Jarrah Honey 35+

Jarrah honey is a food first, so the questions our naturopaths ask in store come down to why you're choosing it.

A good fit if

• You want a West Australian honey with a real chemical difference from Manuka
• You're curious about a peroxide-active honey rather than one graded on MGO
• You like that it tested low-GI and want an occasional swap for other sweeteners
• You're an adult or older child wanting an occasional spoonful for a night-time cough

Check with us first if

• You're managing diabetes or watching your blood sugar. Jarrah honey is still sugar, low-GI test or not.
• It's for a cough in a child under two, where any Australian cough use needs medical advice first.
• The cough has lasted more than a couple of weeks, or it comes with a fever.
• You're pregnant or breastfeeding and want more than ordinary food amounts. That hasn't been studied.

• Jarrah honey. Best known for: A WA eucalypt honey graded on TA, with peroxide-based activity and a low-GI test result. Absorption: No human trial. In the lab it stopped bacteria at 6.7-28.0% w/v, and activity falls when the peroxide is broken down. Typical use: A distinctive WA honey, or an occasional low-GI swap for other sweeteners.
• Manuka honey. Best known for: Graded and sold on a measured MGO or UMF number. Absorption: Shows non-peroxide activity in lab tests, but human outcome trials have repeatedly found no effect. Typical use: When you want a standardised, graded honey with more trial data behind it.
• Raw honey. Best known for: Unheated and unfiltered, so it keeps its pollen and usually sets firm. Absorption: No trial compares raw with ordinary honey head to head. Typical use: Spreading, or eating off the spoon.
• Plain or blended table honey. Best known for: Runny, widely available, and the kind the cough trials used. Absorption: Usually heated and filtered; what's in it varies with the flowers and the blend. Typical use: Baking, cooking and everyday use.

Reference values. There's no Nutrient Reference Value for jarrah honey or any honey, because it's a food rather than a nutrient.

Typical supplemental range. No trial has used jarrah honey specifically. The children's cough trials behind honey's evidence used a single evening dose of about a household teaspoon, or 10 ml stirred into warm milk on three evenings in a row.

Upper level. There isn't one. The limit that matters is sugar. One large review found 10 g of honey a day had an unwanted effect on fasting glucose, triglycerides and systolic blood pressure, and advised caution with long-term or high intakes in people with health concerns.

Worth knowing. Enjoy jarrah honey as a food, in food amounts. What you need depends on your age, diet and health, so talk to one of our naturopaths.

Food first, where the diet allows it.

• Jarrah honey itself: sold in jars, usually graded by a TA number on the label
• Marri honey: A related WA eucalypt honey, often sold or blended alongside jarrah

If any of these sound like you, talk to one of our naturopaths or your doctor before you start.

• Babies under 12 months. Honey has been shown to cause infant botulism (NSW Health), and Australian oral honey medicines must carry the warning (BABY2) "Not suitable for infants under the age of twelve months".
• Children under 2. Every cough and cold (URTI) indication must carry "Adults only, OR Not to be used in children under 2 years of age without medical advice".
• You have diabetes or metabolic concerns. Honey is sugar, and in one review 10 g a day had a negative effect on fasting glucose and systolic blood pressure, low-GI test or not.
• You're pregnant or breastfeeding. Safety beyond ordinary food use hasn't been established.
• Interactions with medicines. None were found in the evidence we hold, but that isn't the same as none existing.
• If you take prescription medicines, check with your doctor, pharmacist or our naturopaths before you start.