Does Honey Help With Allergies?

From sweet blossom to clover, honey comes in many varieties, depending on which flowers the honeybees visited for pollen and nectar. For ages honey has been touted for numerous health benefits, ranging from vitamins to helping cuts and burns. In many instances, local honey can also help control pollen allergies and hay fever by boosting the immune system.

Why Local Honey Can Help Allergies

• One major cause of allergies is airborne pollen from trees, flowers and grass growing. It is the same pollen that bees collect to make honey, which means small traces of pollen are in raw honey. In much the same manner as allergy shots build up resistance to an allergen, immunotherapy with honey can treat allergies. By taking a small amount of local honey over a lengthy period of time, a person can build up a resistance to pollen.

  Although scientific research on honey for pollen allergies is scarce, many people claim success in using honey to control their seasonal allergies.

How to Use Honey for Allergies

• When taking honey as allergy therapy, use raw honey from a purveyor in your area. The honey should be unheated and unpasteurized. Raw honey has not been strained and therefore contains the pollen, molds and dust that cause 90 percent of all seasonal allergies. Using local honey is important because it contains the same local pollen that is probably causing your allergies.

  Honey therapy is most effective when it begins several months before pollen season in your area. Take a small amount daily to allow your immune system to process it. Taking less than a quarter of a teaspoon a day can prevent anaphylactic shock in people with severe allergies.

  Be aware of any symptoms, such as itching in the back of the throat, swelling, or a rash, after swallowing the honey. If there is any allergic response, reduce the amount you are taking until your immune system builds a resistance to the honey. Then, gradually increase the daily dose.

Benefits of Using Honey for Pollen Allergies

• Using raw, local honey for pollen allergies provides numerous benefits not found in traditional allergy therapies. Honey is far less expensive than allergy shots, antihistamines or allergy drugs. It is a natural alternative to chemicals. Honey is also easier to take and more palatable than allergy medicines.