Buckwheat Honey Used to Treat Children’s Coughs

Honey Don't Cough Hits Pharmacy Shelves
By Shandra Martinez, The Grand Rapids Press (USA), 2/9/2009

GRAND RAPIDS -- Dr. Jeffery Chamberlain recommends some sweet medicine to parents who want a natural remedy to treat their child's cough: buckwheat honey.

When parents complained the dark honey was hard to find and messy to administer to sick kids, the family practice doctor and his wife, Christine, developed Honey Don't Cough.

The packaged buckwheat honey supplements for children hit pharmacy shelves in December -- and quickly became a hit on Amazon.com.

"So far, we've had a lot of people say it really worked well," Chamberlain said.

A box of 10 ready-to-use Liqui-Paks sells for about $5.

Chamberlain began recommending the natural remedy after a 2007 study by Penn State College of Medicine concluded buckwheat honey works better than conventional cold medicine to relieve coughing in children.

More importantly, honey is considered safe for children older than 1 because there is not a serious risk of overdose.

Children have died from overdoses of cough and cold medicines, which the Federal Drug Administration recommends not be given to children under 2. Drug companies have agreed to change labeling to say, "Do not use for children under 4 years of age."…