As pollen counts increase in parts of Australia throughout spring and summer, so too do the number of social media posts spruiking the benefits of locally sourced honey to alleviate hay fever symptoms.
On TikTok, influencers claim raw honey is “super effective” at building resistance to hay fever or even stopping hay fever for ever, while some honey sellers claim their products can help people remain “antihistamine free”.
“It’s the ultimate hay fever hack,” one producer claimed in a Facebook post.
Kira Hughes, a research scientist and site manager at Deakin University’s AIRwatch pollen counting facility, says she has noticed a rise in misinformation surrounding alternative treatments for hay fever, and among those being “heavily pushed” is honey.
It prompted the airborne allergen researcher to take a deep dive into the science behind the claims. But first, she says it’s important to understand how hay fever develops.
What 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 – which can also include dust mites, animal dander or moulds – are breathed in.
If the immune system perceives these particles as harmful, it will produce immunoglobulin E antibodies, according Prof Jo Douglass, a specialist physician in respiratory medicine and allergic disease. This in turn releases chemicals including histamine into the blood, which usually helps to protect against invaders like parasites.
But an overreaction of the immune system to harmless invaders may produce too much histamine, causing sneezing, itchiness, red and watery eyes, and other uncomfortable symptoms, says Douglass, who heads the University of Melbourne’s Medical School.
In parts of south-east Australia, where a mix of converging environmental factors are more likely to occur all at once, including high ryegrass pollen counts, pollen is swept into the air during windy thunderstorms and the moisture in the wind combined with high wind power causes the pollen to rupture into smaller pieces.
These tiny fragments are then able to penetrate more deeply beyond the eyes, nose and throat, and get into the lungs, triggering more serious symptoms such as asthma, a phenomenon referred to as “thunderstorm 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 could gradually desensitise the immune system, working as a kind of immunotherapy that allows the body to get used to the allergen over time.
But Hughes says bees are pretty selective.
“In Australia all of our allergenic pollen comes from trees and grasses, which bees barely come into contact with,” she says.
Douglass adds: “Grasses are wind pollinated, and that includes ryegrass, which is the big offender when it comes to allergies and also thunderstorm asthma.”
So it’s unlikely any of the allergen makes it into the honey at all, they say.
What does the evidence say about honey?
A respiratory physician and adviser to Asthma Australia, Dr John Blakey, says desensitisation therapy for asthma “isn’t particularly effective”.
“No asthma guidelines say, ‘If you’re allergic to grass, get yourself desensitised and that will fix your asthma.’ There is not the robust evidence that it’s more effective than other standard treatments.”
He says such desensitisation therapy should also only be done with specialist medical supervision.
Hughes says the evidence from scientific studies that claim locally sourced honey can treat hay fever is also weak. One of the studies used honey in conjunction with the antihistamine medication loratadine, commonly sold as Claratyne. “The honey was never tested as effective on its own,” she says.
A systematic review – a type of scientific study that examines all of the research on a specific topic – found the existing research on honey and allergic rhinitis had contradictory results and limitations in experiment design, and produced poor quality evidence.
“Overall, local honey was not better than a placebo and only a weak claim could be made that honey could be used in addition – and not instead of – allergy medication,” Hughes says.
She doesn’t want to see a situation where “people think that they can replace their normal medication with honey”.
The worst thunderstorm asthma event to date in Australia in 2016 caused 10 deaths, and 87% of the more than 3,500 people who presented with thunderstorm asthma had hay fever. “People may leave themselves at really high risk on high pollen days, including of thunderstorm asthma, if they don’t have the correct medication to take or a plan in place because they’ve decided to use honey instead,” she says.
“It’s definitely a dangerous rhetoric that has been spread by some of these honey businesses who see it as a clever marketing strategy to convince people antihistamines are 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 ensure they are taking their preventive medications properly; speak to their doctor about other medicines to try; and check their symptoms are in fact being caused by an allergen.
Melissa Davey is Guardian Australia’s medical editor. She has completed a master of public health and moonlights as a fitness instructor
Antiviral is a fortnightly column that interrogates the evidence behind the health headlines and factchecks popular wellness claims
