Honey and hayfever

[Levitt53]

I'm selling honey for the first time this year. I keep being asked about hayfever and how local the honey needs to be. I don't suffer from hayfever and don't know if it has ever been proved to help. Does anyone know or have any experience of it relieving symptoms? If so how local would it need to be? Thanks

 

[Stedic]

The theory is that exposure to local pollens in the honey helps to desensitise the body. So, theoretically you would want a honey from bees that forage in a similar area to where the person gets their hayfever. I’ve seen hives within 3 miles of home suggested.

BUT...

1) There is, to my knowledge, no peer reviewed scientific evidence to support the claim. So I won’t start advertising it as a benefit or you could end up with a wrist slap from trading standards.

2) Most hayfever in the UK is triggered by grass pollen (May onwards). Grass is wind pollinated, so won’t be in your honey.

My standard response is something like: “I’m not sure if it works, but a teaspoon of honey a day isn’t a hardship”

 

[foghornleghorn]

The theory is that exposure to local pollens in the honey helps to desensitise the body. So, theoretically you would want a honey from bees that forage in a similar area to where the person gets their hayfever. I’ve seen hives within 3 miles of home suggested.

BUT...

1) There is, to my knowledge, no peer reviewed scientific evidence to support the claim. So I won’t start advertising it as a benefit or you could end up with a wrist slap from trading standards.

2) Most hayfever in the UK is triggered by grass pollen (May onwards). Grass is wind pollinated, so won’t be in your honey.

My standard response is something like: “I’m not sure if it works, but a teaspoon of honey a day isn’t a hardship”

Bees collect grass pollen

 

[Ian123]

It’s my understanding that small amounts of grass pollen is found in honey(am happy to be proved wrong) imagine a bee flying through clouds of it returning to the hive and grooming some gets transferred. As to how local it needs to be. In this country in large areas flora and fauna is similar, there is little variation between what you would find growing in woodland or verges in much of the southern U.K. for instance. You can’t say honey helps with hay fever but you can say many people tell you it does, clearly that’s just their opinion

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

You can’t say honey helps with hay fever but you can say many people tell you it does, clearly that’s just their opinion

unfortunately no real research seems to have been done on this - probably due to the fact that such work is usually finded by pharmaceutical companies - who want to sell you their antihistamines.
all I can say is, my local pharmacies now sell my honey, and quite a few of my customers swear that taking local honey makes a difference to their hayfever.
My usual reply if asked is "I'm not allowed to tell you it does but............."

 

[Beefriendly]

quite a few of my customers swear that taking local honey makes a difference to their hayfever.
."

. About 1/3 to 1/2 of my customer report a significant improvement to complete cure and keep coming back for more. Not everyone but enough to tell me there is something going on...even if's it's a placebo effect.
I tell them even if doesn't help then they still have something really nice and natural to eat.

The one scientific study that I'm aware of was conducted in Finland on birch pollen and had a study group of around 40 people and reported no benefit. But sample size etc is far too small and the pollen too specific for it to be taken as the full story.

 

[Finman]

.
According EU orders it is illegal to sell honey under term of "healthy", if you do not have clear scientific evidence about it.

My wife used daldelion honey in skin care and she got a huge allergic reaction.

Some our beekeepers ready to heal even diabetes with honey.

 

[mjt68]

It's rubbish in my opinion. I eat a fair old bit of local honey and have severe hayfever with prescribed steroids. If anyone asks just smile and nod.

 

[Poly Hive]

I totally agree as I suffer from (now) moderate symptoms and have done since childhood. I have eaten more honey than I care to add up and still reach for the anti histamines.

When I was asked this when selling to the public I just said many believe it, I am not sure. That's being honest and not saying yes or no.

PH

 

[Finman]

. About 1/3 to 1/2 of my customer report a significant improvement to complete cure .

Wow wow wow.

None of my customers do that. Or thy do not report.

 

[Finman]

It's rubbish in my opinion. I eat a fair old bit of local honey and have severe hayfever with prescribed steroids. If anyone asks just smile and nod.

I agree. Severe or mild, but honey does not prevent hayfever.

What is local? In half of Finland we have same vegetation.

 

[ericbeaumont]

It’s my understanding that small amounts of grass pollen is found in honey (am happy to be proved wrong) imagine a bee flying through clouds of it returning to the hive and grooming some gets transferred. As to how local it needs to be. In this country in large areas flora and fauna is similar, there is little variation between what you would find growing in woodland or verges in much of the southern U.K. for instance. You can’t say honey helps with hay fever but you can say many people tell you it does, clearly that’s just their opinion

Agree with all of that, and that a birch tree in Finland is much the same as a birch tree in Birmingham.

When customers ask for confirmation that honey helps I tell them that I've heard the same thing, but that research that proves that it works is absent. By the time we've talked about fluffy electro-magnetised bees flying through clouds of near-invisible grass pollen and they've tasted the honey, the spell is cast and the money appears.

I do ask them to report the effects: no-one has yet declared zero benefit; most that return say that it helps; some say that it stops hayfever entirely. Guesstimate is that most benefit to some extent, whether from the honey or the placebo effect.

 

[Finman]

: no-one has yet declared zero benefit;.

That we can say if someone asks. Can we?
.

Is the dinner good?
No
Is it bad
No......

 

[pargyle]

I've suffered from hay fever since I was 15 ... the worst for me is horse chestnut pollen ... couldn't even control it with anti histamines but I've found that since eating my own honey on a daily basis my hay fever has reduced significantly over the last few years ... there may be other factors but who cares ? I have a number of customers who say the same ... I never sell it on that basis but it's easy for me to be truthful when asked and as long as we don't confer medical cures on our honeys I think we are safe from any authority criticism

 

[Beefriendly]

It's rubbish in my opinion. I eat a fair old bit of local honey and have severe hayfever with prescribed steroids. If anyone asks just smile and nod.

Just because it doesn't work for you and Poly doesn't mean it doesn't work for many other people suffering from a reaction to a different type of pollen.
My best cure was a heavy piriton taker now he needs non...except when he runs out of my spring honey...the summer blossom doesn't help him at all.
If its a placebo effect it's a damn good one.

 

[Finman]

couldn't even control it with anti histamines but I've found that since eating my own honey on a daily basis my hay fever has reduced significantly over the last few years ... there may be other factors but who cares ?

Own honey is key word.

But alergic reactions become milder along age.

 

[Finman]

the summer blossom doesn't help him at all.
If its a placebo effect it's a damn good one.

Or summer plants do not irritate him.....

placebo plants!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Just because it doesn't work for you and Poly doesn't mean it doesn't work for many other people suffering from a reaction to a different type of pollen.
My best cure was a heavy piriton taker now he needs non...except when he runs out of my spring honey...the summer blossom doesn't help him at all.
If its a placebo effect it's a damn good one.

I had a young mother in tears at my door a few years ago as a bad harvest the previous year and increased demand meant all my retailers had none of my honey in stock, apparently her child was so ill in hay fever season the poor dab could hardly function - my honey made it manageable. we managed to find a few jars of 'not for sale' honey to keep her going until I extracted a few weeks later

 

[Stiffy]

Just because it doesn't work for you and Poly doesn't mean it doesn't work for many other people suffering from a reaction to a different type of pollen.
My best cure was a heavy piriton taker now he needs non...except when he runs out of my spring honey...the summer blossom doesn't help him at all.
If its a placebo effect it's a damn good one.

I agree.
We get many, many customers who swear by our honey to help their hayfever each year. However, it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible to prove scientifically that local honey does help with hayfever. There are just too many variables: numerous allergies ( my dog even has 15!) and the differing numbers of pollen's that constitutes a jar of honey.
S

 

[Angry_Mob]

A colleague who I sold a jar to told me that he has to take take medication everyday at 11AM otherwise his chest tightens up. He told me after taking my honey that he didn't need the medication until later in the day.