A sweet, delicious substance beloved by humans and Disney’s Winnie the Pooh, honey is an excellent natural sweetener that enhances numerous breakfast meals and snacks. However, as “juice cleanses” and “low-calorie” diets begin to pervade the world of fitness and nutrition, many people are overlooking this sticky, delectable fluid’s remarkable health benefits.
For instance, honey is considered an excellent cough suppressant, as the World Health Organization lists the sweetener as a demulcent, a substance that relieves irritation in throats and mouths by forming protective films. According to a 2012 study published in the journal Pediatrics, children between the ages of one and five with nighttime coughs due to colds actually coughed less frequently after receiving two teaspoons of honey 30 minutes before bed. The sweet nectar’s taste is believed to trigger nerve endings, protecting the throat from incessant coughing. Considered to be as effective as the common cough suppressant ingredient, dextromethorphan, honey can be employed in treating upper respiratory tract infections.
Honey has many potential health benefits.
Image Source: Norman Hollands
A natural antibiotic, honey can be used as a conventional treatment for burns and wounds. Research from a 2005 study published in the British Journal of Surgery observed that patients suffering from wounds and leg ulcers experienced significant improvement after applying honey. Manuka honey, sometimes used in treating wounds and skin ulcers, works very well to stimulate healing, says Michigan’s wound care specialist Dr. Frank Bongiorno.
But honey’s most interesting yet controversial benefit is its ability to alleviate allergies. Ingesting locally-produced honey, which contains pollen spores picked up by local bees, introduces a small amount of allergen into your body. Consequently, this activates your immune system, and through time, you can build up your natural immunity against the allergens.
However, New Jersey allergist, Dr. Corinna Bowser, believes that it’s a bit of a stretch to apply that to patients, as most allergy sufferers are sensitive to wind-carried pollens like grass and ragweed, the kind not carried by bees and transformed into honey. One study discovered that patients consuming birch pollen honey, during birch pollen season, had a 60% reduction in allergy symptoms. Although the results are preliminary and should be taken with some skepticism, the study’s authors concluded that birch pollen honey could serve as a complementary therapy for birch pollen allergy.
Indeed, honey has a great deal of health benefits that many people tend to overlook. Although its ability to mitigate allergies remains unclear, this tasty nectar acts as an effective cough suppressant and a potent solution for wounds and burns. For other more information about honey’s other treatments, check out Organic Facts and Mother Nature Network.
