Honey

High FODMAP

Serving sizes

Honey changes rating with portion size. Its rating is estimated from what it is made of, so the servings are described rather than weighed.

Small serving Moderate
Moderate serving High
Large serving High

Excess Fructose

Honey is High FODMAP, since it's a concentrated sweetener packed with more of one simple sugar than the body can easily absorb.

Honey carries Excess Fructose, and it climbs fast: even a small serving sits at moderate, tipping to high by a moderate serving and staying high at a large one.
It shows up in tea, drizzles, dressings, and baking, so it's worth watching wherever a recipe calls for a sweet touch.

When you want that golden sweetness, reach for a low-FODMAP staple like maple syrup or a little rice malt syrup instead.

Why honey is rated high

Honey is high FODMAP, and that rating comes from what honey is made of rather than from a weighed serving. It carries excess fructose, meaning it holds more fructose than glucose, and the leftover fructose is the part that is hard to absorb. Because honey is a concentrated sweetener, the load stacks up fast as more goes into the cup or the bowl. The ladder here is qualitative, and it starts already elevated. A Small serving reads moderate, a Moderate serving is high, and a Large serving is high. So there is one rung below the headline, but no rung that reads low, and the honest answer for honey is high.

What changes your risk

Serving size Honey is sugar with the water taken out, so there is nowhere for the fructose to hide. The ladder never reaches low, and it is already high by a Moderate serving.
Stacking excess fructose Honey in tea alongside mango, apple, pear, watermelon, agave syrup or anything sweetened with high fructose corn syrup piles the same subgroup into one sitting, and the total behaves worse than any single item on its own.
Hidden honey in packaged food Granola, cereal bars, honey nut cereals, yoghurt with a fruit layer, barbecue sauce, glazes, honey mustard dressing and marinades all lean on honey, and the ingredient list is the only reliable way to catch it.
Heat does not help Stirring honey into hot tea, baking it into a cake or reducing it in a glaze does not break down the fructose. Cooking never destroys FODMAPs, so a baked honey loaf carries what the honey brought to it.
Choosing a different sweetener This is the lever that actually changes the number. Maple syrup, table sugar and rice malt syrup fill the sweetening job without the excess fructose, so swapping the ingredient is more effective than trying to measure honey carefully.

Swaps

Pure maple syrup is the closest stand in for drizzling, glazing and baking, since it pours and caramelises much the same way. Rice malt syrup gives a mild, thick sweetness that suits granola and flapjacks, and plain table sugar works wherever the recipe just needs sweetening. For the floral note honey brings to tea or yoghurt, a little maple syrup with a strip of orange or a few mashed raspberries or strawberries gets closer than a plain sugar syrup. Agave syrup and anything sweetened with high fructose corn syrup are not swaps, because they carry the same excess fructose, and sugar free syrups built on sorbitol, mannitol, xylitol, maltitol or isomalt bring a polyol problem instead.

How to lower the load

Keep a bottle of pure maple syrup where the honey jar used to sit, and check that the label says maple syrup rather than pancake or table syrup, which is often built on high fructose corn syrup. In baking, honey also carries moisture and browning, so a liquid sweetener such as maple or rice malt syrup swaps in more smoothly than dry sugar does. Scan granola, cereal bars, flavoured yoghurt, dressings and barbecue sauces for honey in the ingredient list, since it is often well down the list and easy to miss. When ordering out, glazed meats, honey mustard dressings, honey cakes and sweetened tea are the usual places it turns up, and asking for a dressing on the side is a simple way to keep control of it.

Common questions

is honey low fodmap

No. Honey is rated high overall, with the rating estimated from what it is made of rather than a measured serving. On the qualitative ladder a Small serving reads moderate, and both a Moderate serving and a Large serving are high.

why is honey high in fructose

Honey holds more fructose than glucose, which is what excess fructose means, and the fructose that is left over after the glucose pairs off is the part that is poorly absorbed. Concentrating that into a sticky syrup is what pushes the rating up.

can i have honey on the elimination phase

Honey is a high FODMAP food, so it is generally left out during the strict phase, and no rung of its ladder reads low. Reintroduction is worked through later with a dietitian rather than by testing amounts on your own.

what can i use instead of honey

Pure maple syrup is the closest match for drizzling and baking, rice malt syrup suits granola and thicker mixtures, and table sugar covers plain sweetening. Agave syrup is not a swap, since it carries the same excess fructose.

Learn more

Informational only, not medical advice. Individual tolerance varies. Talk to a healthcare professional or a dietitian for personal guidance.

Honey is an estimated rating: it is inferred from the food's ingredients and composition and cross-checked, not measured directly in the papers below. The low, moderate and high cutoffs are still those of Varney et al. (2017).

References

Fructan and free fructose content of common Australian vegetables and fruit. Muir et al. (2007), J. Agricultural and Food Chemistry 55(16):6619-6627.
Measurement of short-chain carbohydrates in common Australian vegetables and fruits by HPLC. Muir et al. (2009), J. Agricultural and Food Chemistry 57(2):554-565.
Quantification of fructans, galacto-oligosaccharides and other short-chain carbohydrates in processed grains and cereals. Biesiekierski et al. (2011), J. Human Nutrition and Dietetics 24(2):154-176.
Dietary sorbitol and mannitol: food content and distinct absorption patterns. Yao et al. (2014), J. Human Nutrition and Dietetics 27(Suppl 2):263-275.
FODMAPs: food composition, defining cutoff values and international application. Varney et al. (2017), J. Gastroenterology and Hepatology 32(Suppl 1):53-61. Supplies the low, moderate and high cutoffs used on this page.