Honey does have a lot of medicinal properties. In many ancient medical systems, honey had an important place. Though honey can have positive effects on the body system, there have been numerous stories and beliefs about honey. One such often debated topic is its ability to fight allergies. Though some believe it can, many believe otherwise. Let us take a look.
Honey and allergies
It is generally believed that local honey can fight allergies. Local honey is the one which is not processed or pure honey. Nowadays, you get many variants of honey. Local honey is considered to be pure and directly extracted from combs and thus does not contain any impurities or added preservatives.
The reason behind is that: bees go to many flowers and in the process, they also carry pollen spores which gets transferred into the honey they make. Thus, it is believed that such honey which contains pollen acts like a vaccine and that when it is consumed daily can lessen allergy symptoms. Since most of the allergy symptoms are caused by pollens in atmosphere, this theory has found agreement with many people.
The reality is that though there have been scientific studies on this belief and researchers have conducted studies to test the effect of local honey on allergies, nothing concrete has been established as of now.
In fact, a study that appeared in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology in 2002, found that honey had no effect on allergies. The study was conducted on three groups, one was given local honey, the second group consumed commercial honey and the third synthetic honey. They were checked for their allergies after a particular period of time. The researchers did not find any improvement in their allergy symptoms in all the three groups.
The benefits of honey
Honey has many benefits. It is easily digestible and it can even increase immunity. Thus honey may be able to increase the immunity of a person and he might be able to deal with allergies more efficiently. This is a general logic but no studies have yet confirmed this.
Though consuming honey in moderate amount is not harmful, one should be a little wary of local honey or the honey that comes directly from honey combs. These might contain bee parts, bacteria and other particles which might not agree with your system. Mildly processed honey is safer.
At end of the day, it can be concluded that local honey really does not have any effect on allergies but yet, pure and clean honey can be consumed for it does have many medicinal properties. Pure honey really does not create any harm to the body. So honey can be consumed as a food ingredient but to alleviate allergy symptoms, one should consult a doctor and know the causes and cure for the allergy. Many allergies can be controlled well if one can take adequate preventive measures against them. Paying extra attention to cleanliness, covering the face while dusting, etc can help in preventing dust allergy. Food allergies and other allergies need medical attention.
