MUST READ..HONEY VS SUGAR ...WHICH IS HEALTHIER?

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans (2010) and the American Heart Association (2009) recommend to "reduce intake of added sugars," without singling out any particular types, such as sugar or honey. When food companies want to entice consumers to buy their sweetened products, they like to use phrases like "honey sweetened" as a selling point. In most consumer's minds, honey is a healthier alternative to sugar because it is more natural. However, "natural" is not always synonymous with "healthy."

Honey actually contains the same basic sugar units as table sugar. Both contain glucose and fructose. Granulated table sugar, or sucrose, has glucose and fructose hooked together, whereas in honey, fructose and glucose remain in individual units. Fructose is sweeter than glucose, which is one of the reasons fructose is used in so many food products today. However, fructose does not convert to energy as efficiently as glucose. As a result, processed foods containing granulated sugar high in fructose convert to fat stores more easily than honey.
Caloric content of honey differs from that of table sugar. One teaspoon of table sugar contains 16 calories, while one teaspoon of honey has 22 calories. While honey may have more calories, people may actually use less of it, since it is both sweeter and denser than table sugar. This being said, you actually may take in about the same amount of calories that you would with sugar or perhaps even less.
Some nutrition experts say honey, unlike table sugar, contains small amounts of vitamins and minerals and that honey can aid in digestion. Researchers are currently looking into antioxidant levels of honey to see if they also can improve one's health.
In addition, pure sucrose, or table sugar, is highly processed, while honey has only one processing step. (The honey is heated to prevent crystallization and yeast fermentation from happening during storage.) This has implications on the environment and on people who believe that minimally processed foods are healthier. Vegans, who don't use animal products, do not include honey in their eating plans because it is produced by bees.
As far as "unmediated pure sugar," usually called unrefined sugar, goes, most researchers believe it to be a tad healthier than the processed form. The refining process, which is used to get us our good-ol' table sugar, removes all naturally occurring trace minerals from the sugar plant, leaving us with "empty calories." Moreover, unlike refined sugar, unrefined sugar has more fiber in it, which provides an added health bonus. Unrefined sugar's calories are identical to that of table sugar (16 calories/teaspoon).

 THE BASIC ADVANTAGE HONEY HAS OVER SUGAR MAY BE IN THE PROCESSING...
 Both honey and granulated sugar come from natural sources. However, honey, which is sold either raw or pasteurized, undergoes much less processing. In the formation of granulated sugar, any vitamins and minerals in the original sugar cane or sugar beet are stripped away, leaving sugar as empty calories. Honey does contain small amounts of antioxidants and some trace elements. While the presence of these trace minerals and vitamins may be viewed as a slight advantage, the values are so low that honey cannot be considered a source of nutrients. For example, you would need a staggering 40 cups of honey in order to reach your daily iron requirements.

 The Bottom Line
As with anything sweet, it is easy to overdo it. No matter what satisfies your sweet tooth, it should be consumed in limited amounts. While honey may have a slight edge, excessive consumption of either honey or sugar is a bigger danger to your health than the advantage you would get in choosing one over the other.