Any Honey Allergy?

Does honey allergy exist? Can honey cause allergic reactions since an amount of pollen from the plants that the honey nectar is gathered from could possibly be found in honey?

I wouldn't dismiss honey allergies, but as it seems, serious reactions in pollen-allergic patients challenged with honey are rare. Commercially produced honey is filtered and pasteurized (sometimes even diluted with syrup, hence the amount of bee pollen in the honey is probably low. However, bee products such as propolis , royal jelly, and raw honey (example eating honey straight from honeycomb) probably have to be avoided by people who are sensitive to bee pollens, as nobody could really guarantee its absence in those bee products. And if you are concerned about honey allergy issues, please do consult your doctor.

The safety concern about honey could also have arisen because of the presence of spores that are able to cause a rare deadly disease discovered in 1976, called infant botulism. While honey allergies cannot be 100% established and we all know that consumption of honey is generally safe for adults, many people actually believe that eating local honey could counteract and treat allergies to these pollens by helping the body to become tolerant of them. That is, honey acts as an immune booster against the allergies. The good effects of this local honey are best when the honey is taken a little bit (a couple of teaspoons-full) a day for several months prior to the pollen season. It is said that the closer the honey is raised to where you live, the better it is.

Thomas Leo Ogren of "Allergy-Free Gardening" says, "It may seem odd that straight exposure to pollen often triggers allergies but that exposure to pollen in the honey usually has the opposite effect. But this is typically what we see. In honey the allergens are delivered in small, manageable doses and the effect over time is very much like that from undergoing a whole series of allergy immunology injections. The major difference though is that the honey is a lot easier to take and it is certainly a lot less expensive. I am always surprised that this powerful health benefit of local honey is not more widely understood, as it is simple, easy, and often surprisingly effective."

If you decide to give the local honey a try, consult your physician before use.

A Postscript on Unhappy Readers

Since the above article was published in 2007, I have received unfriendly emails from at least three annoyed readers, who seemed to be offended by the amount of information in this website extolling the benefits of honey and felt that my warning about honey allergy was not hard enough.

These readers informed that they have severe reactions from ingesting even a drop of honey, and these include compulsory vomiting, cramps, asthma, breathlessness, and chest pains. And they reported that eating a teaspoon would kill them. A reader even remarked that given the volume of information Benefits of Honey has, he had expected that I would be able to offer more information than anyone on honey allergy. Another warned me that I should not minimise the danger of honey, and that my article implied that honey allergies didn’t exist.

I am no expert in allergies. As per my usual advice to my readers, a medical doctor’s diagnosis should always be sought for any perceived honey allergy. Nonetheless, we all know that proteins are connected to most food allergies. Honey itself is mainly simple sugars, which are carbohydrates and do not cause allergic responses. Hence, as explained in the above article, commercially processed honey, which has pollens and other impurities filtered and removed, rarely causes problems. However, unprocessed raw honey may contain residual proteins which are pollens from the plants the bees visited, and pollens are a well-known, established allergen (not honey itself). For people who are sensitive to pollens, they ought to be very cautious about taking not just honey, but any other bee products which all could possibly contain the pollen allergen. Hence, I do not dismiss "honey allergy", but I believe, it would not be right to list honey as an allergen alongside with pollen, bee venom (from bee stings), dust, or food-based allergens like peanuts, eggs, milk, nuts, and shellfish.