Science behind using honey/bee pollen for allergies...websites?

[Tap]

I want to research using honey for allergies but would like to find reputable sites to investigate the use. Any suggestions?

 

I am not looking for anecdotal accounts, but the why and how it works.

[annlaura]

:bigear:

[Denise in Florida]

We use local honey for allegeries but I have never found anything I would call 'sound science' behind it.

 

I hope you find some good material, I would like to see it also.

[theYoungerMrsWarde]

My grandparents keep bees and they know a lot of the science. I can ask them to e-mail me their sources, but it might take a week for them to get back to me...

 

Plenty of anecdotal evidence though, too.

[Sushi's Mom]

It's been over a year since I looked into it, so I don't have specifics, but what I read was that since the honey is coming from local flowers, it is supposed to help build up immunity. I decided to not try it though because I read too many accounts of people actually having allergy attacks, asthma attacks, and one person had to go to the hospital. I know there are a lot of people that say it works for them, but I decided I was too much of a chicken to take a chance.

[Aggie]

Our mentor told us not to market our honey as immunotherapy.

 

Honey is made from nectar. Any pollen in the honey will be inconsequential.

 

However, you may buy pollen from some beekeepers. Of all our beekeeping friends (about 300 families), none of them harvest the pollen to sell, though. The only pollen we can find to buy is from 60 miles away.

 

HTH!

 

ETA: just re-read your post. Pollen can work as immunotherapy. My dh goes to the allergist each week and gets an injection of allergens. His body will eventually build up a resistance to those allergens. Taking pollen works the same way. It won't be perfect, though, because bees won't collect pollen from every plant you're allergic to. And there's mold and dust mites to contend with, also.

Edited June 12, 2011 by Aggie

[sbgrace]

Recent study:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21196761

BPH =Birch Pollen Honey and RH=Regular Honey The Birch Pollen honey group had their allergen (birch pollen) actually added in increasing amounts into the honey.

Conclusions: Patients who preseasonally used BPH had significantly better control of their symptoms than did those on conventional medication only, and they had marginally better control compared to those on RH. The results should be regarded as preliminary, but they indicate that BPH could serve as a complementary therapy for birch pollen allergy.

 

Theoretically it makes sense they had some success. There are trials going on now after all with small dose desensitization of even serious allergens like peanut. On the downside this isn't a placebo controlled and randomized study. I really don't think a person can yet say definitively but I think a person could say it has potential at least.

 

The study above is interesting as they did the honey in the "off" allergy season as it likely should be done. Other studies finding no effect like this one http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11868925 seem to have been administering and looking for results at the same time. They did have a control group and found:

 

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

 

That study is the one often cited to disprove the honey theory for allergies. I think it's unfortunate that they didn't, apparently, use the honey prior to the season given the idea is desensitization. I don't, therefore, think it definitely proves it doesn't help though it would seem to prove it likely won't help if you start in your allergy season!

 

So....I think you could say there is research to support trying it. It doesn't seem to do a thing for my son (local honey, used year round) but for all I know he'd be worse without I suppose.

Edited June 12, 2011 by sbgrace

[Sushi's Mom]

These are probably not the exact articles I read before, but they are similar.

http://www.uamshealth.com/?id=867&sid=1

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey

See 'other medical applications'.

 

http://www.wfaa.com/news/health/Honey-for-seasonal-allergies-91941914.html

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/10/health/10really.html

 

 

This one is a bunch of people talking about their allergies to honey. I never knew people were allergic to honey. Very interesting.

http://ehealthforum.com/health/severe-allergy-to-honey-t179548.html

[wapiti]

This one is a bunch of people talking about their allergies to honey. I never knew people were allergic to honey. Very interesting.

http://ehealthforum.com/health/severe-allergy-to-honey-t179548.html

 

Just thinking out loud, I wonder whether any proteins from the bees end up in the honey; after all, people can be allergic to bee stings.

 

Interesting conversation.

[Aggie]

\

http://www.wfaa.com/news/health/Honey-for-seasonal-allergies-91941914.html

 

 

 

This is just bad journalism. Very bad.

 

The North Dallas Honey Company should know that many beekeepers in this area send their bees to other places where the honey flow is longer. The honey may be harvested here, but there's a good chance it's not *local*. The reporter didn't know what questions to ask.

 

 

And the nurse they quoted? :glare: Is she a specialist? An expert?! What are her qualifications to speak to honey/allergy issues? What are her sources? If a person has an anaphalactic reaction to the miniscule amounts of pollen in the honey, how in the world does that person even walk outside? I won't even address her grammar. ;)

 

As the uamshealth article pointed out, pollen is collected from flowers. Our bees are collecting from dandelions, hibiscus, azaleas, etc, right now. How many allergy tests test for those? The tests are usually testing for trees, grasses and molds.

 

Not ranting at you, Sushi, just what passes for 'expert' these days.