey better than regular honey for cholesterol?

In the University of Toronto review, raw honey showed beneficial effects on total cholesterol and fasting glucose, while processed honey did not show a clear benefit.