Local honey cures allergies
 

A claim I've often heard from proponents of "natural" remedies is that eating honey from local bee hives can help with seasonal allergies. The honey has to be local; commercially produced honey that you buy at the grocery store doesn't work, supposedly.

I suppose as these things go it's pretty harmless (apart from spending money on something that might not work). I'm just wondering if there's any actual scientific evidence for this claim. I'm assuming the idea is that it exposes you to the thing you're allergic to, hence the requirement that the honey be local. The one problem I see with that is that there's no way to guarantee that the flowers the bees are going to are the ones you're actually allergic to.

Given that honey is made from flowers that use bees to pollinate (duh) and allergies are to plants that wind-pollinate, I'm dubious of the claim.

Also,
http://www.allergypartners.com/aller...s-local-honey/
There seems to be only anecdotal evidence in favor and actual studies against it.
Can Eating Local Honey Cure Allergies? https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/10/health/10really.html

Do bees make honey from cat pollen?

I'd be afraid of that honey.

The trick is to spread a thin film of honey all over your face, but avoiding the nostril, mouth, and eye membranes. That way when the wind blows or the air moves, the pollen gets stuck in the honey. You may want to wear a hairband to prevent what the kids call "windshield-wiping."

Smells a bit like Homeopathic “Logic”*


*and by ‘Logic’ I mean fetid bottom-water.

Some pollen does wind up in the honey, though. Large scale commercial honey usually has had the pollen filtered out; local honey from a small scale producer may not have been through this process, either because the producer didn't invest in the equipment or because customers prefer the unfiltered (I personally think it tastes better.)

Of course that doesn't mean that eating the honey reduces allergies. I'm just picking a nit.

No, they're worried that it might lead to cheesing.

Even after 13 years of allergy shots, I avoid honey because I sometimes react to it. I believe the theory behind using honey to "cure" allergies is the same as allergy shots, that by controlled exposure to the allergen you reduce the reaction.

However, since the controlled part is very important, and not all honey actually has pollen in it, I'm dubious about its use as an allergy "cure" (which is in quotation marks because, IMO, allergies are never cured. Your histamine reaction is reduced, but still exists).

Seaboe

Many people have asked me if I've tried local honey made from native Montgomery County bees. Yes, I have, but I think I'd have to eat some of the honey every single day for many many weeks to notice any effect. If indeed there is an effect, which I doubt. I don't put any faith in it--I eat honey because it's delicious and take allergy meds because they work.