Honey from your own back yard may be the cure for allergies

The drugstore shelves are full of medicines promising to be nondrowsy, long-lasting and more effective. All too often these pills and syrups fail to keep those guarantees.

As a result, some people are turning to natural remedies.

"Nature has provided us with a bounty of remedies for our problems," said Mike Brown, owner of Natural Health Organic Foods in Cape Girardeau.

Allergy suffers, for instance, have found that the sweet taste of local honey can help prevent watering eyes and stuffy noses.

Bees that process local flowers put bits and pieces of that pollen into the honey they produce. It's believed that small exposures to pollen won't cause an attack and will help the allergy sufferer build up an immunity to the allergen.

Allergy sufferers should try to buy honey that is produced as close to their home as possible, Brown said, because that product will have more of the things that cause their attacks.

And that isn't the only use for the sticky substance.

"The majority of our customers buy it for health reasons," Michelle Hengst of Sweet Blossom Honey Farm said, "it can be used on burns, for allergies, and some people use it for migraines."

Michelle and her husband, Greg, own about 200 hives and sell their honey at the Arena Park farmers market on Wednesdays. Hengst said that her own family often uses honey to help heal burns.

Brown said honey can also be used to treat abrasions or as a good source of energy.

"The most important things to remember when dealing with honey is not to use heated or pasteurized honey," Brown said. "That significantly diminishes the health benefits."

And mixing honey with apple cider vinegar is believed to help people with arthritis, Brown said.

"People have been telling me that for years and years and some of them are getting around better than they should be," Brown said.

While the medicinal value of honey hasn't been proven in a scientific study, Dr. Robert Sacha, an allergist and doctor of pharmacy and medicine, sees value in natural remedies.

"As long as it doesn't hurt or worsen a condition, and you think it helps, use it," Sacha said. "Folk remedies got us through before patent medicine."

Other natural remedies for arthritis include flax seed oil, which also helps lower cholesterol, or ginger extract, another anti-inflammatory which can help people with joint pain. According to Brown, ginger extract works in the same way as Celebrex but without the same potential for harm.

"These things are nontoxic and the side effects are virtually unheard of," Brown said.

Brown recommends that people educate themselves about their health needs when trying to find a remedy, do research and find out about both prescription drugs and natural remedies.

dfarley@semissourian.com

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