There’s a lot of fuss online about local honey as the ‘ultimate hay fever hack’ – but does it really help? | Antiviral

AAs pollen counts increase in parts of Australia in spring and summer, so do the number of social media posts highlighting the benefits of locally produced honey to relieve hay fever symptoms.

On TikTok, influencers claim raw honey is “super effective” at building resistance to hay fever or even stopping hay fever forever, while some honey sellers claim their products can help people stay “antihistamine-free”.

“It’s the ultimate hay fever hack,” one producer claimed in a Facebook post.

Kira Hughes, research scientist and site manager at Deakin University’s AIRwatch pollen counting facility, says she has noticed an increase in misinformation about alternative treatments for hay fever, and among those “under heavy pressure” is honey.

It prompted the airborne allergen researcher to dive deep into the science behind the claims. But first, she says, it is important to understand how hay fever occurs.

What actually causes hay fever?

In Australia, the most common hay fever trigger is pollen from grasses. Also called allergic rhinitis, it occurs when particles of the irritant – including dust mites, animal dander or mold – are inhaled.

If the immune system sees these particles as harmful, it will produce immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies, says Prof. Jo Douglass, a specialist in respiratory medicine and allergic diseases. This in turn releases chemicals, including histamine, into the blood, which usually helps protect against invaders such as parasites.

But an overreaction of the immune system to harmless invaders can produce too much histamine, causing sneezing, itching, red and watery eyes and other uncomfortable symptoms, says Douglass, head of the University of Melbourne’s Medical School.

In parts of southeastern Australia it is where a mix of converging environmental factors is more likely to occur at onceincluding high ryegrass pollen counts, pollen is swept into the air during windy thunderstorms, and the moisture in the wind combined with the high wind force causes the pollen to break up into smaller pieces.

These small fragments can then penetrate deeper than the eyes, nose and throat and into the lungs, causing more serious symptoms such as asthma, a phenomenon called ‘thunder asthma’.

Those who advocate that local honey can treat hay fever or prevent thunderstorm asthma believe that because local, unprocessed honey may contain small amounts of pollen collected by bees, ingesting this honey can gradually desensitize the immune system and act as a type of immunotherapy that makes the disease possible. body to get used to the allergen over time.

But Hughes says bees are quite selective.

“In Australia, all our allergenic pollen comes from trees and grasses, which bees rarely come into contact with,” she says. Douglass adds, “Grasses are wind-pollinated, and that includes ryegrass, which is the biggest culprit when it comes to allergies and thunderstorm asthma.”

So it’s unlikely that the allergen gets into the honey at all, they say.

What does the evidence say about honey?

Respiratory physician and consultant to Asthma Australia, Dr John Blakey, says desensitization therapy for asthma “is not particularly effective”.

“There are no asthma guidelines that say, ‘If you are allergic to grass, desensitize yourself and your asthma will be cured.’ There is no robust evidence that it is more effective than other standard treatments.”

He says such desensitization therapy should only be performed under the medical supervision of a specialist.

Hughes says the evidence from scientific studies claiming that locally produced honey can treat hay fever is also weak. A of the studies used honey in combination with the antihistamine loratadine, commonly sold as Claratyne. “The honey itself has never been tested as effective,” she says.

A systematic review – a type of scientific inquiry that examines all research on a specific topic – found the existing research on honey and allergic rhinitis had conflicting resultslimitations in the design of the experiment, and provided poor quality evidence.

“Overall, local honey was no better than a placebo and only a weak claim could be made that honey could be used in addition to – and not instead of – allergy medications,” says Hughes.

She doesn’t want to see a situation where “people think they can replace their normal medication with honey.”

Australia’s worst ever thunderstorm asthma event in 2016 caused 10 deaths, and 87% of the more than 3,500 people who presented with thunderstorm asthma had hay fever. “People can be at very high risk on high pollen days, including asthma during thunderstorms, if they don’t have the right medications to take or if they don’t have a plan in place because they’ve decided to use honey instead,” she says.

“It’s definitely dangerous rhetoric that has been spread by some of these honey companies who see it as a clever marketing strategy to convince people that antihistamines are just as effective, if not better, than medications.”

What do the experts recommend instead?

Blakey says anyone who believes their treatments are no longer working should make sure they are taking their preventive medications properly; talking to your doctor about other medications you can try; and check to see if their symptoms are indeed caused by an allergen.

• Melissa Davey is the medical editor of Guardian Australia. She has completed a master’s degree in public health and moonlighting as a fitness instructor

• Antiviral is a biweekly column that interrogates the evidence behind health headlines and fact-checks popular wellness claims