Does Honey really help alleviate pollen allergies?
It sounds like a win/win situation. Sweeten your teas and muffins with honey and cure your pollen allergies at the same time but the truth of the matter is honey probably does nothing to alleviate those itchy eyes and runny nose.
Still the idea isn't so far-fetched. Some experts point out
that honey can contain traces of flower pollen — an allergen and one treatment
for allergies is repeated exposure to small amounts of allergens.
In recent years, scientists have discovered that honey
possesses some legitimately intriguing properties. Proteins secreted by
honeybees, for instance, are mixed with the flower nectar bees use to produce
honey, and science has recently discovered that one of these proteins, called
“bee defensin-1” has significant antibacterial, anti fungal, and antiviral
properties.
The misconception comes from the pollen the bees mostly
carry back to the hive. In the previous
post we talked about insect pollinated vs. wind-pollinated? The pollen blowing
in the wind (released by non-flowering trees, weeds, and grasses) is what
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 also show that bees don’t just bring flower pollen
back to their honeycomb. They carry tree and grass pollen, in addition to mold
spores, diesel particles, and other contaminants. Which means 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 muffins, not for your
allergy medicine cabinet.
