Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is the coexistence of obesity, hyperglycaemia, hypertension and dyslipidaemia in an individual (1). The modern human diet contains high fructose level (2), which is culpable in the pathogenesis of MetS in adults (1) and children (3). We investigated the effects of two dietary sources of fructose, natural honey (NH) and cane syrup (GS) on metabolism in growing rat models (Rattus norvegicus) fed from neonatal age. Fifty-nine suckling (7-day old male (18.1±0.78g) and female (17.7±0.63g) rats were divided into five groups, namely NH Low (NHL); NH High (NHH); GS Low (GSL); GS High (GSH); and control (CRF), with replication on gender basis (n=6, except NHH female with 5rats). The rats were fed either NH or GS at low (10ml kg-1 b.wt) or high (20ml kg-1 b.wt) dose daily via stomach tube for 14 days, while the CRF was gavaged with distilled water. On weaning, NH or GS was mixed with rat feed as low (20%) or high, 50% (volume/weight, v/w) supplement, while tap water (20% v/w) was added to the control diet. The rats were euthanized at 13 weeks old to obtain visceral measurements, general health indices and growth parameters. Values are mean ± S.E.M., compared by ANOVA. NHL caused normal body weight gain (498.67±11.51g) as control (475.00±8.92g) in males, but significantly (p<0.01) higher than NHH, 407.17±9.75g; GSL, 426.17±9.04g, and GSH, 416.00±6.61g respectively. There was significant (p<0.05) increase in males’ long bone weight and length while there was no difference (p>0.05) in linear growth among the female rats. Dietary cane syrup significantly (p<0.0001) increased the absolute and relative weights of abdominal visceral fat (GSL, 17.70±0.73g, 3.75±0.14%; GSH, 15.48±0.85g, 3.64±0.14%) vs. NHL, 11.11±0.37g, 2.39±0.07%; NHH, 10.21±1.04g, 2.48±0.21%; and CRF, 8.56±0.50g, 1.97±0.13% in males. GS-fed males had significantly (p<0.05) increased liver weight (GSL, 14.23±0.56g; GSH, 12.57±0.30g) vs. NHL, 10.92±0.32g; NHH, 10.24±0.40g; and CRF, 11.16±0.34g. The increased visceral fat and hepatomegaly were neither observed in the NH-fed nor the female rats. The surrogate markers of liver function were normal in the NH males, unlike GS-fed male rats with significantly (p<0.05) increased AST (GSL, 75.5±4.56U/L; GSH, 86.7±8.15U/L; NHL, 58.2±4.19U/L; NHH, 69.9±2.88U/L; CRF, 67.2±2.19U/L) and ALT (GSL, 43.5±9.57U/L; GSH, 32.8±8.68U/L; NHL, 27.5±3.13U/L; NHH, 25.8±2.87U/L; CRF, 28.5±2.46U/L). The rats fed GS diets were predisposed to developing diet-induced MetS. Unlike cane syrup, feeding rats NH from an early age neither caused susceptibility to MetS, nor compromised their health status, despite the similar fructose content of NH and GS. The good metabolic health of the NH-fed rats could be due to micronutrients, antioxidants and phytochemical constituents of NH (4, 5). There are definitely nutritional and health benefits in substituting honey for refined sugars.