Honey a cheaper and more effective treatment for children's coughs than cough medicine

Dec 5 2007

Experts in the United States say when it comes to children's coughs, natural honey offers a cheaper and more effective alternative to expensive over-the-counter cough medicines.

{IMAGE}Researchers from Penn State College of Medicine in Hershey, Pennsylvania, suggest that a dose of buckwheat honey before bedtime is far more effective than widely used commercial cough suppressants.

The main active ingredient in many cough mixtures sold in chemists and supermarkets is Dextromethorphan (DM); it is also present in many honey-flavoured products.

But according to the researchers parents who buy them might be wasting their money as honey, in particular buck wheat honey, was far more efficacious in reducing the severity, frequency and nuisance of night-time coughing associated with upper respiratory infections.

The honey also appeared to have a positive effect on the sleep quality of both children and their parents.

Honey has been used in folk medicine for centuries not only to treat coughs and bronchitis but to assist the healing of wounds; it is often mixed with other natural remedies such as lemon, ginger, and even brandy for coughs.

Buckwheat honey is a dark honey gathered by honey bees from the nectar of the tiny white flowers of the buckwheat grain.

Honey contains polyphenols which makes it a good source of antioxidants, which play a role in cleansing the body of free radicals that can contribute to serious illness, such as cancer as well as heart disease.

Honey is said to be relaxing and and is thought to have anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties.

These properties can help clear infection in wounds, ease pain and improve circulation, and also promote quicker healing and reduce scarring.

Honey contains proteins, including enzymes, vitamins, minerals and approximately 18 essential and nonessential amino acids which vary according to the floral source.

The researchers conducted a study comparing honey to DM involving 105 children age 2 to 18 who had been fighting upper respiratory tract infections for seven days or less.

Some of the children were given one tablespoon of buckwheat honey 30 minutes before bedtime, others were given DM and the rest were given nothing.

The honey treatment was found to offer the best improvements in cough control and sleep followed by DM, while doing nothing showed the least improvement.

Neither the American Academy of Pediatrics nor the American College of Chest Physicians support the use of DM for childhood cough and the substance has been implicated in drug abuse among teenagers who use cough medicine in order to get high.

The study findings also closely follow advice from a government advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that many nonprescription cough and cold medicines should not be given to children under 6 until their efficacy can be proven.

This advice was the result of lobbying by a group of pediatricians and public health officials that the sales of such treatments should be restricted for children younger than 6 because of reports of deaths, seizures, hallucinations and other problems.

Lead researcher Dr. Ian Paul says the study adds to the growing literature questioning the use of DM in children, but it also offers a legitimate and safe alternative for doctors and parents.

The research was funded by the National Honey Board, an industry-funded U.S. Agriculture Department agency and is published in the journal the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.