Is there any significant sense in which honey is a “healthier option” than high fructose corn syrup?
Both are “empty” calories composed of around 50-55% fructose and 40-45% glucose. Metabolically speaking they are very nearly identical. Natural “organic” honeys may contain some additional trace elements and thus may be somewhat better than HFCS. But most honey in the US comes from factory hives where the bees are fed HFCS and is thus lacking even those trace elements.
If you’re looking for something healthier, try agave nectar. You don’t really save anything on calories, but it is better for diabetics in that it absorbs more slowly into your system. It also has a lighter consistency.
Agave nector is sold in a variety of forms and also varies in composition when it is used as a sweetener. Naturally it’s almost pure fructose (~92%) so it has a low glycemic index close to fructose. However, it is sold at concentrations down to about 55% fructose, or almost exactly that of HFCS, and may be used at that strength in processed foods. I have no way of knowing what strength you’d be getting unless you buy it pure and in a known strength. There are many warnings in diabetic forums against it for the same reasons that some people have to avoid fructose, but I’m not expert enough to evaluate those. If you want fructose buy fructose for a fraction of the price.
My personal opinion is that agave is a very expensive way for the grifters to make money on people who think that HFCS is poison even though HFCS is not a problem and agave not a solution. That’s pure opinion and I could be persuaded otherwise.
Some sites give differing glycemic indexes for honey and HFCS. (Sites give wildly varying numbers for every sugar.) But they should be nutritionally identical because they are chemically identical.
Honey does have some other flavors that most folks like, so you might be able to get the same total amount of flavor with a little less sugar. I guess that’d be an improvement.
Agave is very expensive unless you buy it at Costco, where you can get two good-sized bottles for about $8.
How much is bulk fructose?
You got a cite for that?
Bees are fed sugar water at sometimes of the year to ensure they have enough to eat after we’ve stolen their honey. But reputable honey producers do not do this in the summer prior to harvesting the honey.
And as far as I know honey is not “factory” farmed. It’s bought from small producers and mixed at a factory. The problem with this is that it makes the honey kinda bland instead of having the distinct flavors of the flowers used to make the honey.
Ultrafiltration is an abomination. The honey has to be heated to enable it to be filtered and the heat changes the composition. Do not buy ultrafiltered if you want real honey. The Chinese are notorious for this of course. Years ago, they contaminated their honey with an antibiotic and used ultrafiltration to remove it so it could be sold in the US and EU.
In retrospect not a reliable one. I thought the source was solid. It was from Dr. Joseph Mercola. But further investigation reveals he is a controversial figure who is evidently an anti-vaxer who also believes that AIDS is caused by microwave ovens and grain consumption rather than HIV.
So consider the claim withdrawn. Sorry.
For any who aren’t familiar with him, Mercola is controversial the same way as Creationism is controversial, i.e. only true believers think he has any connection to real science. He is a quack, and a dangerous one. Do not approach. Run at the mention of his name.
There are conflicting studies that HFCS may well have a very low saitity rating, ie it may not make you feel “full”. But honey isn’t rated much higher.
While I am not a doctor or allergy specialist I have talked with local bee keepers in my area and they claim that natural honey that has “fed” on single crops such as alfalfa, etc can help the body immunize itself with respect to those allergies.
BTW, I’ve also been told that bees that feed on dandelions produce green honey that is totally yucky in taste!
Cool. 
I just read a book on honey from around the world. Cant remember the damn title.
In the book, the author was somewhat critical of the West. But nonetheless she admitted that the US and the EU have good standards for honey. Her main complaint about US honey is that since its blended honey the taste is bland. Around the world, you can find honey that is made from specific flowers and therefore can have specific exotic tastes.
I believe someone has answered the OP already but I’ll reiterate.
Honey and HFCS are very similar, so there will not be major differences. I don’t believe you’ll lose any weight switching from HFCS to honey but…
Honey is a more natural substance that is not as processed as HFCS. The bees do add some antibiotic substances to the honey and there will be bee parts and bits of pollen, I’d imagine. So you might get some benefit from these trace substances. People do claim to get some medical benefits from honey and its not all woo woo.
I’ll bet that under the microscope those processed glucose and fructose molecules must look very different than the natural ones.
OMG, yes. I have a “facebook friend” who is a personal trainer and she has quite a following of people who look to her for health, nutrition and fitness advice. She is CONSTANTLY citing Dr. Mercola in order to validate some product or to avoid something else. It drives me nuts because this “doctor’s” work is so clearly flawed. He regularly uses correlational data AS causal data, and he uses this to make awful, dire assesments of perfectly safe ingredients/products in order to scare unwitting consumers into his way of thinking.
I have seen many otherwise-intelligent people fall for his junk science.
As I have mentioned in other threads, I think I am seeing a retreat from evidence and rationality.
The idea is that small doses of the allergens (pollen) will help your body get ready for the big doses around hay-fever season time. Unlikely but not crazy.
You can find the same honeys here in the USA at farmers markets, “natural food” stores and what not.