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Drinks · Honey Drinks
Honey Water: Benefits, How to Make It & How Much Honey to Use
What a cup of honey water does for coughs, colds, hydration and hard workouts, how it compares with soda, and how to make it with raw local honey.
Evidence-based45 sources citedUpdated October 7, 2026
The Dr. Axe Score™
Scientific Evidence
6.2/10
A Cochrane review and a 14-study review of honey for coughs and colds, an 18-trial review on blood sugar, and trials of honey with coffee for a lingering cough and of honey in athletes.
Antioxidant & Anti-Inflammatory
3.0/10
A cup carries 1 to 2 teaspoons of honey, so its antioxidant compounds come in small amounts; in pooled trials, two inflammation markers, IL-6 and TNF-α, rose with honey (moderate certainty).
Clinical Effectiveness
6.6/10
Our judgment: a warm drink that eases coughs and colds, fuels hard exercise and replaces soda.
Nutrient Density
1.8/10
Per cup with a teaspoon of honey: 21 calories and 5.7 g of sugar, with fractions of a milligram of most minerals.
Why this score?
Why Honey Water scores 4.6 / 10
It earns its points for easing coughs and colds, for fueling hard exercise and as a far better choice than soda; its sugar is the counterweight, and a cup holds too little honey for high composition scores. Weighting: Evidence 30% · Antioxidant & Anti-Inflammatory 25% · Clinical Effectiveness 25% · Nutrient Density 20% (6.2×0.30 + 3.0×0.25 + 6.6×0.25 + 1.8×0.20 = 1.86 + 0.75 + 1.65 + 0.36 = 4.62, shown as 4.6). How we score
A transparent, weighted index built for foods. See how it’s calculated →
Honey water at a glance
Honey water is raw honey stirred into a cup of water, and it's one of the simplest ways to use honey: a soothing warm drink for coughs and colds, a little fuel around hard exercise and a far better choice than soda. A teaspoon of honey in 8 ounces of water adds 21 calories and 5.7 grams of sugar.1
- Best-supported use: in a Cochrane review, honey eased children's coughs more than placebo, and in a randomized trial of adults with a cough that lingered after a cold, honey and coffee in warm water, taken for a week, cut the cough score from 2.9 to 0.2, measured a week after the course ended23
- Around exercise: in a trial of 10 runners who each tried both drinks, rehydrating with a honey drink after a run in the heat added about 300 meters to a 20-minute run, compared with plain water4
- How to make it: 1 teaspoon of raw local honey, up to 2, in 8 ounces of water warm enough to sip, not hot56
- How much: sparingly, in place of other sweet drinks rather than on top of them (Proverbs 25:16)7
Honey water is about as simple as a drink gets: a spoonful of honey stirred into a cup of warm water until it disappears. People reach for it when a cold settles into the throat, when they want something sweet in place of soda, and around long workouts in the heat.
It's also one of the oldest home remedies there is. In The Biblio Diet, Jordan Rubin and I note that generations of grandmothers made hot honey drinks to soothe sore throats, calm frayed nerves and help the family sleep.6 For coughs, modern trials now back up part of that tradition. Start with good honey: I go to my local farmers market for my raw local honey.5
But if you're going to add a sweetener in, honey is the best.Dr. Josh Axe, DC, DNM, CNSFrom What Happens In Your Body If You Eat Honey Every Day?, The Dr. Josh Axe Show (2025), at 19:25
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Part of what calms a cough may be the sweetness itself: a cough researcher has proposed that a sweet taste damps the cough reflex in the brainstem, possibly through the body's own opioids.8
In lab tests, warming raw honey to 113 or 131 °F (45 or 55 °C) left its antibacterial activity intact, while microwaving wiped it out by inactivating two bee-made proteins, the enzyme glucose oxidase and defensin-1.9
In a randomized U.S. cough trial, parents could give their child's bedtime honey on its own or with a noncaffeinated drink.10
What is honey water?
Quick answer
Honey water is honey dissolved in water, usually a teaspoon of raw honey stirred into an 8-ounce cup of warm water. Honey is about 82% sugar by weight, mostly fructose and glucose, and about 17% water, and a spoonful dissolves completely in a few stirs.1
People drink it plain or with lemon, ginger or cinnamon: warm for a sore throat or a cold, and warm or cool around a workout. Raw honey goes into the jar without being heated or finely filtered, and it's the honey to use; the how-to section covers what to look for.
Honey in Scripture
Scripture treasures honey as food: "My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste" (Proverbs 24:13).7 On my list of the top 10 Bible foods that heal, raw honey is number 6.11
Honey water nutrition facts
Quick answer
An 8-ounce cup of water with 1 teaspoon of honey (7 grams) has 21 calories and 5.7 grams of sugar, about 2.9 grams of it fructose and 2.5 grams glucose, with essentially no fat, protein or fiber. Its minerals come in small amounts, led by about 3.6 milligrams of potassium.1
Calculated from USDA FoodData Central FDC ID 169640 (Honey) at a teaspoon of 7 grams, one-third of the record's 21-gram tablespoon. The water adds no calories.1
| Nutrient | Cup with 1 tsp honey (7 g) | Cup with 2 tsp honey (14 g) | Honey per 100 g |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 21 | 43 | 304 |
| Carbohydrate | 5.8 g | 11.5 g | 82.4 g |
| Total sugars | 5.7 g | 11.5 g | 82.1 g |
| Fructose | 2.9 g | 5.7 g | 40.9 g |
| Glucose | 2.5 g | 5.0 g | 35.8 g |
| Potassium | 3.6 mg | 7.3 mg | 52 mg |
| Sodium | 0.3 mg | 0.6 mg | 4 mg |
| Calcium | 0.4 mg | 0.8 mg | 6 mg |
| Iron | 0.03 mg | 0.06 mg | 0.42 mg |
| Vitamin C | 0.04 mg | 0.07 mg | 0.5 mg |
A cup of honey water is mostly water with a little quick energy. Raw honey's enzymes and plant compounds hold up best when the water isn't too hot; the how-to section covers the temperature.
Health benefits of honey water, ranked by evidence
Ranked by evidence, honey water is best for easing coughs in children 1 and older and relieving colds and lingering coughs in adults, with newer trials on fuel and fluid for hard exercise.
Where the research stands
Honey has been tested for coughs in a Cochrane review of 6 trials in children2 and in a review of 14 studies of colds in children and adults.12 No trial has yet followed people drinking honey water every day for months; the drink trials enrolled 97 adults with a lingering cough, who took honey and coffee in warm water,3 and 10 runners who rehydrated with a honey drink;4 a cycling trial tested honey as fuel in 12 trained men.13
1
Calmer coughs in children
Moderate evidenceHuman studyCochrane review · 6 randomized trials, 899 childrenFor a child aged 1 or older with a cough from a cold, honey has real research behind it. In a Cochrane review of 6 randomized trials with 899 children aged 1 to 18, honey eased how often children coughed by 1.62 points on a 7-point scale more than placebo (2 trials, 402 children) and by 1.05 points more than no treatment (2 trials, 154 children), both rated moderate certainty. It did somewhat better than the antihistamine diphenhydramine (0.57 points, 1 trial, 80 children) and about as well as the cough medicine dextromethorphan (0.07 points, 2 trials, 149 children), both rated low certainty.2
These trials mostly gave honey as a single dose before bed. In a randomized U.S. trial of 105 children aged 2 to 18, parents gave buckwheat honey within 30 minutes of sleep: ½ teaspoon for ages 2 to 5, 1 teaspoon for ages 6 to 11 and 2 teaspoons for ages 12 to 18. Honey beat no treatment on cough frequency and a combined symptom score, and parents rated it the best of the three options for their child's cough and sleep; the families in the no-treatment group knew their child got nothing.10
In another trial, 300 children aged 1 to 5 got 10 grams of honey (about 1½ teaspoons) or a date-syrup placebo, neither the parents nor the researchers knew which, and honey came out ahead on every cough and sleep measure.14 In a randomized Japanese trial of 161 children aged 1 to 5, honey and a honey-flavored syrup eased night coughs about equally,15 and a 2026 analysis of 6 trials in 576 children found that honey relieved coughs about as well as cough medicines and eased the cough's effect on the children's sleep more.16
The trials enrolled children aged 1 and older; the safety section explains why.
Honey eased children's cough frequency more than placebo or no treatment
2
Relief for colds and lingering coughs in adults
Moderate evidenceHuman studyReview of 14 studies · randomized trial, 97 adults enrolledAdults with colds have research behind honey too. Across children and adults with colds and other upper respiratory infections, a review of 14 studies found that honey eased overall symptoms more than usual care (3 studies) and lowered how often and how hard people coughed (8 and 5 studies). In the 2 studies that compared honey with a placebo, the difference was too small to rule out chance.12
For a cough that hangs on after a cold, an Iranian trial tested a warm drink of honey and coffee. It enrolled 97 adults whose cough had lasted more than 3 weeks. Three times a day for a week, each person stirred a spoonful of paste, about 25 grams, into 200 milliliters (a little under a cup) of warm water below 140 °F (60 °C). The paste was honey with instant coffee (about 21 grams of honey and 3 grams of coffee per dose), the steroid prednisolone, or the expectorant guaifenesin as the comparison; the three looked and tasted alike, so neither the people nor the researchers knew who got what. A week after the course ended, the honey-and-coffee group's cough score had fallen from 2.9 to 0.2 on a 0-to-3 scale, against 3.0 to 2.4 with prednisolone and 2.8 to 2.7 with guaifenesin.3
For a cough, the drink I like is ginger tea with a little bit of lemon and honey,17 and there's a simple version in the how-to section below.
3
Fuel and fluid for hard exercise
Emerging evidenceHuman studyTrials of 10 runners and 12 cyclists, each tried both · review of 9 studiesHoney is a natural mix of glucose and fructose, so a honey drink delivers quick carbohydrate along with its water. In a randomized Malaysian trial, 10 male recreational runners each tried both drinks: after running for 60 minutes in 31 °C (about 88 °F) heat, they rehydrated over 2 hours with a chilled honey drink (6.8% carbohydrate) or plain water, drinking 150% of the fluid they'd sweated out. In a 20-minute run afterward, the men covered 3,420 meters after the honey drink and 3,120 meters after water, about 300 meters more, and their hematocrit, a blood test of hydration, came out the same with both drinks. A university grant funded the trial, and a honey company donated the honey.4
Against other carbohydrate fuels, honey holds its own. In a randomized trial of 12 trained men who each tried both, honey and a standard carbohydrate sports product, at 90 grams of carbohydrate an hour, fueled 3 hours of steady cycling equally: the men burned carbohydrate and fat at about the same rates, lasted about as long in a final ride to exhaustion and had few stomach symptoms with either.13 A review of 9 studies found the same pattern, with honey performing about like other carbohydrate sources and, in some studies, better than drinks with no carbohydrate.18
When I did triathlons years ago, my natural gel pack was local honey with some sea salt.5
After a run in the heat, runners covered 300 meters more after a honey drink than after plain water
Doing a spoonful of honey around your workouts is the perfect fuel.Dr. Josh Axe, DC, DNM, CNSFrom What Happens In Your Body If You Eat Honey Every Day?, The Dr. Josh Axe Show (2025), at 25:27
Does honey water hydrate you?
Quick answer
Yes. The water does the hydrating, and the honey adds a little fuel and flavor. In a randomized trial of 13 drinks in 72 men, a liter of cola, a sports drink or orange juice left people about as hydrated as the same amount of still water 4 hours later,19 and in the runners' trial above, a blood test of hydration came out the same after a honey drink as after plain water.4
Plain water is the base. The daily amount in my Healthy Weight & Metabolic Reset protocol is half your body weight in ounces of water, more on training days.20 After a long, sweaty session, your body needs back the salt you sweated out as well as the water, and on my show I've made the point that hydration is water plus electrolytes: you need both.21
A little salt, about ¼ teaspoon per cup in my recipe below, turns honey water into a simple homemade electrolyte drink.21 Here's what happens in your gut, step by step, as researchers have measured it.
1The sugars arrive already split.
Honey carries about 41 grams of fructose and 36 grams of glucose per 100 grams, with under 1 gram of sucrose, so almost none of it needs splitting before your gut can absorb it.1
2Glucose pulls sodium in with it.
In your small intestine, a carrier called SGLT1 moves glucose into the gut wall together with sodium.22 Honey itself has almost no sodium, about 0.3 milligrams a teaspoon, so the salt supplies it.1
3Water follows.
The same carriers move water along with the glucose and sodium, the principle behind oral rehydration drinks.22
4Fructose uses a second door.
Fructose crosses through a different carrier. In endurance athletes taking large amounts during long exercise, drinks that mixed glucose and fructose let the body burn up to 65% more of the drink's carbohydrate than glucose alone, with more fluid delivered and possibly less stomach upset.23
Does honey water raise blood sugar?
Quick answer
Yes, a little: a teaspoon of honey is a small amount of sugar, and nearly half of it is glucose, which goes straight into your blood. Honey averages a glycemic index of 61, just under table sugar's 65.124
In a randomized trial funded by the National Honey Board and the USDA, 55 adults, about half of them with impaired glucose tolerance, each ate 50 grams of carbohydrate a day from honey, table sugar and high-fructose corn syrup, 2 weeks apiece. Blood sugar, insulin and body weight responded the same way to all three, and triglycerides rose with all three.25 In type 2 diabetes, 42 adults finished a trial in which each person spent 8 weeks adding 50 grams of honey a day (about 2½ tablespoons) to a weight-maintenance diet and 8 weeks on the diet alone. HbA1c, a three-month blood sugar average, rose 0.17 percentage points with honey and fell 0.22 without it, while waist size shrank with honey.26
The type of honey changes the picture. In a University of Toronto meta-analysis of 18 controlled trials with 1,105 people, who ate a median 40 grams of honey a day (about 2 tablespoons) for 8 weeks, mostly compared with their usual diet, raw honey lowered fasting blood sugar by about 19 mg/dL (1.05 mmol/L) across 5 trials with 174 people, rated low certainty, and lowered total cholesterol and triglycerides too. Processed honey, across 7 trials with 150 people, had no effect on fasting blood sugar (a change of 0.03 mmol/L, rated high certainty) and raised blood pressure by 3.78/2.26 mmHg (moderate certainty).27
With diabetes or prediabetes, keep honey water to a teaspoon in a cup, in place of other sweeteners; if you take insulin or other glucose-lowering medication, see the safety section.
Three markers that show how your body handles sugar
HbA1c reflects a three-month average;28 fasting insulin and triglycerides are snapshots from the same draw. Targets are Dr. Axe's functional ranges. These markers show how your body handles sugar overall; they can't separate honey water's effect from the rest of your diet.
- HbA1c: Your average blood sugar over about three months. Dr. Axe's target is under 5.4%.
- Fasting insulin: How hard your body works to hold blood sugar steady. Dr. Axe's target is about 2 to 6 µIU/mL.
- Triglycerides: A blood fat that responds to how much sugar you eat.
See the cellular bloodwork panel
Have results? Analyze them free → →Is honey water good for weight loss?
Quick answer
As a swap for sweet drinks, yes: a cup with a teaspoon of honey has 21 calories and 5.7 grams of sugar, against 155 calories and 36.8 grams in a 12-ounce can of regular cola.129
Even with 2 teaspoons of honey, a cup comes to 43 calories and 11.5 grams of sugar, under a third of the can's sugar.129 Under the FDA's definition, honey counts as an added sugar, and the Daily Value for added sugars on the Nutrition Facts label is 50 grams a day: a teaspoon of honey is about 11% of that, and a 12-ounce can (370 grams) of cola about three-quarters.12930
A cup of honey water carries 5.7 grams of sugar; a 12-ounce can of cola carries 36.8
Honey may also sit differently with your appetite than table sugar. In a trial of 14 healthy women who each ate both breakfasts, and in which neither the women nor the researchers knew which was which, a breakfast of about 450 calories sweetened with honey delayed the return of ghrelin, the hunger hormone, raised PYY, a fullness hormone, and blunted the rise in blood sugar compared with the same breakfast sweetened with table sugar. Hunger ratings, calories burned after the meal and how much the women ate at the next meal didn't differ.31
In the University of Toronto analysis above, the one raw-honey trial that measured weight, with 48 people, found body weight 1.80 kilograms (about 4 pounds) lower than its comparison group, rated low certainty; across all the honey trials, mostly added to people's usual diets, body weight and BMI didn't change.27
On my Healthy Weight & Metabolic Reset protocol, liquid sugar comes out completely, starting with the first 30 days, because soda, juice, sweet coffee, wine and beer are the fastest insulin spikes there are, and the daily drinks are water, green tea, apple cider vinegar in water and coffee, black or with a splash of milk.20 If you're following it, leave honey water out along with the other sweet drinks. Off the protocol, the swap is simple: when you'd reach for a soda or a sweet coffee drink, make a cup of honey water instead.
How to make honey water
Quick answer
Stir 1 teaspoon of raw local honey, up to 2, into 8 ounces of water that's warm enough to sip, not hot. Cool water works too; the honey just takes longer to dissolve.56
Water temperature is the one step to get right. In The Biblio Diet, Jordan Rubin and I write that excessive heat can destroy honey's natural enzymes and vitamins, along with its plant compounds and pollen.6 The adults in the lingering-cough trial dissolved their honey-and-coffee drink in water below 140 °F (60 °C).3 To soften a crystallized jar, set it in a bowl of warm water instead of the microwave.
Choose opaque raw honey that's produced locally and sold unheated.6 Skip commercially pasteurized, ultra-filtered honey. When I talked about those honeys on my show, I put it simply: "Just stay away from those. You might as well just eat sugar."5
Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup (8 ounces) filtered water
- 1 teaspoon raw local honey, up to 2
- A squeeze of fresh lemon (optional)
Instructions
- Bring the water to a boil, then let it cool for a few minutes, until it's comfortable to sip.
- Stir in the honey until it dissolves.
- Add the lemon, if using, and drink it warm.
Recipe
Ingredients
- 1¼ cups water
- A 1-inch piece of fresh ginger, thinly sliced
- Juice of ½ lemon
- 1 teaspoon raw local honey
Instructions
- Simmer the ginger in the water for 10 minutes, then strain it into a mug.
- Let it cool until it's comfortable to sip.
- Stir in the lemon juice and honey.
When I want a natural electrolyte drink, I make my own at home with water, lemon, local honey and gray sea salt.21
Recipe
Ingredients
- About 8 ounces water
- Juice of 1 lemon
- About 2 teaspoons local honey
- About ¼ teaspoon gray sea salt
Instructions
- Stir everything together until the honey and salt dissolve.
Lemon. A squeeze of fresh lemon brightens the cup; see lemon water for more.
Ginger. Simmer fresh slices first, as in the ginger tea above, or see ginger water.
Ceylon cinnamon. Stir in a pinch of Ceylon cinnamon; honey and cinnamon covers the pairing.
Iced. Dissolve the honey in a splash of warm water, then top it up with cold water and ice.
How much honey water should you drink?
Quick answer
A cup with 1 teaspoon of raw local honey, up to 2, in place of other sweet drinks rather than on top of them. Use honey sparingly, as Proverbs 25:16 counsels.57
There's no official amount for honey water, so the guide is the one I give for honey. If you're not very active, use a teaspoon at a time, 2 teaspoons at a time at most; if you're very active, you can use a little more around your workouts.5 Honey is a far superior option to cane sugar, but everyone should be careful with even natural sugars, and as the Bible says, even honey should be used sparingly: "Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it" (Proverbs 25:16).7
Take the other sweeteners out of your diet and let honey be your main one; piling honey on top of maple syrup, coconut sugar and cane sugar only adds to the sugar load.5
When is the best time to drink honey water?
Any time a cup replaces a sweet drink is a good time to have it. No study has compared morning with evening, or an empty stomach with a meal, so match the timing to why you're drinking it:
In the morning: in place of juice or a sweet coffee drink.
Around a long workout: before or after, with about ¼ teaspoon of sea salt per cup after heavy sweating.
At the first sign of a cold: warm, with ginger and lemon.
At bedtime for a child's cough: the children's trials gave honey shortly before sleep, to children aged 1 and older.
Questions about honey water?
Ask Dr. Axe AI. Answers are grounded in this library, with sources shown.
Honey water side effects and who should be careful
Quick answer
Honey water is safe for most people over the age of 1. Babies and people with bee-product allergies need firm rules, set out below.
Who needs to take care with honey water:
Babies under 12 months: Never give honey, raw or cooked, or drinks and foods made with it, honey water included. Honey can carry spores of the bacteria behind infant botulism: in one study, 9 of 90 honey samples carried them, and the spores also turn up in household dust and soil. Honey is the only food confirmed again and again as a source.32333435
Asthma or a past severe reaction to pollen, bee stings or bee products: If you have asthma, or you've ever had hives, swelling or trouble breathing from pollen, bee stings or bee products, don't assume honey is safe for you. In a study that tested honey on 46 people with pollen allergies, honey allergy proved rare,36 but honey carries proteins from the bees as well as pollen, and severe reactions have been reported.3738
Insulin or other glucose-lowering medication: Count the honey in your cup as sugar and check your readings when you change how much you drink; your doctor adjusts the dose.
Hereditary fructose intolerance: Avoid honey entirely. This rare inherited condition rules out fructose, and about half of honey's sugar is fructose.391
Fructose malabsorption or IBS: Large amounts of honey can be more fructose than your gut absorbs. In a study in which 20 healthy adults each drank honey dissolved in water, 50 grams (about 2½ tablespoons) gave 3 of them loose stools and 100 grams gave 6, while a drink with equal parts glucose and fructose gave none. If fructose bothers you, start with a teaspoon per cup.40
A Candida cleanse or SIBO: Honey comes out during the 14-day starve phase of my Candida Cleanse protocol,41 and on my SIBO protocol, sugar and sweet drinks are limited for now, with only water between meals.42
A cough with trouble breathing, chest pain or a high fever, or one that lingers for weeks: See a doctor promptly.
The bottom line
Should you drink honey water?
If you're going to sweeten a drink, raw local honey in warm water is one of the best ways to do it. People have stirred honey into warm drinks for sore throats and colds for generations, and modern trials in children's coughs line up with that long record, with newer trials in adults with colds and in athletes pointing the same way.
Make it with water warm enough to sip, not hot, a teaspoon of honey per cup and up to 2, and let it take the place of a sweet drink. Babies under 1 and anyone with a bee-product allergy have firm rules; see who should be careful.
Your body was designed to heal, and a warm cup of honey water during a cold is one of the simplest, oldest ways to support it.
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Cutting liquid sugar is where this free 90-day protocol starts, followed by protein at breakfast, walks after meals and a 7-day meal plan. Have recent bloodwork? Analyze it free.
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Open the free protocol → →Honey water: frequently asked questions
Is honey water good for you?
What does honey water do for your body?
Is it OK to drink honey water every day?
How much honey should I put in warm water?
Is honey water better hot or cold?
Warm or cool both work; just skip hot water. Warm water dissolves the honey faster, and in lab tests, gentle warming to 113 or 131 °F left raw honey's antibacterial activity intact, while microwaving wiped it out.9
Should you drink honey water on an empty stomach in the morning?
Yes, you can, in place of juice or a sweet coffee drink.
Does honey water help with weight loss?
Does honey water raise blood sugar?
Is honey water good for a cough or sore throat?
Yes, for children aged 1 and older and for adults. In a Cochrane review of 6 trials with 899 children, honey eased cough frequency more than placebo or no treatment,2 and in a randomized trial that enrolled 97 adults with a cough that lingered after a cold, honey and coffee in warm water, taken for a week, cut the cough score from 2.9 to 0.2, measured a week after the course ended.3
Does honey water help you sleep?
Does honey water detox your body?
Your body's detox work happens mainly in your liver, and honey water supports it the way any water does, by keeping you hydrated. In Heal Your Cells, Dr. Axe and Dr. Will Cole write that real cellular detoxification happens deep in the liver, in a two-step process.43
Can honey water help with seasonal allergies?
It may: for seasonal allergies, Dr. Axe recommends a tablespoon of raw local honey every day, all year round,4445 and the trials of honey for hay fever, covered on the honey page, are at an early stage. With asthma or a bee-product allergy, read the safety section first.
Can kids drink honey water?
Yes, from age 1. In a randomized U.S. cough trial, children got ½ teaspoon of honey at ages 2 to 5, 1 teaspoon at 6 to 11 and 2 teaspoons at 12 to 18;10 for babies, see the safety section.
Freshness & update log
October 7, 2026 — Rebuilt the page to the current DrAxe.com standard under Dr. Axe's byline. Added the Dr. Axe Score with its math; named studies with their numbers for children's coughs, adult colds and lingering coughs, and exercise in the heat, with charts; nutrition facts per cup from USDA FoodData Central; a hydration section with a step-by-step diagram; Dr. Axe's ginger tea and electrolyte drink; and one safety section. Corrected the reason babies under 1 can't have honey (infant botulism) and replaced the soda comparison with USDA figures. Removed claims without human evidence behind them, including the amino acid, mineral and enzyme counts, the serotonin and bone-formation claims, and the detox drink.
References
- US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central: Honey. FDC ID 169640 (SR Legacy, NDB 19296). Values read from the FDC portal data, October 7, 2026.
- Oduwole O, Udoh EE, Oyo-Ita A, Meremikwu MM. Honey for acute cough in children. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2018;4(4):CD007094. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD007094.pub5. PMID:29633783
- Raeessi MA, Aslani J, Raeessi N, Gharaie H, Karimi Zarchi AA, Raeessi F. Honey plus coffee versus systemic steroid in the treatment of persistent post-infectious cough: a randomised controlled trial. Prim Care Respir J. 2013;22(3):325-30. doi:10.4104/pcrj.2013.00072. PMID:23966217
- Ahmad NS, Ooi FK, Saat Ismail M, Mohamed M. Effects of Post-Exercise Honey Drink Ingestion on Blood Glucose and Subsequent Running Performance in the Heat. Asian J Sports Med. 2015;6(3):e24044. doi:10.5812/asjsm.24044. PMID:26448850
- Axe J. What Happens In Your Body If You Eat Honey Every Day? The Dr. Josh Axe Show. October 20, 2025 (Dr. Axe speaking, solo; lines at 19:25-19:26, 19:43-20:11, 25:27-25:43, 26:29-26:51 and 36:33-36:46 in the YouTube captions).
- Axe J, Rubin J. The Biblio Diet. Hachette Book Group; 2025. ISBN 9781546008439 (written; honey entry: hot honey drinks, heat and enzymes, buying raw honey).
- The Holy Bible, King James Version. Project Gutenberg eBook #10. Verses quoted from this text (Proverbs 24:13 and 25:16).
- Eccles R. Mechanisms of the placebo effect of sweet cough syrups. Respir Physiol Neurobiol. 2006;152(3):340-8. doi:10.1016/j.resp.2005.10.004. PMID:16326149
- Bucekova M, Juricova V, Monton E, Martinotti S, Ranzato E, Majtan J. Microwave processing of honey negatively affects honey antibacterial activity by inactivation of bee-derived glucose oxidase and defensin-1. Food Chem. 2018;240:1131-1136. doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2017.08.054. PMID:28946234
- Paul IM, Beiler J, McMonagle A, Shaffer ML, Duda L, Berlin CM Jr. Effect of honey, dextromethorphan, and no treatment on nocturnal cough and sleep quality for coughing children and their parents. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2007;161(12):1140-6. doi:10.1001/archpedi.161.12.1140. PMID:18056558
- Axe J. 10 Biblical Superfoods That Can Add Years to Your Life. The Dr. Josh Axe Show, Episode 393. September 28, 2026 (Dr. Axe speaking, solo; raw honey at 22:44-22:47 in the YouTube captions).
- Abuelgasim H, Albury C, Lee J. Effectiveness of honey for symptomatic relief in upper respiratory tract infections: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ Evid Based Med. 2021;26(2):57-64. doi:10.1136/bmjebm-2020-111336. PMID:32817011
- Fortis HO, Ravikanti S, Barrett JS, Lopez EM, Bampouras TM, Haworth JJ, et al. Could It Bee? Honey Ingestion Induces Comparable Metabolic Responses to Traditional Carbohydrate-Based Sports Nutrition Product During 3-Hr Steady-State Cycling and Subsequent Exercise Capacity Test. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2025;35(5):424-432. doi:10.1123/ijsnem.2024-0244. PMID:40675563
- Cohen HA, Rozen J, Kristal H, Laks Y, Berkovitch M, Uziel Y, et al. Effect of honey on nocturnal cough and sleep quality: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study. Pediatrics. 2012;130(3):465-71. doi:10.1542/peds.2011-3075. PMID:22869830
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- Axe J. How to Boost Your Immune System Naturally | Q&A with Dr. Josh Axe. The Dr. Josh Axe Show. December 12, 2023 (Dr. Axe speaking; ginger, lemon and honey tea at 25:01-25:05 in the YouTube captions).
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- Axe J. How to Hydrate Your Brain, Boost Energy & End Brain Fog. The Dr. Josh Axe Show. August 18, 2025 (Dr. Axe speaking, solo; electrolyte drink at 36:00-36:28 and water plus electrolytes at 38:31-38:40 in the YouTube captions).
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- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. The A1C test & diabetes.
- US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central: Beverages, carbonated, cola, regular. FDC ID 174852 (SR Legacy). Values read from the FDC portal data, October 7, 2026.
- US Food and Drug Administration. Added Sugars on the Nutrition Facts Label.
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- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Foods and Drinks to Avoid or Limit (Infant and Toddler Nutrition).
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- Di Costanzo M, De Paulis N, Peveri S, Montagni M, Berni Canani R, Biasucci G. Anaphylaxis caused by artisanal honey in a child: a case report. J Med Case Rep. 2021;15(1):235. doi:10.1186/s13256-021-02823-4. PMID:33985563
- Gaughan S, Ayres L, Baker PR II. Hereditary Fructose Intolerance. In: Adam MP, Bick S, Mirzaa GM, et al., editors. GeneReviews. Seattle (WA): University of Washington, Seattle; 2015 [updated 2021 Feb 18]. PMID:26677512
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- Axe J. The Candida Cleanse Protocol. DrAxe.com protocol. 2026 (written; Starve phase, days 1-14: sugar, honey, syrups and sweeteners out).
- Axe J. SIBO Protocol: The 60-Day Healing Protocol. DrAxe.com protocol. 2026 (written; "Limit these for now," including sugar and sweet drinks; only water between meals).
- Axe J, Cole W. Heal Your Cells. Avery; 2026. ISBN 9798217181353 (written; cellular detoxification passage).
- Axe J. Seasonal allergies? Try eating raw local honey (all year round). Post on X (@drjoshaxe). September 24, 2024.
- Axe J. Bee Pollen: Benefits, Nutrition, Dosage & Side Effects. DrAxe.com. 2026 (his seasonal-allergy approach: a tablespoon of raw local honey every day, all year round).
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