Does Honey Help With Allergies
This is actually a more controversial question than you might think. On one side of the debate are those who say that scientific studies do not support the claim that using raw honey for allergies is beneficial. It is interesting how this side includes a number of allergy doctors and drug companies. On the other side are thousands of testimonials from people who have tried it and who say that honey does help with allergies. For example, one customer from Mississippi told us: I take tupelo honey every day for allergies. I have not sneezed from hay fever or been unable to breath for a few years. It should be no surprise that beekeepers tend to be in this second group.
Raw Honey For Allergies Vs Allergy Shots For Allergies
This theory of using raw honey for the treatment of allergies should sound familiar to anyone who is familiar with or heard of allergy shots.; Often administered by Allergists, or a doctor with a specialty in the treatment of allergies, allergy shots are often referred to as allergen immunotherapy, hyposensitization therapy, immunologic desensitization, hyposensibilization, or allergen-specific immunotherapy in the medical community.; Many medical studies have been done regarding their effectiveness and many studies have proven them to be affective, especially over time.
Physician administered immunotherapy can be in two different forms: subcutaneous injection and sublingually .; Most often, pollen allergy treatment is administered as shots subcutaneously.; Both methods work by exposing the patient with increasingly larger doses of the things they are allergic to with the aim of inducing tolerance to the substance.; In the case of pollen allergies, they administer pollens to subjects via injection at increasing amounts over a long period of time.
This should sound very similar to the theory of eating honey that contains the pollen that an individual is allergic to and building up a tolerance to it over time.
Many studies have been done on the effectiveness of immunotherapy.; Overall it has shown to be successful in produce long-term remission of allergic symptoms, reduce severity of associated asthma, as well as reducing the chances of new sensitivities to allergens developing.
When Allergies Flare Its Tempting To Seek Relief From Easy Inexpensive Treatments Can Honey Help With Allergies Heres What The Research Says
Its that time of year: Your box of tissues never leaves your side and your eyes may as well be made of sand. Thats rightits allergy season and youre probably desperate for any fix. Of course, you can rely on over-the-counter medications or try to stay inside, but have you heard that honey might help with seasonal allergies? After all, the ingredient can already do so much in the kitchen.
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Other Help For Allergy Season
As mentioned before, honey should be just one part of the allergy protocol. An anti-inflammatory diet is another part a huge part. Basically, limit processed food and eat more vegetables and fish. If you need more help, the University of Wisconsin has a thorough article on it.
There are also herbs you can use to help with allergies. Nettle is a natural antihistamine and is very affordable, in fact you might be able to forage it in your area.
Nasal washing with a neti pot or other nasal washing system will help remove the pollen from your nose. This is especially helpful if youve spent time outside.
Lastly, if you keep your windows open during the spring, you might want to close them and run the air conditioner. This is hard for those of us who enjoy spring with our windows open but it helps keep the pollen out of our house.
Thanks for sharing with your friends!
Wednesday 29th of April 2020
why don’t you allow people to pin this link pertaining to honey, not regarding your new book?
Angi Schneider
Thursday 30th of April 2020
How Long Do I Take Honey To See An Allergy Improvement
I have terrible allergies to pollen, dust, dustmites, certain trees such as oak, some grasses and so on. I have been taking wildflower raw honey and I want to know if it is really helping me, and if so for how long should i take it? is there a better option for me?Hi Jenny, Great question. The answer unfortunately is…it depends. Is the honey you are taking a locally sourced honey? Some find that raw, local honey works quite quickly while others find it doesn’t work until the following allergy season. Allergies are a very complex health challenge that have many, many factors that can cause or influence them. Even your diet can be a contributing factor. I do recommend bee pollen for virtually all allergy sufferer’s. Local is best but any good quality bee pollen should help you.https://www.bee-pollen-buzz.com/bee-pollen-products-cart.html
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Raw Honey For Allergies:
It is raw and still contains all the living enzymes needed to protect body.
Ingredients:
- Consume one teaspoon of honey.
How it works: It is a great antioxidant, antibacterial, antifungal and anti-allergenic.
Repetitions: Once daily.
Best time to apply: Anytime of the day.
Tips: Do not use your daily dose to cook or bake, as heat may destroy the pollen in the honey making it ineffective.
What Causes Seasonal Allergies
It all starts with microscopic protein particles called “pollen” which are made by the male parts of flowers and tree blossoms. When these tiny particles come into contact with female flower parts, a seed is created. Pollen is spread from plant to plant by floating through the air or by catching a ride on insects, birds or other animals. This is called “cross-pollination” and it results in stronger plants. But how do these tiny protein particles end up causing so much misery for so many people? For that, you can blame your immune system.Your immune system is a complex combination of chemical and biological defenses that your body uses to stop harmful invaders such as bacteria, viruses and parasites. Pollen is not among these. But sometime in your past, your immune system misjudged pollen to be a harmful bodily invader, and it was thereafter classified as a threat. This is known as becoming “sensitized” to pollen. Once this false imprint is complete, it cannot be undone. You will have pollen allergies for the rest of your life. Or maybe not – keep reading.
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How Does It Work
There is no money for drug companies if people eat honey for their allergies.; Therefore, you will not find many studies done on this. One study is from The International Archives of Allergy and Immunology. The people in the study had 70% fewer days with severe symptoms and used 50% less antihistamines.
Logically, from what weve learned about allergies, it makes sense. When you have an allergic reaction, your body is reacting to a substance as if it were poison and would kill you.; The body goes into full defense mode and sometimes reacts to such a degree that it is life threatening .
Well, immunotherapy is the idea of introducing a substance that your body reacts to in tiny tiny degrees; training your body to not react.; When people get allergy shots, this is what they are doing: slowly giving their body a tiny bit of the substance they are allergic to in order to train the body not to produce histamine as a reaction.
Raw Local Honey For Allergies
It is recommended that the dosage for honey is 1 tablespoon of honey per day for a couple of months before allergy season; then 2 tablespoons a day when the allergy season comes.
In case you realize that the dosage only worsens your allergy, stop taking honey for some time then resume taking a lower dosage of honey. You could restart taking honey with a quarter tablespoon of honey then increase with time.
However, you are advised not to give honey to children of less than 1 year old as it may work negatively for them. ;Unprocessed or raw honey has a botulism risk to infants. ;Always seek your doctors advice if honey causes undesirable symptoms like a swelling of the mouth, skin or throat as well as itching.
Also Check: What Can You Take For Allergies During Pregnancy
The Theory Behind The Healing Powers Of Honey
Some people believe raw local honey can cure seasonal allergies through a process called immunotherapy. Many medical treatments, such as allergy shots, are also based on this principle.
The general idea is that you can desensitize the immune system to an allergen by exposing the body to small amounts of it over time. Eventually, the body stops overreacting altogether and the patients allergies disappear.
How would this process work with honey? Unlike grocery store varieties, raw local honey contains pollen from the immediate environment. Pollen is the main culprit of seasonal allergies. Thus, if you consume small amounts of pollen over time, your body will stop recognizing local pollen as a threat.
At least, thats the theory.
Stay Faaaar Away From Sugar
Youre a monster, Mr. Grinch Your hearts an empty hole Your brain is full of spiders Youve got garlic in your soul, Mr. Grinch I wouldnt touch you with a thirty-nine-and-a-half foot pole
In this excerpt from How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Dr. Seuss couldve been describing how I feel about sugar. Except for the garlic part, cause garlics amazing, yall. But honest and true, everyone and their mom needs to stay as far away from sugar as possible, since any amount of sugar will lower your immune system. And if you have allergies, you need your immune system as strong as possible. Not that you dont need a strong immune system otherwise You know what I mean.
That being said, I dont mean stay away from sweeteners. Dates, raisins, apples, bananas, stevia, local honey these are all fine for you. In fact, honey is;a good thing to add in to that hot cup of herbal tea youre gonna brew at the end of this post. Its full of vitamins and minerals,;has;large amounts of good-for-you;bacteria and is anti-fungal, and probiotic.;
If youre looking for a good bunch of treats that are free of refined sugar, here are a few of my favorites
Recommended Reading: Can You Drink After Taking Allergy Medicine
Honey As A Treatment For Seasonal Allergies
An increasingly common trend among people who suffer from seasonal allergies is to use raw, locally produced honey as a form of treatment for their allergy symptoms. This practice is based on the theory that eating small amounts of honey daily helps build the body’s immunity through gradual exposure as bees transfer small amounts of pollen into the honey, the same pollen spores that cause the symptoms these people suffer from.
Dr. Julie Glass, a naturopathic doctor from Oregon, further explains this procedure; “It’s the same principle as allergy shots, where patients are given minimal amounts of the substance they’re allergic to. Over time, the immune system will recognize the offender, so it doesn’t launch an attack. The theory is that eating the honey with those spores can desensitize the immune system.”
There has been some evidence indicating that using honey before allergy seasons can act as a preventative measure to compress the symptoms. Two recent, relatively small studies, which produced slightly different results, proved that although using honey in a medical capacity wont be effective as treatment regarding food allergies, it could help with seasonal allergies.
To read:;Can honey be a cure for allergies???
Food Allergy Concierge wants all our customers and everyone in the allergy community a safe, joyful, and sweet year. We look forward to serving you.
How Long Does It Take For Honey To Help Allergies
Raw honey contains bee pollen that can serve to eliminate the infection and alleviate the allergy suffered by someone. In fact, raw honey can be used to boost the immune system.
According to research that has been done, consuming honey with a dose that is high enough for eight weeks to give a good impact.
Other studies also mentioned that honey can reduce the symptoms of allergic rhinitis or inflammation in the nasal cavity.
This type of allergy can cause itching, sneezing, and watery eyes. To consume this honey can be tailored to your needs.
In addition, you can use a standard dose of one teaspoon or one tablespoon of honey. Of the various statements, if asked about how long does it take for honey to help allergies?
So, the answer is tailored to the condition of allergies experienced. However, the time required is not a little time.
This is because honey overcomes allergies naturally, so it takes quite a long time.
Local honey can also be useful for overcoming seasonal allergies that can cause sore throat, difficulty breathing, coughing, or headaches.
This local honey effectively acts as a good natural remedy for people with seasonal allergies. In addition, by regularly consuming local honey will help you increase immunity to local pollen.
Local honey significantly provides better control of allergy symptoms than conventional medicine. Therefore, you can consume raw honey regularly to cope with seasonal allergies and improve the immune system.
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Raw Honey As A Natural Allergy Remedy
One traditional home remedy for managing seasonal allergies is regularly consuming local, raw honey. The idea behind this is that local bees pollinate local plants that produce local allergens. Consuming small amounts of honey containing trace amounts of these local allergens helps the body build up a natural immunity to these allergens over time.
This is not a new concept, though it been practiced for centuries by societies around the world who rely on nature for their medicine; it is also the idea behind allergy shots;and other vaccines in the realm of allopathic medicine, The idea is that administering small doses of a suspected allergen or pathogen will cause the body to become immune to it.
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:
- Nettle
Also Check: What Foods To Avoid If You Have A Latex Allergy
Here Are Some Ideas For Minimizing Your Exposure To Pollen According To Dr Wright:
- Keep your windows closed
- Remove clothing after coming in from outdoors
- Wear sunglasses outdoors
- Try to minimize outdoor activities at dawn and dusk, when pollen counts are the highest
- Talk to your healthcare provider about taking an over the counter medication, including antihistamines and/or a nasal steroid
If your symptoms are not well controlled despite the above strategies, discuss with your healthcare provider if you are a candidate for allergen immunotherapy .
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.
*Disclaimer: The American Lung Association does not endorse any product, device, or service.
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Air quality experts say that it is safe to resume flying, but travelers must take advanced precautions before traveling like taking shorter flights when possible, wearing masks, and social distancing.;
In an opinion piece for The Washington Post, Joseph Allen, an assistant professor of exposure assessment science at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, makes the case that airplanes do not make you sick. In fact, airplanes have comparable levels of air filtration and fresh air ventilation to a health care facility.;
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Ugh Fine What About Remedies That Actually Work
Where do I start? Your first step should obviously be getting in touch with your doctor, who’s aware of your symptoms and can make recommendations on remedies according to your own medical history.
From there, you can try to limit your symptoms during allergy season by limiting time spent outdoors when pollen count is high, changing your clothes immediately after being outside, and showering before going to bed, says Dr. Erstein.
Medication, like non-drowsy oral antihistamines and intranasal steroid sprays , can help ease symptoms even more. .
As far as more permanent remedies go, doctors can alter your response to allergens through allergy immunotherapy , says Dr. Erstein.
âAllergy immunotherapy is your best chance at modifying your bodyâs response to environmental allergies, as it typically helps 80 percent of people who receive treatment,â says Dr. Erstein. âUnfortunately, allergy immunotherapy takes time to work and is a big commitment.â .
The bottom line: Local honey will not help your allergiesâbut OTC meds and other treatments like allergy immunotherapy can.
