Can Local Honey Actually Help My Allergies?

When winter begins to make way for spring, many people welcome the warmer temperatures and increased daylight hours by opening the windows and letting the fresh spring air in. However, when you live with seasonal allergies, spring might be more of a nemesis. The new spring blooms bring all sorts of pollen and irritants that can leave you feeling miserable.

Because there isn’t really a cure for seasonal allergies, many people have looked into more natural alternatives to oral medications and nasal sprays. One of those medication-free remedies is honey obtained and made in your local community. 

The thought that the answer to obnoxious seasonal allergies is as simple as honey seems like a great one. But does it actually work? Our team led by chief allergist Chad W. Mayer, DO, FAAAAI, FAAP, at the Allergy and Asthma Institute of Southeast Michigan in Farmington Hills, Michigan, seeks to answer that question in this month’s blog. 

Does local honey work?

The thought behind ingesting local honey is a scientific one. When you have food allergies, a very effective treatment is oral immunotherapy, where you slowly ingest more and more of the food you’re allergic to in order to desensitize your body to it. Other environmental allergies can also be treated with immunotherapy injections. 

When bees make honey, they get nectar from flowers and some of the flower pollen sticks to their legs and lands in the honey. So, if you eat honey made by bees from your local neighborhood, it should contain pollen from flowers that you’re allergic to. Once you ingest enough of it, your body should become less sensitive to the pollen in your community. 

This is a good train of thought, but there just isn’t any scientific evidence to support it. Most of the time, seasonal allergies triggered by pollen are tree, grass, and weed pollens, not flower pollens. In addition, there’s no way that pollen concentrations in honey can be high enough to immunize yourself against your allergies. 

How we can help manage your seasonal allergies

Even though local honey isn’t going to be an effective solution to your seasonal allergies, we offer several treatments at our practice. So, you should be able to find one that’s a good fit for you. 

Our first step is to identify your specific allergens. By discovering or at least narrowing down the allergen group that’s causing your symptoms, it’s going to be easier to manage. 

Medications such as antihistamines and nasal sprays are great choices for getting relief from allergy symptoms such as sneezing, a runny nose, itchy eyes, and coughing. If you find they’re not effective, we can recommend others to choose from.

More long-term allergy relief can come from avoiding the type of pollen you’re allergic to. You may have to be careful about how much time you spend outdoors and avoid areas in your community that have a heavier amount of your allergen. We also offer immunotherapy injections for seasonal allergies, though this treatment takes several years to build up optimal desensitization. 

Ditch the honey and see our team instead

When spring pollen brings on the sneezing, itching, and congestion, skip the honey and come see our Allergy and Asthma Institute of Southeast Michigan team instead. Schedule a visit by calling our office or using our online booking feature today.