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Local Honey and
Allergies
by Tom Ogren
As one who makes his living by
writing about allergies and asthma I am often asked about the
potential health benefits of using local honey.
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Honey contains bits and pieces
of pollen and honey, and as an immune system booster, it is quite
powerful. I have often in talks and articles, and in my books,
advocated using local honey. Frequently I’ll get emails
from readers who want to know exactly what I mean by local honey,
and how “local” should it be. This is what I usually
advise:
Allergies arise from continuous
over-exposure to the same allergens. If, for example, you live
in an area where there is a great deal of red clover growing,
and if in addition you often feed red clover hay to your own
horses or cattle, then it likely you are exposed over and over
to pollen from this same red clover. Now, red clover pollen is
not especially allergenic but still, with time, a serious allergy
to it can easily arise.
Another example: if you lived
in a southern area where bottlebrush trees were frequently used
in the landscapes or perhaps you had a bottlebrush tree growing
in your own yard, your odds of over-exposure to this tree’s
tiny, triangular, and potently very allergenic pollen is greatly
enhanced. |
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In the two examples used above,
both species of plants are what we call amphipilous, meaning
they are pollinated by both insects and by the wind. Honeybees
will collect pollen from each of these species and it will be
present in small amounts in honey that was gathered by bees that
were working areas where these species are growing. When people
living in these same areas eat honey that was produced in that
environment, the honey will often act as an immune booster. The
good effects of this local honey are best when the honey is taken
a little bit (a couple of teaspoons-full) a day for several months
prior to the pollen season.
When I’m asked how local
should the honey be for allergy prevention I always advise to
get honey that was raised closest to where you live, the closer
the better since it will have more of exactly what you’ll
need.
It may seem odd that straight
exposure to pollen often triggers allergies but that exposure
to pollen in the honey usually has the opposite effect. But this
is typically what we see. In honey the allergens are delivered
in small, manageable doses and the effect over time is very much
like that from undergoing a whole series of allergy immunology
injections. The major difference though is that the honey is
a lot easier to take and it is certainly a lot less expensive.
I am always surprised that this powerful health benefit of local
honey is not more widely understood, as it is simple, easy, and
often surprisingly effective. |
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 Read
more from Tom Ogren -- Local
Honey Revisted 2009 |
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The Author: |
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Thomas Leo Ogren
Mr. Ogren is the author of five
published books, including allergy-free gardening, and also of,
Safe Sex in the Garden. Tom does consulting on allergies and
landscaping for, among others, the USDA urban foresters, the
American Lung Association, for county asthma coalitions, landscape,
nursery and arborists’ associations, and for www.Allegra.com
Tom’s own website is www.allergyfree-gardening.com
Copyright 2004, Thomas L Ogren.
All rights reserved worldwide. |
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Article Posted: January 26, 2004 |
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