You don't have to look far to find amazing claims of honey's potential health benefits. A quick search through your favorite online search engine or your favorite alternative health magazine will quickly prove just how popular honey is as an alternative medicine. Honey is purported to help ease indigestion, relieve constipation and even grow hair.

Not all of these claims are as absurd as they might seem at first glance. Honey has long been recognized for its anti-microbial activities and was a favorite dressing for serious wounds for centuries. Honey is also high in antioxidants, a group of nutrients that, among other things, may help lower your risk of some types of cancer.

But perhaps the most interesting therapeutic use for honey is as a natural remedy for seasonal allergies. According to various natural health practitioners, the tiny amounts of pollen found in locally-grown raw honey work over time to desensitize the body to a particular allergen - not unlike the way traditional allergy shots work.

Using Honey To Fight Allergies

If honey is proven to work as a safe, natural allergy treatment, it's almost certain that the best form of honey to take is pure, raw honey that hasn't been heated or extensively filtered.

But Does Using Honey To Treat Allergies Really Work?

Unfortunately, very few studies have looked at honey's potential role in the treatment of seasonal allergy symptoms and those that have found honey no better than placebo. One of the best studies looking at honey and allergies was a 2002 study from the University of Connecticut Health Center. In this study, 36 volunteers were given either locally grown raw honey, a nationally-distributed brand of honey or a corn syrup mixture flavored to taste like honey. Study volunteers were asked to keep an allergy diary and report any changes in symptoms. Upon the conclusion of this study no differences were found among participants in the three groups.

We wish the allergy relief claims for honey could be validated, but for now, until a much larger study is done, and despite what many who favor homeopathic treatments believe, we think the jury is still out and the decision is yours to make.

Can Honey Actually Cause Allergies?

While allergies to honey, and the pollen honey contains, are apparently quite rare, they're not unheard of. A 2006 study published in the French medical journal Allergie et Immunologie documented the case of 19-year-old woman who experienced anaphylaxis after consuming honey containing pollen from various plants.

Cases like this one are rare but they underscore natural medicine's most basic rule. "Just because it's natural doesn't mean it's safe." If you have any questions about honey's potential as an allergy prevention or treatment, talk to your primary health care provider for the advice that's appropriate for you.

If you get stung by a bee....

Safety first! Get away from the bee. Bees release a scent when in danger to attract other bees. If you're still around when reinforcements get there, they'll sting you.

Remove any stingers immediately!

No need to scrape off bee stingers, just remove them. It's OK to pull stingers out with your fingers. The longer bee stingers are allowed to remain in the body, the more severe the reaction will be.

If the victim is allergic to bees, check to see if the victim is carrying an epinephrine auto-injector. If so, help the victim use the device as directed. If the victim is supposed to carry one of these devices and does not have it, call 911 immediately! Do not wait for symptoms to appear. Watch any victim closely for signs of anaphylaxis:

• itching
• redness
• hives (raised welts)
• shortness of breath

If there is any concern that the victim may be developing anaphylaxis, call 911 immediately. Antihistamines, such as diphenhydramine (Benedryl(R), can slow an anaphylactic reaction, but will not stop it.

Non-allergic victims will almost always develop local reactions to bee stings. Redness, swelling, and pain are all common at the site of the bee sting. The pain will usually go away pretty quickly, but swelling may last for more than a day. Use an ice pack to reduce swelling at the site. It's common to develop some itching at the bee sting site. Antihistamines or calamine lotion may help.

Take the victim to the emergency department if the victim was stung more than 10 times, or if there are bee stings inside the nose, mouth, or throat. Swelling from these stings can cause shortness of breath, even in non-allergic victims.

Use ibuprofen or acetaminophen for minor pain relief. For tenderness at the site, try a bee-sting swab to dull the pain.

Stingers

Conventional wisdom says to scrape bee stingers away from the skin because pinching the venom sack could push extra venom into the victim. In fact, how fast you get the stinger out is much more important than how.

Honeybees leave a stinger behind when they sting a victim. Wasps, yellow jackets, and hornets do not leave a stinger, but these relatives of the honeybee can also cause an anaphylactic reaction.