A Honey of a Cure?
Probably not, but it sure tastes good
By Jean Prescott, Sun Herald (USA), 2/15/2006
As if the air weren't polluted enough, it's about to become saturated with spring pollen.
Bob Strickler of Strickler Apiaries in Moss Point says, "Oh, yeah, it's common knowledge that honey helps (with allergies), and we do sell it raw," raw being a requirement for allergy "treatment." It means the honey has not been subjected to the heat of pasteurization. . .
"I don't think there's anything harmful about taking it, but the science just doesn't make sense," said Dr. Douglas Leavengood, an allergist with Gulf Coast Asthma & Allergy Clinic in Biloxi. He has disappointing news for those who swear by the honey treatment.
"Here's the deal," he said. "Pollen allergy is caused by plants that don't flower. Trees, grasses - they produce huge amounts of tiny pollen that fill the air and our nostrils" and produce allergic reactions.
"Bees collect a small amount of much larger, very sticky pollen," he said. This pollen doesn't float in the air but migrates from plant to plant thanks to bees, which are only in it for the nectar.
So the pollen in the beehives isn't the pollen that produces allergic reactions, says Leavengood. . .
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It cured my allergies! However, I had allergies that were unbearable in the month of October. Over years, the month of October got worse and worse. I tried the honey method. Raw, locally produced, put it on toast everyday for 6 months.The following October...no symptoms at all! I was amazed. I didn't think it would work.
ReplyDeletei have had really bad allergies for years now and started eating raw honey just because i thought it looked yummy and i like to eat things that are as least process as possible..i had no idea that raw honey was used by some people to treat allergies. the other day i dusted my apartment and was completely prepared to start sneezing like crazy and get an awful headache- nothing happened though and i was quite amazed. i also realized i hadn't taken allergy medicine in awhile. it just so happened that about a month ago i started eating the raw honey. so even if for some people it is a placebo effect, i was not even EXPECTING it to cure my allergies but i did notice my allergies significantly get better at the same time i started eating it (and didn't make any other change to my diet.)
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