Old wives' tale or the real deal? Some anecdotal evidence.

I suffer from seasonal allergies. I tend to sneeze like crazy when the weather is windy and it's common for me to get a scratchy throat when it's rainy.


A student at the art school where I teach recommended local honey for seasonal allergies. The idea is a spoonful morning and evening is giving you a small dose of the local pollen and helping build up your immunity. I can see how it "makes sense", but whether it actually works or not is another matter.

As it happens, there is a farmer's market right in front of the art school every Wednesday and a stand that sells local honey there. My student may have heard his information there. In any case, the stand had some East Bay honey and I've been having the spoonful morning and evening for a couple weeks now. Even though we are going through a rainy spell with intermittent windy and cold days, my allergies are not acting up. It may be coincidence, but I'm running low on honey and I'm going to buy another jar today.

As for the scientific literature, here is a link to Discovery Health. There was a study done at Xavier University, but it wasn't peer reviewed. There may be some benefits to honey in general and local honey may be better than just any old honey you buy at the store. Honey is a bad idea for babies because of infant botulism, but if you are over 12 months old, the only bad thing about honey is that it is almost pure sugar, but a much healthier version than the corn syrup crap in most processed foods.

So, the Matty Boy view. Give it a shot, it can't hurt much. Side effects include a pleasant sweet sensation on your tongue in the morning and evening. Usually in this type of weather, I would be a mass of nasty symptoms, but right now I'm okay. I'll report back in when the flowers are in full bloom.