Experts and beekeepers weigh in on local honey's effectiveness against seasonal allergies

With allergy season upon us, some sufferers are turning to locally grown honey to try to alleviate allergy symptoms, but the jury is still out on whether it's a good strategy.

When it comes to eating honey to treat allergies, the evidence is mostly anecdotal, but beekeepers and experts agree that local honey is tastier and healthier than supermarket-bought honey.

Arizona Honey Market is a company that sells local honey online and at farmers markets. One type of honey they sell is their “Allergy Mix,” which is made specifically to treat allergies.

The allergy mix contains pollen stored for a year from across the Phoenix metropolitan area, said Jonathan Young, a beekeeper at Arizona Honey Market. He said the allergy mix is ​​different from most honey products, which contain only one or two types of pollen. The idea is that exposure to the pollen helps build a tolerance to it.

“Regular honey only comes from a certain harvest, and that harvest only contains certain types of pollen that the bees eat,” he says. “With the allergy mix, we're broadening that range a little bit, and we're also increasing the pollen content so you don't need to consume as much.”

Young said results usually appear within a week if customers eat it consistently and don't cook over high heat.

Dr. Julie Wendt, immunologist, allergist and owner of Relieve Allergy, Asthma & Hives in Scottsdale, said scientific studies have not yet proven that eating honey helps with allergies.

A mini-review article published in Frontiers in Pharmacology in 2021 looked at studies evaluating the effectiveness of honey, either eaten on its own or in other forms such as saline solutions or skin topicals, to treat allergies. The review noted that while some studies on eating honey have shown promising results, more research is needed.

Factors mentioned in the review that may lead to different conclusions include the type of honey used (such as local honey or a type called Manuka honey from Australia and New Zealand), the dosage, and its chemical composition.

Wendt said the type of pollen people are exposed to is important when trying to treat allergies.

“Airborne pollen is pollen that's carried by the wind. It's very small and tends to come from local trees, grasses, weeds, ragweed, etc.,” Wendt says. “The pollen that attracts bees and moths is sticky, it's large, and it tends to come from flowering plants, etc. It doesn't get into the airways, so it's not a problem for most people.”

Wendt said the best way to prevent symptoms is to avoid exposure to allergens in the first place, recommending keeping windows closed, regularly changing air purifiers, washing pets when they come into the house and showering at night to keep pollen off your bedsheets.

She said antihistamines should only be used when necessary, and if patients are taking them more than a few times a week, they should consider other treatment options, such as allergy shots.

Although there is no scientific consensus on eating honey to treat allergies, Wendt said there's no harm in trying, especially if patients aren't interested in traditional medications or allergy shots.

“When people ask me about it, I say let's try it, try it for a year, see what happens, and if it's not good enough, let's think about coming back,” she said.

Wendt also said he hopes that propolis, a resinous substance produced by honeybees, may be effective in treating skin conditions such as eczema. He said he and two other people with eczema saw improvements after using propolis ointment, but that larger studies are needed before it can be said with certainty.

Whether you're able to cope with seasonal allergies or not, Arizona beekeepers say buying honey locally is a better choice than buying it at the grocery store.

Duane Combs, president of the Central Arizona Beekeepers Association and owner of Arizona Beekeepers LLC, said most of the honey that appears on supermarket shelves is processed.

“There are two things that are done to honey. One is that it is pasteurized to give it a longer shelf life, which kills the enzymes,” he said. “The second is that you import honey, especially when you import honey from China or India, it will have some form of rice sugar or corn syrup or other sugars mixed into it.”

Wendt said he sources his honey from local beekeepers because it tastes better.

“Local honey is much tastier – it's richer and less processed,” she says. “Regular honey sold in supermarkets is watery and thin and almost inedible.”

But she noted that children under one should never eat raw honey because of the risk of botulism.

Combs said he has had quite a few people tell him that his honey has helped with their allergy symptoms.

“So is it something physical about the honey, or is it something psychological? I don't know, and I don't care,” he said. “I'm just happy to be able to sell honey.”