Photo by Peter Shank

I really hate getting colds.  Almost every time I have a cold it is a really bad cold and many times turns into bronchitis (it used to turn into tonsillitis until I had my tonsils removed in college).  I hate taking cold medicine because of how it makes me feel and I really think sometimes it makes me feel worse than I would have otherwise.  Now that we have Jacob, who is 9 months old, I’ve been reading about how the FDA a couple of years ago recommended that no child under 2 be given cold medicine (the American Academy of Pediatrics says not to give kids under 3 cold medicine unless you check first with your doctor, and says studies have shown no benefit of cold medicine in kids under 6 ).   Cold medicine can give kids high blood pressure, increased heart rates, dizziness, and breathing problems.

So, what is a good alternative for cold medicine?  After reading an appendix about the health benefits of honey in Fruitless Fall, I discovered that honey may be an answer.  First, I should point out that no child under 1 year old should be given honey because it could cause botulism.  But if you have an older child with a cold, or if you yourself have a cold, a spoonful of honey may be a good bet.  Studies have recently been done on the effectiveness of honey as a cold remedy for kids.  It has been shown to soothe a soar throat and calm a cough.  Honey’s calming effects may also help kids sleep better.  Honey has anti-microbial properties, and I can’t find anything but speculation on this, but some have claimed that the anti-microbial properties of honey could actually help kill of the bacteria or virus that is causing you to be sick.  (NOTE:  Studies have proven honey’s anti-microbial properties to be effective for severe burns to keep them from getting infected).

Jeremy and I have been putting a spoonful in our breakfast shakes every morning.  We both have allergies and there is also a theory that eating local honey helps your allergies in the same way an allergy shot would because you are ingesting the pollen.   Buy local though, the allergens in your area are only in your local honey, honey from some place else will have totally different allergens.

So, go out and support your local bee keepers, and buy a jar of honey.  Not only for it’s medicinal purposes, but because it’s delicious.  For more information on using honey to treat colds in children see this article.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 13th, 2009 at 9:00 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.