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Does Honey Help With Seasonal Allergies

Can Honey Cause Allergies

Does Local Honey Help with Seasonal Allergies?

Honey is widely consumed all over the world, especially in Portugal, but so far very few cases of honey allergy have been reported. Honey is known as a potential food allergen and can cause reactions ranging from mild symptoms such as coughing to severe symptoms such as anaphylaxis.

Is honey anti-inflammatory?

In addition to its use as a natural sweetener, honey is used as an anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antibacterial agent. People commonly use honey orally to treat coughs and topically to treat burns and promote wound healing.

Who should not eat honey?

Keep in mind that raw honey should never be given to children under the age of one due to the risk of infant botulism, a serious illness caused by toxins from a specific strain of bacteria called Clostridium botulinum.

What are the side effects of honey?

Safety and Side Effects

  • Wheezing and other asthmatic symptoms.
  • Dizziness.
  • Irregular heart rhythms

Therapeutic Effects Of Honey

Honey is made from flower nectar. Bees suck the sugary substance from the plants and the nectar mixes with other substances in their digestive system. Here, it transforms into a new substancehoneywhich can be harvested from the hive.

People have been using honey medicinally for thousands of years. Its often claimed that honey has antioxidant, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory qualities.

Some of honeys helpful qualities have been explored in scientific studies. For example:

  • Bee products like honey may help with wound healing.
  • Bee pollen may boost your immune system. That can be helpful if you have allergies because your immune system defends your body against bacteria, viruses, pollutants, dust mites, and other microorganisms that can trigger allergy symptoms.

While its possible that honey has healing benefits, more research needs to be done. There is not enough evidence to prove that honey is safe and effective for these, or other, purposes.

Honey May Help Prevent Colds & Infections

Although allergies arent contagious, colds and flus are. Those with allergies are at a higher risk of getting sick for two reasons:

  • Sneezing, coughing, and itchy eyes add up to a lot more exposure to germs and bacteria from touching your face.
  • When the immune system is occupied with allergies, it can make you more susceptible to illnesses.

Honeys antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal effects make it useful for warding off germs and infections.

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These 7 Foods Might Help Alleviate Seasonal Allergy Symptoms

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When you think of food and allergies, you may think of keeping certain foods out of your diet to avoid an adverse reaction. But the connection between seasonal allergies and food is limited to a few groups of foods known as cross-reactive foods. Reactions to cross-reactive foods may be experienced by those with birch, ragweed, or mugwort seasonal allergies.

Aside from those groups of foods, seasonal allergies, also called hay fever or allergic rhinitis, only occur during certain parts of the year usually the spring or summer. They develop when the immune system overreacts to allergens, like plant pollen, which results in lots of congestion, sneezing, and itching.

While treatment usually involves over-the-counter medicines, lifestyle changes may also help ease your springtime woes. Adding certain foods to your diet could actually help relieve symptoms like the nose-dripping and eye-watering. From reducing inflammation to boosting the immune system, there are a number of dietary choices that may help mitigate the miseries of seasonal allergies.

Heres a list of foods to try.

Can Honey Cure Hay Fever

Local Honey For Seasonal Allergies

Rather than taking antihistamines, could a spoon of honey help cure hay fever?

Some people do swear by it, while others we talk to question it. Its believed that consuming honey will remedy an allergic reaction by ingesting the small doses of pollen found in honey. However, if you have an allergy to grass pollen, honey wont help since bees dont forage for grass pollen.

But we have some great news. Honey does help with some symptoms of hay fever!

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Research That Shows Honey Doeswork

Surprisingly, there isnt a lot of research on this topic.

In a double-blind research study in the Annals of SaudiMedicine, 40 participants were split into two groups: case group and controlgroup.

For the first 4 weeks, all participants were given an antihistamine routine without honey or a control. At the 4-week mark, the groups were given one of two different treatments:

Thecase group was instructed to have 1 gram of Tualang honey per kilogram of bodyweight every day for 4 weeks. This was also paired with a treatment ofloratadine.

To putthis into perspective, if you weighed 150 pounds , that is 68 grams perday. Considering a tablespoon of honey is 20 grams, you would need to have justshy of 3.5 tablespoons of honey per day.

Thecontrol group had honey-flavoured corn syrup of the same quantities along withthe same amount of loratadine.

After the 8-week study, those who took the honey had significant improvements in allergy symptoms . Those who were in the control group continued to experience issues.

Theauthors suspect that the reason the honey worked was due to suppression of anIgE response. IgE antibodies are released during an allergic reaction. If suppressed,your body wouldnt have a reaction to histamines.

Theyalso believe the theory I mentioned earlier: exposing oneself to air-borneparticles found in honey would cause a person to become desensitized to theparticles.

Alright,so this sounds pretty compelling right?

Well, sort of.

  • Dustmites
  • Wheatflour
  • Peanut

The Best Ways To Deal With Seasonal Allergies

For a proven, effective way to treat allergy symptoms, Dr. Elliott recommends trying any of the available OTC treatments. These include 24-hour antihistamines like Xyzal, Zyrtec, Allegra, and Claritin, as well as nasal steroid sprays like Nasacort, Flonase, and Rhinocort.

Alternatively, if seasonal allergies are making you miserable, and OTC medicines and other at-home treatments aren’t helping, Dr. Basset recommends making an appointment with an allergist for individualized and effective allergy care. This may include clinically administered allergy shots, which contain controlled amounts of your specific allergen to achieve desensitization and improve seasonal allergy symptoms.

Read Also: Do Seasonal Allergies Get Worse With Age

The Real Benefits Of 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.

Why Is Raw Honey Bad For Your Allergies

Local Honey Might Be Sweet Solution To Seasonal Allergies

Unlike grocery store varieties, raw local honey contains pollen from the immediate environment. Pollen is the main cause of seasonal allergies. So if you consume small amounts of pollen over time, your body will stop recognizing local pollen as a threat. At least, thats the theory.

Can we eat local honey if we are allergic to pollen?

Some people think that eating local honey works the same way because it contains pollen. One problem with this theory: theres no way to know exactly whats in your honey. With immunotherapy, we isolate the exact allergen that patients are allergic to, says Ogden.

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Local Honey As A Seasonal Allergy Relief

Spring has officially started! This means beautiful flowers, lots of food for our bees, but also those all-too-familiar allergy symptoms. This year you can say goodbye to watery eyes, itchy skin and runny noses. All thanks to your local honey. I can hear you thinking: How can honey help with this? Well, not all honey can help ease your seasonal allergy symptoms, but local honey can! And this is why

Using Immune Memory To Your Allergy Advantage

When your immune system comes across pollen again, your immune cells recognize the pollen from all the pictures it took and posted up the last time they encountered one another. That memory allows your immune system to respond faster and better every time it encounters the familiar threat, because it learned how to best deal with it last time.

This system works great for threats like viruses or bacteria. These threats dont usually happen every day, so the immune system doesnt become desensitized to seeing the same problem repeatedly.

But imagine if the same problem kept happening every day. Most likely, the immune cells would stop responding as aggressively. Eventually, they might even learn to just live with it like a busted ceiling tile in the break room or a tiny leak in the roof whenever it rains.

When this conditioning is done intentionally, its called immunotherapy. These techniques can be used to help train your body to grow comfortable with having particles like pollen around, so your immune system learns to live with its presence and ignore it.

This is how allergy shots work. By giving you a concentrated dose of particle pieces that youre allergic to every few weeks or months, you can train your immune system to desensitize itself to the presence of that allergy-causing substance.

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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.

What To Pair With Your Manuka Honey To Get The Maximum Benefits

Is Local Honey Better For Allergies

To really make the most of your medicinal manuka honey use, Lockwood has some tips for the best ways to consume itand what to pair it with. The first and most obvious way: Use it to sweeten your tea. “You want fluids that will move the mucus along,” she says, adding that ginger tea with manuka honey would be one of her top recs for someone with vicious allergies.

“Getting foods with vitamin C is important, too, so another pairing you can do is manuka honey and grapefruit,” Lockwood says. Her fave way to enjoy this antioxidant-rich snack is to pop the grapefruit in the broiler with a bit of natural sweetener sprinkled on top for two minutes and then topping it off with honey before digging in.

“Pineapple is another great food to pair manuka honey with if you’re fighting allergies,” Lockwood says. She explains that the active ingredient in the tropical fruit, bromelain, is an enzyme that helps fight inflammation. “If you’re making a homemade dressing, you can mix the manuka honey with pineapple juice and enjoy it that way,” she says. Bonus: None of these remedies will leave you with the drowsiness and brain fog that notoriously comes with your allergy or cold meds.

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How Did Aprilaire And The American Lung Association Come To Work Together In The First Place What Does That Relationship Look Like Presently

AprilAire and the American Lung Association forged a new relationship in 2018. We quickly realized how much we had in common. Our partnership was developed as we saw an opportunity to educate and help more consumers improve the air in their homes to create a healthier environment.

Since 2020, AprilAire has been a Proud Partner of the Lung Association with its 4 residential air filters. Additionally, AprilAire joined the Lung Association as our FY20 National Fight For Air Climb Partner For Healthy Air. The company has also supported the Lung Associations Stand Up For Clean Air campaign. As part of this initiative, we are driving conversations around air quality, climate, and health. The Lung Association invited people to share their #MyCleanAirStoryknowing that when people realize climate and air quality are impacting the health of their neighbors, friends, and loved onesthey are more willing to act. AprilAire provided prizes for the #MyCleanAirStory contest, including one grand prize of a whole-home Indoor Air Quality upgrade and nine AprilAire Room Air Purifiers. This year, the company stepped up once again to sponsor the Wisconsin Fight For Air Climb in Milwaukee. Also in 2021, the Lung Association welcomed Dale Philippi, President and CEO of Research Products Corporation, AprilAires parent company, to the Lung Associations Wisconsin Leadership Board of Directors.

Can Honey Help With Allergies

Honey has not been proven as an effective allergy treatment based on facts or research.

However, some people anecdotally report that raw honey lessens their allergy symptoms, despite these results not being proven in clinical trials.

The theory goes like this:

Local raw honey contains traces of pollen found in your area. The idea is that regularly exposing yourself to local pollen will lessen your sensitivity to it. Honey tricks your immune system into responding to the pollen as food instead of an intruder.

This is similar to how allergy shots work.

Each allergy shot contains a small amount of whatever triggers your allergic reactions. So basically, these allergy shots spark your immune system without leading to a full-blown allergic reaction.

The hypothesis about honey being good for allergies isnt a bad one. But it simply doesnt have the research to back it up.

And heres the thing:

One reason why raw honey isnt believed to work for allergies is because of the type of pollen it contains. Honey contains flower pollen, not typically tree or grass pollen.

Why is this important?

Because grass and tree pollen are the most common pollen allergies.

That said, some people have personally reported that local raw honey has helped with their allergies. The bottom line is that local honey tastes good and has few side effects. It may alleviate allergies, so it might be worth a shot.

If youre going to try honey for allergies, here are a few suggestions:

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What Are Seasonal Allergies

Seasonal allergies are commonly called hay fever. Experts call it seasonal allergic rhinitis. It is an allergic reaction to pollen from trees, grasses, and weeds. It can cause symptoms during certain times of the year usually in the spring and fall.

Common rhinitis symptoms include:

  • Itching of the nose, eyes, or the roof of the mouth

Raw Honey Contains Essential Nutrients

Local honey helps during allergy season

Proper nutrition is vital for health and wellness. Nutrients in raw honey can give your body a boost so its better equipped to handle allergy season or any season. Here are some of the good-for-you natural compounds hanging out in raw, unaltered honey and honeycomb.

  • Niacin
  • Amino acids
  • Antioxidants

Many of the vitamins and minerals found in raw honey are essential nutrients, meaning the body doesnt produce them, so they need to be obtained through food.

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Can Local Honey Really Help With Seasonal Allergies

Seasonal allergy sufferers know that relief from streaming eyes, itchy throats, and stuffy noses can be elusive. One of the more widely touted home remedies is eating local honey or bee pollen to help prevent symptoms. The theory is that by exposing yourself to pollen produced by nearby plantsâpresumably the same ones triggering allergic responsesâyou can train your immune system to not react.

If you’re plagued by pollen, you might be tempted to stock up on local honeyâbut don’t head to the farmer’s market just yet. According to the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, allergists donât believe local honey has a medicinal effect on allergies.

There are a few reasons why honey, delicious as it is, isn’t an allergy cure-all. For one, most people with seasonal allergies are responding to pollen from trees, grasses, and weedsâplants that bees rarely pollinate.

Whatâs more, pollen of any variety isnât present in honey in large quantities. Bees make honey from nectar, not pollen any pollen that ends up in honey is there accidentally, and according to the National Honey Board, it’s only present in trace amounts that won’t have a noticeable effect on your immune system.

How Does Honey Help With Allergies Allergy Relief

  • How Does Honey Help With Allergies? Allergy Relief Center
  • You may have heard that eating local honey may help with seasonal allergies. The idea is that eating local honey exposes you to small amounts of local pollen, which can gradually desensitize you to the allergen and thereby improve your symptoms.

    However, the claim that honey can relieve seasonal allergy symptoms has not been proven by conclusive scientific studies.

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    Not The Allergen Youre Looking For

    Pollen from weeds, trees, and grasses is the leading cause of seasonal allergies. Wind usually whips the yellowy dust from these plants into the air.

    Bees, which make honey, tend to pick up pollen from brightly colored flowers. Pollen from these blooms rarely causes allergies.

    So even if local honey contains pollen, itâs unlikely that itâs behind your allergy symptoms, Ogden says.

    Doctors have researched the issue. Their findings: Honey doesnât work. One study had people with allergies eat 1 tablespoon of local honey per day. Their symptoms didnât get better — not even compared to folks who didnât down any of the sticky stuff.

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