Living in Davis I, and almost everyone else around me, suffer from allergies! I’ve tried all different kinds of medicine, but most make me drowsy! So when I started hearing all the “buzz” about local honey helping with allergy relief, I wanted to know … is this fact or fiction?????

Many studies prove people do seem to show relief from local honey, while other studies prove that local honey doesn’t relieve anything but maybe inflammation.

The idea behind this relief theory is that bees fly from flower to flower covered in pollen, which is then transferred to their honey. Eating the local honey is supposed to help build up your allergy immunity through gradual exposure to the local allergens. Thus, relieving symptoms.

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However, Dr. Stanley Fineman, president-elect of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, says that seasonal allergies are usually triggered by windborne pollen, not by pollen spread by insects, so it’s not very likely that honey collected from plants that do not cause allergy symptoms would provide any allergy relief.

Furthermore, the University of Connecticut Health Center Researchers followed dozens of allergy sufferers through the allergy season.  The subjects were split in 3 groups: (1) ate tablespoon daily of local, unpasteurized, and unfiltered honey (2) ate commercial honey and (3) ate corn syrup placebo with synthetic honey flavoring. The subjects’ symptoms showed no improvements between groups.

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In my opinion,however, it seems logical that if the local honey was coming flowers that you ARE allergic to, then maybe a tablespoon a day would help with allergy relief. In addition, any type of honey may also help with the throat inflammation sometimes caused by allergens! So, in conclusion, why not just try it?? What do you think?? How many of you have tried this remedy???