Honey as a Hay-fever remedy
As a long time chronic Hay-fever sufferer, I am well acquainted with utterly disabling and misery inducing symptoms.
I have tried homeopathic remedies, with varying degrees of success, dietary cures, nasal washes, barrier sprays and often resort to powerful antihistamines just to get by when i need to function, but in truth antihistamines are powerful drugs and I don't care to keep ingesting them and don't want their effects on my brain, bladder, liver, kidneys or gut by prolonged use.
(I once made myself an effective homeopathic remedy from grass pollens when i had manged to identify the local grasses which were causing my problems. but this method requires identifying exactly which pollens are aggravating you. Where i lived in Northern New Mexico, there were only three, so that made it easy. )
I've met quite a few people now who have told me how local honey has helped their Hay-fever.(rhinitis). The theory or claim is that pollens from the locale are collected by honeybees, make it into the honey and effectively act a bit like a vaccine or homeopathic remedy perhaps.( I don't doubt the anecdotal evidence of people, what i question is the reasons they give.)
The only problem with this theory is that it is probably incorrect. The reason being, that wind-borne pollens from trees and grasses are chiefly responsible for hay fever not insect borne pollens. These grass pollens and tree pollens are not pollinated by bees.
Raw honey is a wonderful medicine and a mild pre and probiotic effect and will promote your overall health and is very healing for gut disorders or even soothing a throat sore from sneezing.. It does promote overall health, regulates blood sugar and assists in gut health, which would all be helpful. There are good reasons in chinese medicine too why honey should help. ( and these are only some of the things we know).
So it looks like raw honey does work for Hay-fever, just probably not in the way we think. What I can say is that eating only local honey has no greater benefit for Hay-fever than eating any other raw honey. Its benefit is probably more to do with the constituents of that particular raw honey and how its used. I don't think a teaspoon a day is going to do it but it's really up to you to experiment with dosages and what works for you.
A parting question to ponder. Do you only get hay fever when you are in your home environment ? or do you get it wherever you happen to be even whilst travelling ? So if you do, why would local honey honey be the answer to your hay fever, if you get the same symptoms whilst travelling ? It's worth considering, but myths are hard to dispel, especially when some are invested in perpetuating them...
Lastly below is a letter I received from a regular customer in the south of England, which is a striking testimonial about the raw carob honey and its effects on her Hay-fever.
PS We only have 20kg left...
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