Enhance Your Gut Health: The Surprising Ingredient to Add to Your Yogurt

Yogurt is famous for containing probiotics—but how many of them actually reach your gut? New research shows that a common pantry ingredient might help beneficial bacteria make it through your intestinal tract intact.

Two separate studies, conducted by researchers at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and published in March and June of 2024 in The Journal of Nutrition, have revealed that adding honey (especially the clover variety) could support probiotics’ survival in the intestinal phase of digestion. Since the enzymes in the GI tract can sometimes kill off beneficial microbes, this may be a useful strategy for keeping them alive.

According to study author and UIUC associate professor of nutrition Hannah D. Holscher, PhD, RD, interest in honey’s effects in yogurt began after she came across research showing that honey supported bifidobacteria’s survival in petri dish experiments.

“Since bifidobacteria are a common probiotic bacteria added to yogurt and plain yogurt is commonly eaten with honey, I was interested in determining if the culinary pairing could help support probiotic survival both in vitro [in the laboratory] and in vivo (in people),” she told Health. Holscher’s suspicions were proven correct by the findings of both studies.

The first of Holscher and her colleagues’ studies was a lab experiment analyzing how four different types of honey impacted the viability of probiotics in yogurt: Clover, alfalfa, buckwheat, and orange blossom honeys were added to yogurt that contained the probiotic strain Bifidobacterium animalis.

The researchers then tested the effects of potential human digestion on the yogurt by adding simulations of saliva, stomach acid, intestinal bile, and enzymes. In the intestinal phase of this simulated digestion, the yogurt with clover honey had the highest survival rate of probiotics.

The reasons behind clover’s unique effectiveness are likely manifold, Holscher said. “For example, the amount of glucose was highest in the clover honey. The glucose may have served as an energy source for the probiotic bacteria,” she noted.

Also, clover honey has lower amounts of enzymes that break down chain sugars called oligosaccharides, which bacteria can use as energy. “Thus, the lower enzyme concentrations in the clover honey could have resulted in more energy to fuel the probiotic bacteria as they made the long voyage through the intestinal tract.”

Additionally, the clover honey contained antioxidants that may have buffered the probiotics from the harsh environment in the small intestines, she added.

To find out whether these results were applicable in humans, Holscher’s team performed a second study. For a two-week period, 66 healthy adults were assigned to consume either yogurt with honey or heat-treated yogurt with added sugar. Subjects provided stool samples, information about their bowel habits, and questionnaires addressing mood and cognition.

At the end of two weeks, it was clear from stool samples that the yogurt with honey had enriched B. animalis content throughout digestion. According to Holscher, one tablespoon of honey was enough to support probiotics’ survival.

However, she noted that, though honey appeared to keep probiotics alive, it did not affect intestinal transit time or have other observable health benefits like improving bowel habits, mood, or cognition.

A lack of dramatic improvements in gut health in the second study’s subjects doesn’t mean honey isn’t a worthwhile addition to yogurt, Holscher said.

“This may have been because the study participants had fairly normal digestive health, so there was not a lot of room for improvement,” she said. “If they were experiencing constipation, they may have experienced a benefit in speeding up their intestinal transit time from consuming the yogurt with honey.” Further studies could shed light on whether people with constipation might see a boost in digestion time from adding honey to yogurt.

On the other hand, according to gut health dietitian Amanda Sauceda, MS, RDN, lecturer at California State University, Long Beach, swirling in some sweetness can simply be a great way to make yogurt more palatable. While yogurt’s flavor can be a turnoff for some, it is, after all, a healthy food that not only contains probiotics, but ample protein, calcium, and other nutrients.

“If you add a little honey to get more acclimated to the tart flavor of yogurt, then I see it as a helpful and nutritious option,” she told Health. “Additionally, honey is a bit sweeter than regular sugar, so you don’t need to add a lot to get the sweetness.”

In moderation, honey can also be considered a nutritious food in its own right. “What can be surprising for people is that honey isn’t simply sugar but also a source of nutrition,” Sauceda said. “For example, you can find 10 milligrams of potassium in a tablespoon of honey, and it also has phenols which are also being investigated for how they may influence the gut microbiome.”

Of course, honey is an added sugar. Added sugars in any form are known for some harmful effects like contributing to weight gain and cardiovascular disease risk.

“It’s important to not go overboard on adding it into your diet,” Holscher said. “The Dietary Guidelines for Americans state that added sugars should account for less than 10% of your calories each day.”

On a 2,000-calorie-per-day diet, that’s under 200 calories from added sugars. One tablespoon of honey provides about 64 calories, all of them from sugar. If you decide to add honey to yogurt, Sauceda encourages limiting other sources of added sugar on the same day.

According to both Holscher and Sauceda, honey-infused yogurt can be a healthy snack to have on rotation.

“I think [this research] points to the fact that foods can complement each other,” Sauceda said. “Ultimately, it’s a good reminder that we foods you probably have in your kitchen are powerful sources of nutrition for your body and gut health.”