someone told me a teaspoon of local bee honey per day would help my allergies. paid $11 for local honey and came home and googled. web md claims no. article is 2 years old! since i have purchased the bee honey i will try it. nothing to lose at this point. has it helped any of you and if so where do you purchase. $11 seemed steep but what the heck i supported a four oaks business. "By Susan Davis WebMD Magazine - Feature Reviewed by Laura J. Martin, MD In every issue of WebMD the Magazine, we ask experts to answer readers' questions about a wide range of topics, including some of the most cherished medical myths out there. For our March/April 2012 issue, we talked to Michael Palumbo, MD, an allergist with Allergy & Clinical Immunology Associates in Pittsburgh, about the popular idea that honey helps prevent allergies. Q: Can local honey help my allergies? A: No. The theory that taking in small amounts of pollen by eating local honey to build up immunity is FALSE. Here's why: It's generally the pollen blowing in the wind (released by non-flowering trees, weeds, and grasses) that triggers springtime allergies, not the pollen in flowers carried by bees. So even local honey won’t have much, if any, of the type of pollen setting off your allergies. Studies show bees don’t just bring flower pollen back to their honeycomb. They bring "tree and grass pollen, in addition to mold spores, diesel particles, and other contaminants," says Palumbo. The problem is that it’s difficult to make a honey from just one kind of pollen (say, weeds and not grass). So, save your local honey for your tea and toast, not for your allergy medicine cabinet."
I would continue using the honey. Sounds like WebMD is pushing medicine in support of the pharmaceutical companies. I use the honey and I think it works for my whole family. It is not going to solve all your problems, but it helps. You should also try a nettie pot if you don't want to take the medicine.
I know many people who give local honey to their kids when they are young to help with this. Even just use it will every day foods. You can sometimes even find local neighbors with hives that would sell it even cheaper or even give it away. My next door neighbor just started a hive, but won't have honey for a few months to a year.
I love honey in tea and mixed in with other stuff, but our family has researched this before and found that honey is not an allergy remedy. Sorry, Sherry http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Allergies/alternative-allergy-remedies-fact-fiction/story?id=18792233#1 Home> Health>ABC News OnCall+ Allergies Center Allergy Remedies: Fact or Fiction False ... mostly. One of the most common allergy remedy myths is that eating locally grown honey will desensitize allergy sufferers to the pollen in the air, meaning less sneezing. According to Neil Kao, an allergist and station head for the Allergic Disease and Asthma Center, simply eating local honey picked up at a farmer's market is not going to help with your oak, ragweed or juniper tree allergy. Kao said the pollen that bees pick-up from flowers is heavier than the tree and grass pollen that are the main causes of springtime allergy misery. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/10/health/10really.html?_r=0 THE BOTTOM LINE There’s no evidence that local honey relieves allergy symptoms. However, one limited study found that people allergic to birch pollen who ate honey with birch pollen added were able to control their allergy symptoms more than those using mainstream allergy medications.
