(no subject)

[ewx]

So people say that "local honey" helps against hayfever. I don't like honey anyway (though I do like mead...) but this got me wondering.

Presumably the logic is that the bees that make the honey will have pollen from local flowers on them, and that some of this will get into the honey, and that this somehow causes you not to react to the pollen when you encounter it in your eyes and nose; and that it has to be "local" so that the mix of kinds of plants is right for where you are.

But surely, the plants that use bees to spread their pollen won't be spraying it into the air?

Can anyone clarify this (either regarding the final question or the whole thing)?

Comments

[antinomy.livejournal.com]

The biomedical reasoning, as I understand it, it about the way the immune system treats potential stimulants depending on their route of administration - there's a built-in tolerising system related to the gut, because being allergic to your food is bad, which doesn't exist for particles that are inhaled and where the exposure is to the respiratory mucosa. Local honey will contain pollen from local plants (not necessarily much use if you're a grass-pollen allergic, granted) and application of these to the gut might maybe perhaps push them into the tolerisation system and make you non-reactive to them on your other mucosal surfaces too. It's not *entirely* far-fetched, but I wouldn't be giving up on the anithistamine prescription just yet!

HTH :)