Honey -- the "new" cough medicine

Sara PA

New Member
I wanted to post his where the most people would see it so I chose here.

Honey Treats Coughs Better Than Drugs
That Spoonful of Honey May Beat Over-the-Counter Remedies

By KATHARINE STOEL GAMMON
ABC News Medical Unit

Dec. 3, 2007—


There may be hope for parents looking for alternatives to drug-laden cough syrup to calm their children's coughs -- and help might be as close as that golden nectar in the kitchen. Honey can soothe throats and calm coughs, according to a new study.

The study, published Monday in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, found that children who received a small dose of buckwheat honey before bedtime slept better and coughed less than those who received either a common over-the-counter cough suppressant (dextromethorphan) or nothing at all.

"This is the first time honey has been actually proven as a treatment," says lead study author Dr. Ian Paul, a researcher at Penn State College of Medicine. He adds that honey has been recommended for ages by grandparents in certain cultures.

The researchers enrolled 105 children, between ages 2 and 18, in their randomized, partially double-blind study. On the first night of the study, the children received no treatment. Parents then answered questions about their children's sleep and cough, as well as the quality of their own sleep. The second night, the children were given either honey-flavored cough syrup or honey -- or nothing at all. Parents then reanswered the questions in the survey.

Parents whose children received the honey rated their kids' sleep and symptoms as better -- and their own sleep as improved as well.

Healing Powers of Honey

Paul says that the type of honey plays a role in the treatment.

"Darker honeys have more antioxidants than lighter honeys, and we wanted the best chance to see improvements," he says, noting that lighter honeys would probably also benefit kids. "At least locally [buckwheat honey] is available. I can get it here at the local supermarket."

Honey is also generally less expensive than over-the-counter medications, he says, and bring none of the side effects like dizziness or sleepiness.

The current study was inspired by an earlier investigation by Paul and his group. In 2004, they showed that the two most common active ingredients in cough syrup, dextromethorphan and diphenhydramine, had the same effectiveness in treating cough symptoms as a placebo ingredient.

Some of the kids who took honey did experience side effects, according to the study. The parents reported slightly more hyperactivity when their kids took honey, compared with when they took cough syrup.

But it's also interesting to note that this is not the first time the sweet stuff has been looked to as a remedy. Honey has been used since the time of the ancient Greeks and Egyptians to treat everything from wounds to insect bites. This usefulness can perhaps be attributed to the idea that an enzyme that bees add to the nectar produces hydrogen peroxide, an antibacterial agent.

A Conclusion That's Easy to Swallow

For coughs and sore throats, it may be the stickiness and viscosity of honey that makes it work well.

"It has long been known that demulcents [like honey] can soothe irritated mucous membranes and thereby remove the irritation that is fueling the cough reflex," says Paul Doering, co-director of the Drug Information and Pharmacy Resource Center at the University of Florida.

"This explains the popularity of the so-called 'cough drops' that we all were given as children," he says, adding that the cough syrups serve a similar purpose: they lubricate the throat, thus reducing irritation. "The immediate relief that one experiences when swallowing that dose of cough syrup is attributable to the viscous vehicle and not the medicine itself."

Other pediatricians warn that there is a minimum age when honey is appropriate. Only children 2 and older participated in the study.

"Pediatricians do not recommend using honey in any situation -- whether it be to eat or to relieve a cough in children younger than 1 because of the risk of botulism," says Dr. Ari Brown, a pediatrician in private practice in Austin, Texas, explaining that botulism spores in honey can harm infants.

Brown says that even if honey is eventually shown to have little effectiveness, it certainly will not hurt -- and it can make parents feel as if they're doing something.

"It's benign, and as opposed to standard cough medicine, it tastes good," she says. "But the authors admit that the improvement in symptoms may simply be attributable to the length of time a child has symptoms of cough and that the common cold will improve over time anyway."

Doering says that since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's recent recommendation that cough and cold medicines not be given to children under 6 years old, this new research may calm the nerves of parents who wonder what to give their children.

"I believe that recommending honey as a cough medicine has merits. It provides a safe option to using chemical based options," he says, adding that honey is part of a trend of recommending more commonplace traditional remedies for ailments.

"We are in an age of newfound caution when it comes to dosing our kids for minor illnesses," says Doering. "Personally, as a pharmacist, I always feel uncomfortable recommending a chemical solution to every ill that comes along."

Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures
 

JJJ

Active Member
I hate the way cough syrup makes me feel and have used honey for years. It is nice to see the medical community supporting research into what natural remedies really work.
 

SRL

Active Member
My daughter and I recently both had an oddball virus which consisted mostly of a nasty cough. Absolutely nothing I tried settled down her cough: antihistamine/decongestant, cough medication with codeine, nebulizing, steam. Finally after desperation one night I made her a cup of peppermint tea with plenty of honey 30 minutes after giving her Benadryl (which I know knocks her out). That combination did the trick when nothing else had.
 

hearts and roses

Mind Reader
I hate the way cough syrup makes me feel and have used honey for years. It is nice to see the medical community supporting research into what natural remedies really work.

Ditto - we only took honey when we were sick growing up and it works. It's very soothing on your throat,helps calm the cough, helpe build your immune system and it's tasty too!
 

saman

New Member
Honey is a natural antiseptic! I use it all the time in tea for my kids if they have a tickle in their throat..typically knocks it right out before it gets really bad.

Glad to see this! :smile:
 

tiredmommy

Well-Known Member
Just one note of caution:
Honey could potentially cause botulism in young babies. You want to wait to introduce honey until baby is a year old.
 

Marguerite

Active Member
My mother used to mix lemon juice with honey and warm it. When we had a cold we had to sip a spoonful to ease a sore throat.
But easy child 2/difficult child 2 doesn't like it with lemon, husband can't take too much lemon and so we've begun just using honey. Singers need to avoid using too much, because too much sugar is metabolised into more carbon dioxide than fat, and an overload of sugar will increase breathing rate enough to affect a performance (speaking from experience! I later found the physiology behind it).

In Australia we have ti-tree honey and yellowbox honey. The New Zealanders have a tree similar to ti-tree, the manuka, which makes perhaps one of the best honeys in the world for healing. They've been using these three honeys for treating leg ulcers. We've been able to buy tubes of "medihoney" which is pasteurised honey designed for medical use. Sold in pharmacies. TGA listed. From what I can find out, I think it's manuka honey.

Another interesting use - when you're working in the garden and trying to strike plant cuttings, you can use honey instead of hormone rooting powder. We've stopped buying the expensive products and just dip the cutting ends in honey. It works!

Amazing stuff, honey.

Marg
 

witzend

Well-Known Member
We make tea out of Thyme. It works very well. You'd have to honey it up a bit for a kid, but I like it.

THYME - Historical or traditional use:

Other than its use as a spice, thyme has a long history of use in Europe for the treatment of dry, spasmodic coughs as well as bronchitis.1 Its antispasmodic actions have made it a common traditional recommendation for whooping cough. Thyme has also been used to ease an irritated gastrointestinal tract. The oil has been used to treat topical fungal infections and is also used in toothpastes to prevent gingivitis.

Active constituents

Many constituents in thyme team up to provide its antitussive (preventing and treating a cough), antispasmodic, and expectorant (thinning the mucus to allow for coughing out) actions. The primary constituents are the volatile oils, which include the phenols, thymol and carvacol.2 These are complemented by the actions of flavonoids. Thyme, either alone or in combination with herbs such as sundew, continues to be one of the most commonly recommended herbs in Europe for the treatment of dry, spasmodic coughs as well as whooping cough.3 Due to the low toxicity of the herb, it has become a favorite for treating coughs in small children.

How much is usually taken?

The German Commission E monograph recommends a cup (250 ml) of tea made from 1/4–1/2 teaspoon (1–2 grams) of the herb taken several times daily as needed for a cough.
 

JJJ

Active Member
Marg,

You have me very confused. In the States, honey comes from bees. Down under, you have honey trees????
 
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