by Harriet Lee

Created on: April 21, 2010   Last Updated: May 12, 2010

If you don't suffer from seasonal allergies then spring is a lovely, beautiful season.  If you have time to spend in your garden, watching your creations grow and mature, then there is nothing more satisfying.  Flowers are blooming and trees blossoming.  However for allergy sufferers it can be a complete nightmare.  People are cutting their lawns, and you are stuck inside with your windows and doors shut, or else you are sneezing, coughing, and spluttering with your sore, red and blotchy eyes streaming.  If so you are almost certainly allergic to pollen. 

Believe it or not there is a perfectly natural cure for this allergy, commonly known as hay fever, and that is honey.  Yes, local honey can actually alleviate the symptoms of hay fever.  Although there is little research and evidence done on this, scientists believe honey may be preventative and even a cure.  It can be compared to how a vaccination works.  By eating local honey you will gradually vaccinate your body from the allergens.  There are also other health benefits from eating the honey.  This treatment is also inexpensive compared to over the counter drugs commonly used called antihistamines.

The honeybees collect the pollen from plants, grasses and flowers that you are allergic to, and these allergens will be found in their honey, so it makes sense to use honey made close to you.

Honey has in it a variety of what causes your hay fever, so by eating the honey, you are gradually making your body immune to what is causing you so much sufferance.  Local honey is produced by bees that live within a close proximity of yourself and therefore has been to the different variety of flowers and grasses around you.  It is best to start taking your honey a few months before the hay fever season.  It is suggested to take two small teaspoons a day to slowly build your immune system.

It has to be remembered though that people can have an allergic reaction to honey, if you show any symptoms at all then you should stop taking it immediately.   

There have been no studies completed to really evidence that eating local honey really is a cure, or a preventative measure against pollen allergies.  However there are many, many people who use this therapy religiously year in, year out and after suffering often quite severe symptoms are now happy within the spring and summer months.  Above all honey is wonderful on toast or spread on warm fresh bread.  Do not give honey to a child under 1 year of age though, as it is not recommended.

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