SPECIAL FEATURES:
Email
Does local honey diminish allergies?
It certainly tastes fabulous, but does local honey have the power to stop itchy eyes and scratchy throats?
Thu, Apr 15 2010 at 12:50 PM
Related Topics:
Photo: cygnus921/Flickr
A letter to the New York Times editor about how local honey helps to fight allergies got me thinking, does it really work? I’ve heard about this natural allergy-fighting remedy before, but I've always wondered, how do you know it works? How much would you need to consume?
I use only local honey. The wildflower honey I get from a South Jersey honey producer is amazingly delicious. Tasted alongside of the grocery store honey that comes in a little bear, there’s no comparison. I always stock up at the end of farmers market season so I have enough to last me through the winter.
No one in my family suffers terribly from seasonal allergies. My oldest son and I get itchy eyes and a bit of a sore throat when the seasons start to change in the spring and fall, but it only lasts a couple of days. We wait it out and don’t take any medication.
I wonder if our symptoms would be worse if I didn’t buy local honey? Could the honey mustard chicken recipe that my boys like so much that I make it weekly in the winter be medicinal?
The theory about local honey and allergies is this: your local bees are more likely to collect pollen from the local flowers in your area. That pollen will end up in small amounts in the honey produced. By ingesting that honey on a regular basis, the person eating the honey will build up immunity to the pollens from the flowers in their local region. It’s sort of like a vaccine taken little by little.
That’s the theory. There doesn’t seem to be any scientific evidence to back that up, however. I can’t find any scientific studies that test the theory. Even without scientific evidence, this seems like one of those ideas worth trying. There are other proven benefits, too. Honey can immediately sooth a sore throat (whether it’s caused by seasonal allergies or not). It’s a natural, temporary energy booster. According to the National Honey Board, it “contains small amounts of a wide array of vitamins and minerals, including niacin, riboflavin, pantothenic acid, calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium and zinc.”
In addition to the health benefits, buying local honey helps support local honey producers. Small bee farmers are on the front lines of helping to save our decreasing bee population right now, and purchasing their local products can help keep them in the fight.
My question to you is, do you use local honey to alleviate the symptoms of your seasonal allergies? Do you believe it works and why? I'm really curious.
Also on MNN:
The opinions expressed by MNN Bloggers and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not reflect the opinions of MNN.com. While we have reviewed their content to make sure it complies with our Terms and Conditions, MNN is not responsible for the accuracy of any of their information.
You might also like:
Sign in with one of these accounts to add your comment.
EDITORS' PICKS
Advertisement
TODAY'S MOST POPULAR ON
- 15 famous people who mysteriously disappeared
- 10 false facts most people think are true
- A day in the life of the human hand
- Stone Age people may have battled against a zombie apocalypse
- 9 habits that may do more harm than good
- Tattoos for the edgy environmentalist
- 5 mind-bending facts about dreams
- The amazing health benefits of turmeric
- Why banning candy is a road to nowhere
- Best air-filtering houseplants, according to NASA
NEWSLETTER
ABOUT Robin Shreeves
Stay-at-home mom on eco-friendly food options.
Advertisement
My wife raises bees in the backyard. She eats honey everyday and is rarely sick.
Most allergies are to trees, mold, dust mites, ragweed, other weeds, grasses and things that don't have flowers with nectar. The bees go to flowering things only. Some trees attract bees like pecan, pear and others with blossoms but I don't see how it would work. Allergy shots work a lot better because you get some of everything you are allergic too as opposed to a bit from a few flowers.
Yes, bees go to flowering plants, but the grass pollens, ragweed pollens; molds, fungii etc are blowing through the neighborhood. These land on everything like cars, houses, and "Flowering Plants". So the bees are carrying all of this back to the hive and infusing the honey with all of the pollens, dust particles, and other possible allergens. I have been subject to vicious allergies in the past. Since eating local honey, both Spring and Fall allergy seasons pass by with hardly a blip.
This is nothing new, historically honey's been used that is before we created some fake think in the USA called a healthcare system, that really just works to keep us sick, doped up cancerful. It's not a matter of believing if it works, it's a fact that it works. (hopefully you are not allergic to the pollen though, or you have to stay drugged up on one of their petroleum based pills...)
I agree, follow the money, Big Pharma and Big Food want to keep us sick.
He used to have seasonal allergies, and my mom fed him bee pollen for a couple of years. Now he doesn't have allergies. I don't know if the pollen was local, but it was probably at least from the US. Anyway, I'm going to eat more honey. Maybe I'll just lick pollen out of flowers...
I suffered from seasonal allergies most of my life. However, when my first child was born, I became a stay at home parent, and drank tea with local honey, 2-6 cups each day. My allergies disappeared after a couple of months.
Where in south jersey do you get the honey. I am a Chiropractor in South Jersey and would like to get the address to the place in south jersey where you get the honey.
I get the honey from Mind Your Own Honey and Beeswax when they sell at the Collingswood Farmer's Market (which opens for the season this Saturday, May 7, by the way). Mind Your Own isn't there every week, however.
They do have a website
http://myobeeswaxproducts.stores.yahoo.net/honey.html
Co-ops, farmers markets. Seriously? you don't know where and you are a Chiropractor
I am a local beekeeper and I have numerous customers who buy from me and swear by honey's medicinal effects.
Honey from certain plants can make you very sick, even kill you or make you trip like crazy. Some Roman defeated an army by mixing local honey into mead and leaving it behind when he retreated. The next day most of the invaders were staring into space or waving their hands and watching the trails, or half dead.
Also, people used to let kids play in the dirt all the time and build up their tolerances. Now they sit in 13th floor apartments getting sick from carpet fumes.
Type in mad honey into google. there is a type of plant that produces honey that has a toxin that produces these symptoms. The plant is the Oregon Rhodedendrum (sp ?). There have been medical studies on this unusual type of honey.
i use local honey to rub on my daddy's baby's head. it be keepin' allergies from gettin in his head real good.
Nice try, Leon. Your mixed up patois gives you away. What is your point?
I've been a beekeeper for 12 years now. Of course I eat my own honey and I have experienced a sharp decrease in allergy symptoms since I started over a decade ago. Prior to this I did experience allergy symptoms - especially after mowing the lawn. Not any more!
That doesn't add up. The supposed mechanism for all this is that bees consume local pollen, you eat the honey, and develop resistance to the pollen. Why would you develop resistance to cedar pollen if cedar trees aren't pollenated by bees?
Tree pollen seems to be everywhere because it is carried by the wind. Maybe enough of the cedar pollen lands on flowers and is then carried back to the hive for consumption. So the bees are consuming enough of it to have some show up in the honey even though the bees are not actually pollinating the cedar trees. This is just a theory, I have no proof.
Both me and my SO have suffered from what we call "Cedar-fever" here in south Texas. 2 Years ago we started adding local Honey to our diets a the end of summer hoping it would at least diminsh the January onslaught of cedar (juniper) pollen. We both have seen dramatic , near absolute, conquest of this seasonal allergy problem. There can't be any other word than "miraculous"!
anything made by natural life is usally ( i didnt say always) good for you
Pages