Raw Honey, Quercetin and Allergies

The conventional wisdom about allergies is that eating locally produced honey, especially in the winter, prevents hay fever. A study at the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington tested this notion with a clinical trial. Scientists enlisted three groups of hay fever sufferers.

One group was given locally collected, unfiltered, unpasteurized raw honey. The second was given a national brand of honey. The third was given corn syrup with synthetic honey flavoring. The problem with the results was that all three groups got better. This lone clinical trial in the medical literature did not prove that honey helps allergies.

Chances are the researchers are right. It is probably the case that honey does not prevent allergies, but the good results generations of hay fever sufferers have obtained by eating unfiltered, raw honey are due to the pollen in the honey rather than the honey itself. Pollen is an exceptionally rich source of quercetin.

If this as yet unproven assumption is true, any unfiltered honey will do, even if it is not locally produced. Just be sure to eat 1 tablespoon of honey several times a week, preferably with other quercetin-rich foods.

And what are those quercetin-rich foods? How do you get enough quercetin in your diet to relieve allergies? The simplest thing you can do is to eat an apple a day. Apples are inexpensive. They're available all year round. They are delicious.

Pack an apple with your lunch or for a snack. Your body absorbs quercetin from the apple about 2-1/2 hours after you eat it and your bloodstream maintains a low dose of quercetin for the next two days. Some studies of allergy sufferers in the United Kingdom have found that eating just one apple a week has a beneficial effect in allergic asthma.

For a faster boost of quercetin, eat onions. The small intestine absorbs the quercetin in onions about 20 minutes after you eat them, and quercetin levels in your bloodstream are elevated for about a day longer than if you eat apples. Onions also contain more quercetin than apples. Even better sources of quercetin are hot peppers, Anaheim and ancho peppers among the best. Not to be overlooked are the "three B's," blackberries, blueberries, and buckwheat.