How does Local Honey help Alleviate Seasonal Allergies?
How Does Local Honey Help Alleviate Seasonal Allergies?
Is Honey Good for Allergies
First Published: Helium Articles 2010
Seasonal allergies are those allergies that typically only present at specific times of the year such as in the spring and summer. The most common seasonal allergy is hay fever when the pollen in trees, weeds or grasses causes strong allergic reactions.
How can honey help alleviate seasonal allergies and why local honey? Honey actually has many health benefits; it is easily digested by sensitive stomachs and honey is thought to help prevent cancer, ageing and heart disease. Glucose in honey diffuses quickly into the bloodstream giving an instant boost to energy and it can also act as an immune buster against allergies.
Grasses, trees, weeds and mould spores can all cause hay fever. When a person who is allergic to pollen comes into contact with these tiny particles, this triggers an allergic reaction. Seasonal allergies arise from constant exposure to the same allergens. Symptoms of Hay Fever include a runny nose, watery eyes, sneezing, coughing, headaches and a sore throat. So how can honey help?
Most everyone knows honey bees collect pollen and nectar from flowers and store it in their stomachs to carry it to the beehive. While the pollen is inside the bee's stomach it mixes with proteins and enzymes and is converted into honey. This honey is then dropped by the bees into their beeswax comb. Bees in the hive fan their wings to thicken the honey; the honey is then capped with wax before the bees move on to the next empty comb.
Many people wax lyrical about the powers of local honey especially to help alleviate seasonal allergies. Honey contains many of the pollen spores that trigger an allergic reaction in hay fever sufferers. It is thought that introducing small amounts of these spores into the body by eating honey might help the body become accustomed to their presence and reduce the likelihood of the immune system over-reacting to the trigger.
Most substances people are allergic to are harmless; pollen and dust for example aren't particularly dangerous and yet when the immune system over-reacts it can cause very unpleasant and painful symptoms in some people such as constant sneezing and coughing, sore throats and itchy eyes. Hay fever isn't suffered because pollen is hazardous to the health but because a person's immune system is playing up.
It is therefore believed that because local honey is made from some of the pollens from the flowers in a person's immediate locality that are causing the allergic reaction this is the best honey to help them try to treat their allergy. Honey produced locally will contain some of the pollens they are breathing in and therefore eating local honey will help build a person's resistance to pollen.
In order for this to work well it is recommended that honey is eaten in small amounts such as a few teaspoons a day some months before the seasonal allergy usually occurs. It must also be noted that in the rare case that a person be allergic to honey, it isn't likely to help alleviate seasonal allergies and would be best avoided.
