a taste of honey

[islayhawk]

Pilot friend when he heard I keep bees told me that when travelling the world if you take local honey it boosts your immune system to illnesses specific to that area. Any truth in the story

 

[Erichalfbee]

Probably as much truth as there is in the theory that local honey helps hay fever.
You pays your money...........

 

[bpmurray]

None of the evidence supports this claim. This paper talks about double-blind testing, where they used local and non-local honey and sugar syrup with honey flavour added, and the conclusions were:

Results
Neither honey group experienced relief from their symptoms in excess of that seen in the placebo group.

Conclusions
This study does not confirm the widely held belief that honey relieves the symptoms of allergic rhinoconjunctivitis.

 

[Binge]

36 participants is hardly a statistically significant study groups, which means only 12 took honey.
But then I suppose it took years to throw out Wakefield's MMR fiasco and that only used 12 hand picked individuals.
Science, sometimes it's better if it's conducted by scientists.

 

[charlievictorbravo]

When I'm talking to a potential customer and they ask about honey as a treatment for hay fever, I say that lots of people think local honey helps them with the condition but it's not been scientifically proven in properly conducted trials. It's one of those statements that's true but false, if you know what I mean.

If I can ease a customer's hay fever symptoms by encouraging the placebo effect, I must do what I can (by not destroying their faith) and sell them a jar of local honey.

CVB

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

The loads of hay fever sufferers beating a path to my door when the butcher's shop that sold my honey closed seem to believe it works. Who am I to argue.

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

Who am I to argue.

Don't put yourself down, JBM.

You've honed that skill to a fine art on this Forum.



Dusty

 

[oliver90owner]

A further question might be: Did your friend simply hear about it while travelling the world, or is he considerering simply eating the local honey while travelling through the locale? A subtle difference. If the true, the second option would not likely help an 'itinerant' traveller, would it? If the former, you don't need to be a traveller to hear the claim!

 

[Cussword]

Don't put yourself down, JBM.

You've honed that skill to a fine art on this Forum.



Dusty

. .

 

[islayhawk]

Dont know if he heard or has benefited. However I will ask him next time I talk to him. Some really interesting feedback from my post. I myself would love to believe it does help.

 

[Swarm]

The loads of hay fever sufferers beating a path to my door when the butcher's shop that sold my honey closed seem to believe it works. Who am I to argue.

Had the same here.

 

[psafloyd]

None of the evidence supports this claim. This paper talks about double-blind testing, where they used local and non-local honey and sugar syrup with honey flavour added, and the conclusions were:

Agreed, but even if honey is a placebo and eases symptoms, is it not better than taking medications? Most of my customers think so.

But I also have a number who were violently against using honey (including my missus) but she found a major improvement and hasn't taken antihistamines for five years when she used to take them for half the year.

My brother in law hated honey until he tasted 'mine'. Now he has it almost every day because he didn't realise it could taste so good.

That is the reason to take honey.

 

[psafloyd]

The loads of hay fever sufferers beating a path to my door when the butcher's shop that sold my honey closed seem to believe it works. Who am I to argue.

 

[beebopper]

Don't put yourself down, JBM.

You've honed that skill to a fine art on this Forum.



Dusty

 

[beebopper]

Any truth in this? In a word - No.

Does the hay fever thing sell local honey? Yes so I nod politely and takes the cash.