I am often asked if my honey will help hay fever symptoms and honestly, the answer is that for me, it makes it better, but I wouldn’t say it cures it.
The idea that local honey can help alleviate hay fever symptoms is a common belief, and many of my customers swear by this method.
The scientific evidence on this matter is mixed.
Some blogs I have read confirm that there is no scientific proof of this. One study at the University of Connecticut showed that honey (pasteurised or not) had no more effect than a placebo.
That said, there are lots of anecdotal reports and one study found that people who consumed local honey daily for four weeks WITH an allergy tablet had significant improvements in their hay fever symptoms compared to those who only took an allergy tablet. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6074882/) if you fancy a read.
A mixed bag of results but I do exactly the above – take my own honey daily and when the tree pollen is at its highest and I find myself suffering, I take an antihistamine as well. I do feel it has improved from my swollen-eyed, can’t breathe heyday when I first developed hay fever.
For me, tree pollen is the killer, for other people it’s grass pollen or flowers. What should be noted is that the pollen you get in your local unpasteurised honey is going to be a big mix. Bees seek out nectar for food so the pollen they also collect will mainly come from plants that produce nectar – which is often flowers! Bees most certainly collect pollen from non-nectar giving plants (think poppies) but on the whole, your local honey pollen will be a (delicious) mix.
If you are considering this as a method to help your hay fever, my customers tell me to start taking the honey BEFORE your hay fever starts, i.e. early in the year. Building up a tolerance to pollen seems to be the idea, and for many people it really does work.
Always consult a healthcare professional before making any changes in your health plans!