Using honey as a medicine seems to be a preferred treatment forCough or cold symptomsinstead of using antibiotics and cold medicines. This emerges from a new systematic review that considers results from 14 previous studies. However, the conclusions may not be quite as clear-cut as they first appear.
Effectiveness of honey as a cough remedy
Researchers from the University of Oxford in the UK highlight the benefits of honey. However, a particular area of interest is the comparison of honey with antibiotics. Such medicines and cold medicines often cause side effects. So, with antibiotic resistance on the rise, there are several reasons to use natural honey as a remedy and alternative to chemical substances. Because most of themUpper respiratory tract infections viralare, prescribing antibiotics is both ineffective and inappropriate. The lack of effective alternatives and the desire to maintain the patient-physician relationship also contribute to antibiotic overprescription. Many people have long used honey as a remedy to combat coughs and colds. However, research on its effectiveness has been quite patchy. It raised doubts about the extent to which the natural product actually relieves cold symptoms in different age groups compared to other options.
The research team's review is based on 1,761 people in 14 studies. Scientists have thus concluded that honey is effective in treating the symptoms of cough and sore throat. This also includes nasal congestion and general breathing problems. Although the conclusion seems promising, the studies included seem emblematic of the issues surrounding this research. Meta-analyses are all about the studies included. If the literature you rely on is poor, there's not much you can say about the topic other than that you need more research. People should be really careful not to read too much into the results for this reason.
Treatment concerns
As anyone who has ever had a cold knows, existing treatments and therapies often make a small difference in the overall course of the illness. In addition, honey can give a feeling of being more effective than medication. The researchers therefore claim that it is worth conducting large, high-quality, placebo-controlled studies. The meta-analysis itself was well done, but the quality of theStudy on honeyseems to be very small. In the meantime, research continues on how useful honey can be as a remedy in terms of its antibacterial properties. Additionally, scientists are trying to answer whether it could really be helpful as a natural remedy in treating illnesses other than coughs and colds. Sometimes the best therapies are those that have already been proven to be effective in nature, but further research is definitely needed.
