Struggling To Cook Healthy We’ll Help You Prep
Honey has a plethora of natural health benefits. It has antibacterial properties due to naturally occurring enzymes that create hydrogen peroxide, and a compound found in most varieties of honey may assist in fighting infections. Honey also has anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and antioxidant properties, which can have therapeutic effects on the body.
The World Health Organization and American Academy of Pediatrics recommend honey as a natural remedy to soothe coughing in children older than a year old. Honey can potentially harbor bacteria that is harmful to infants, so it should not be consumed by anyone under the age of 1.
Although eating a spoonful of honey won’t magically cure all your ails, it can definitely help when it comes to calming a cough, easing sore throats, relieving inflammation, and more. If you’re worried about falling ill, or can already feel yourself getting a little sick, then it’s easy to add honey to your daily routine. Steep a hearty cup of tea and add a dollop of honey, make DIY cough drops, or even mix a little into your nightcap. Be sure to keep honey on hand as a natural sweetener and immunity booster.
Introducing Medicine Or Malarkey Does A Spoonful Of Honey Help Your Allergies Go Away
Spring is finally here! That means sunshine, shorts and, possibly, sneezing. Those beautiful flowering bushes and trees that herald the arrival of warmer weather can also mean misery for allergy sufferers. With all of the home remedies out there, you may have heard of the local honey cure. The idea is that repeated exposure to small amounts of allergens will help an allergy sufferer build up a tolerance and experience fewer symptoms. Also, honey has been shown to be a cough suppressant, and it has some anti-inflammatory effects. But does that add up to a cure for allergies?
The answer is no. The purported beneficial effects of eating local honey have not been reproduced in controlled, scientific studies. This may be because the pollen bees pick up usually isnt from the oak, ragweed and juniper plants that are to blame for your sneezing fits. Much of the relief people experience appears to be a placebo effect. For now, think of honey as a sweet treat, not a cure.
Thats not to say that some homegrown, nonmedical remedies wont provide some relief. Here are a few things to try before seeking a medical intervention:
Invest in a neti pot.
These teapot-like devices flush the nasal cavity with a saline solution and temporarily relieve nasal congestion. Just be sure to use distilled, sterile or filtered water and keep your neti pot very clean.
Keep your indoor air clean.
Keep your indoor air dry.
Limit outdoor exposure.
Investigate some natural extracts.
What Are The Benefits Of Breathing Healthy Air And What Are Everyday Things That People Can Do To Breathe The Fullness Of Life
Clean air is essential for healthy lungs. The American Lung Association works to ensure that the air we breathe is clean and safe from harmful pollution. In fact, every year we publish our State of the Air Report, which looks at two of the most widespread and dangerous air pollutants, ozone and fine particulate matter. Our 2021 State of the Air Report found that more than 4 in 10 Americansover 135 million peopleare living in places with unhealthy levels of ozone or particle pollution.
One of the most important things you can do to Breathe the Fullness of Life is to keep sources of pollution out of your home. Check out these commonsense tips on Lung.org. Additionally, ventilation helps reduce indoor air pollution, but it works best if paired with keeping known sources of air pollution out of the building. For tips on how to use ventilation to protect your lung health, check out our section on Ventilation: How Buildings Breathe.
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This Web site provides general educational information on health-related issues and provides access to health-related resources for the convenience of our users. This site and its health-related information and resources are not a substitute for professional medical advice or for the care that patients receive from their physicians or other health care providers.
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Are There Any Risks
Let’s say you genuinely believe that ingesting local honey improves your allergy symptoms. You may think there’s no harm in continuing to eat it therapeutically, anywaybut that’s not necessarily the case, Dr. Marks-Cogan says, particularly if the honey is raw.
“Raw local honey is not filtered and processed the same way as the honey in stores. So it could contain flower pollen, bee venom, bacteria, or other contaminants,” she says. “A person could potentially have anaphylaxis if the raw honey they ate contained any bee venom that they are allergic to.”
It’s also important to remember that honey is primarily made up of sugars and water, and even if you’re taking it therapeutically, it’s high in sugar and counts toward your daily sugar intake.
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Why Does Honey Irritate My Throat
People often ask, Can honey worsen a sore throat?
In most cases, honey should not irritate your throat. However, if you experience irritation after eating raw honey, it could mean youre allergic to honey.
This is because honey contains small amounts of pollen that agitates many peoples allergies.
That said, honey allergies are rare. And just because youre allergic to bee stings doesnt mean youll be allergic to honey. People who are allergic to bee stings are actually allergic to bee venom.
People who are allergic to honey are typically allergic to the pollen found in honey.
Debunking The Honey Cure
There are a few other reasons to assume that honeys curative effects have been vastly overstated. Firstly, there is no way for the average consumer to verify how much pollen is present in their honey. The amount is likely so small that it would not have a therapeutic effect on the body.
Many people dont realize that bees make honey out of nectar, the sugary sweet liquid excreted by flowers, and not pollen, the powdery substance used for fertilization. Bees are attracted to nectar, and as they collect it to make their honey, pollen accidentally sticks to their legs. In other words, pollen is a trace contaminant in honey, not the main ingredient.
Also, even if there was enough pollen in raw local honey to trigger the immune system, it would probably be the wrong kind. Bees typically pollinate colorful flowers, yet most people are allergic to pollen released by grasses, trees and weeds.
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Is Raw Honey An Antihistamine
It is more likely that a person has an allergy to something in the home environment or a food. According to the Honey Study, local, raw honey can provide relief of seasonal environmental allergy symptoms. Honey has been used for thousands of years as a natural remedy for a wide variety of health conditions.
In fact, honey is one of the oldest medicines known to man, dating back to the ancient Egyptians, who used it to treat everything from rheumatism to toothache. Today, there are more than 1,000 different types of honey, each with its own unique properties.
Honey is also used in traditional Chinese medicine, as well as in Ayurveda, a holistic health system based on the belief that the body is made up of five major organs: the brain, heart, lungs, liver, kidneys.
Can Raw Local Honey Cure Allergies
If youre one of the 40 to 60 million Americans with hay fever, your symptoms have probably flared up in the past few months.1 Fortunately, there are many treatment options to alleviate uncomfortable allergy symptoms like sneezing, scratchy throat and itchy eyes.
Most seasonal allergies are mild enough that the symptoms can be managed with over-the-counter antihistamines. The only problem is, many Americans dont want to spend $20 to $40 per pack of allergy pills. More and more people have been turning to a natural alternative that doubles as a tasty snack raw local honey.
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The Science Behind The Theory
1. Allergy shots isolate the specific allergen that patients are allergic to. Alternatively, there is no way to know exactly what is in the local honey youre consuming, or if youre allergic to it in the first place.2. Seasonal allergies are caused by pollen from trees, weeds, and grasses, not insect-borne pollen from flowers which is predominantly the pollen found in honey.
Can Honey Help Relieve Allergy Symptoms
There is no conclusive scientific proof that honey can treat allergies. While some studies show that consuming honey daily can help improve symptoms related to allergies, other evidence shows that ingesting honey makes no noticeable difference compared to taking a placebo.
Additionally, all of the major studies in this area have used small sample sizes, making it difficult to evaluate their outcomes.
A 2020 review of studies on the potential use of honey for allergic diseases concluded that some studies show that honey is an effective anti-allergic agent, but there are still gaps in the research.
More clinical studies are needed to prove that honey is effective over placebo and to determine how honey works as an anti-allergic agent.
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Which Allergies Can Be Treated With Raw Honey
Research shows that raw honey really only works well with pollen allergies. While some current studies are underway to determine whether it helps people with other sensitivities, the simple truth is that because youre only exposing your body to the pollen that bees gather, it seems that honey can really only treat those kinds of allergies best.
However, those studies may eventually find that raw honey can help treat a variety of kinds of allergies. However, it certainly can treat many allergy symptoms from a variety of sources like sore throat and coughing.
Honey For Allergies: Does It Work
A common natural remedy is using local honey for allergies. Its widely believed that eating local honey will expose an allergic person to small amounts of local pollen, which will desensitize them to that allergen and improve their allergy symptoms. Unfortunately, this is not scientifically proven. Also, eating honey can pose risks to people with severe allergies or children.
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Can Honey Really Help Seasonal Allergies
You may have heard the old wives tale that raw honey can be used to treat allergies. The idea is that, if you eat honey made in your local area, it will contain the pollen youre reactive to and help you build up a tolerance to it. But is this true? We review the facts about consuming honey to treat allergies below.
Fight For Healthy Air
At AprilAire, we believe everyone deserves to Breathe the Fullness of Life, and were not the only ones that feel this way. Through our Proud Partnership with the American Lung Association, we aim to fill every home with Healthy Air. Both AprilAire and the Lung Association believe that breathing Healthy Air should be available to everyone, and maintaining healthy Indoor Air Quality is an important step for your lung health. Read more about our partnership and the efforts of the American Lung Association on their website.
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Does Honey Pose Health Risks
Honey has long been used as a cough suppressant. However, local, unprocessed honey may contain dust particles, bee parts, mold spores, and bacteria which can have some health risks
In rare cases, eating unprocessed honey can cause a serious allergic reaction , leading to itching, hives, or swelling of the mouth, throat, or skin.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not recommend giving honey to children under 12 months because it may contain a toxin that can lead to a dangerous condition called botulism.
The Real Benefits Of Local Honey
While local honey might not cure you of your seasonal allergies, it can still deliver a lot of benefits: Sore throat remedy Strong source of prebiotics and nutrients Immune booster Sweetener alternative to processed sugar
If you want to give raw honey a try, make sure you source it from a local and trusted producer. This beekeeper will be someone who doesnt use any chemicals or other treatments, has bee hives within 5 miles of where you live, does not feed or move their bees, never filters or heats their honey, and uses wooden frames and natural wax foundation. If you cant find a beekeeper that meets all those criteria, aim for as many as you can to ensure the most beneficial raw/local honey.
*As a reminder, its important to keep in mind that honey is not safe for children under 12 months, as it can lead to a serious condition called botulism.
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Why Is Honey Believed To Help Allergies
The idea behind honey treating allergies is similar to that of a person getting allergy shots. But while allergy shots have been proven to be effective, honey hasnt. When a person eats local honey, they are thought to be ingesting local pollen. Over time, a person may become less sensitive to this pollen. As a result, they may experience fewer seasonal allergy symptoms.
Its true that bees pollinate flowers and make honey. But the amounts of pollen from the environment and plants are thought to be very small and varied. When a person eats local honey, they have no guarantee how much pollen theyre being exposed to. This differs from allergy shots that purposefully desensitize a person to pollen at standard measurements.
examined the effect of pasteurized honey on allergy symptoms compared to local honey. The results showed that neither group who ate honey experienced relief from seasonal allergies.
However, a different study found that honey eaten at a high dose did improve a persons allergy symptoms over a period of eight weeks.
These studies have conflicting results and small sample sizes. This makes it hard to determine if local honey could reliably help a person reduce their seasonal allergy symptoms. Larger-scale studies are needed to confirm or recommend a certain amount of honey.
How Does Honey Work On Allergies
In order for it to be effective it must fit these criteria:
Raw The honey needs to say that it is raw or you need to ask your farmer directly. Honey that is raw will still contain all the living enzymes needed to protect your body from a histamine overdose.
Local I have heard all sorts of specific mileages on this. Im not sure where they all come from. The truth is that there isnt a magic number of miles within which you must purchase your honey. Any raw honey that is harvested nearby where the same sort of plants are blooming at roughly the same time can be considered local.
Allergen Appropriate If you have fall allergies, you need to use raw, local honey that is harvested in the fall. If you buy raw, local honey that was harvested in the spring, you will no doubt enjoy some honey and get some health benefits. You will not, however benefit from the allergy prevention because the pollens to which you are allergic will not be found in this honey.
The big drawback here is that raw, local honey only works on pollen allergies. For years I was frustrated that I couldnt help people with other sensitivities. So I developed one of our honey spreads to work on the histamine reaction and to support the liver. The herbs I like best for allergy suffering are:
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Allergic To Honey Symptoms
While raw honey is considered a superfood thanks to its antibacterial, antiviral, and anti-inflammatory effects, its still possible for some people to be allergic to it.
But heres the thing:
Its not necessarily the honey youre allergic to. Instead, youre most likely allergic to the traces of pollen found inside raw honey.
Think about it this way:
A honeybees main diet consists of nectar and pollen from flowers. Honey is made from nectar, not pollen. That said, sometimes small traces of pollen will fall off the honeybees fuzzy body and into the honey.
As such, if youre allergic to pollen, then you might also be allergic to honey.
But how can you tell for sure?
Lets discuss the symptoms.
