Honey May Reduce Nighttime Cough in Children

A new study suggests that honey may reduce nighttime cough and increase sleep quality in children with upper respiratory tract infections.

Honey is a sweet, viscid fluid produced by honeybees (Apis melliflera) from the nectar of flowers. Honey's therapeutic importance as a known antibacterial agent has been recognized since 1892. Modern research has been conducted on the role of honey in chronic wound management and other indications. However, high quality studies are lacking, and further research is warranted to establish the therapeutic effect of honey in any indication.

In a new study, researchers randomly assigned 300 children with upper respiratory tract infections to one of three honey products, including a eucalyptus honey, a citrus honey and a labiatae honey, or to a placebo group, which received silan date extract. All children were given 10 grams of their assigned treatment 30 minutes before bedtime. Parents were given a survey the night before treatment was administered and then again the day after. Parents reported data on cough frequency and severity, as well as sleep quality.

The researchers found that coughing and sleeping symptoms significantly improved for all honey groups as well as the placebo group; however, improvements were larger in the honey groups. The authors noted that parents gave the honey products better scores for improvement in coughing symptoms and sleep quality.

The authors concluded that honey may benefit children with upper respiratory tract infections and related sleeping problems. Additional research is needed to further evaluate these findings.

In addition to honey, early research suggests that American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius L.) root extract may be safe and well tolerated in children for the treatment of upper respiratory tract infections. However, additional studies are needed before a conclusion can be made.

For more information about integrative therapies for upper respiratory tract symptoms in children, please visit Natural Standard's Comparative Effectiveness Database.

For more information about honey, please visit Natural Standard's Foods, Herbs & Supplements Database.

Comments

[AM]

I know a doctor that would "prescribe" this for his patients all the time. I've tried it and it works! Just make sure not to give it to infants, because of the risk of botulism.

[km]

Home-made honey recipe:
Ingredients: 2 lemon (could be orange or both), 6 slices of fresh ginger root, few leaves of mint (depend on preference), 2 cups of honey, a glass jar
Method: Cut the lemons into slices and place in a clean jar. Also slice the ginger root and crush the mint leaves. Add the ginger slices and crushed mint leaves into the jar and cover with honey. Place in the refrigerator for couple days. You can have the flavored honey just like that or mix it with a cup of hot water which might helps clear the mucus and soothe the throat. The flavored honey can be saved in the fridge for a long time.

[km]

Over the counter medications (OTC) are often given to children to help with night time coughing. However, some OTC cough medications often contain substances that may potentially be dangerous and can cause adverse effects to children. Since the placebo was also shown to be effective, the difference between honey and placebo might not be clinically significant. Honey is worth a try if caregivers are looking for a safer alternative to help relieve nighttime coughing in children. However, it is also important to inform the caregiver that honey should not be given to children under the age of 1 because of possible contamination from botulinum (a neurotoxin that is produced by a gram positive bacteria) which normally would be destroy with more developed digestive system.

[sz]

I think honey is such an amazing substance that people use for so many different things. Recently, I saw on the Dr. Oz show that a teaspoon of honey before bed helps you fall asleep. Another interesting use for honey I saw recently was honey coated bandages that were being used on the wounds of a patient who had healing soares related to his MRSA infection. Natural Standard only gives honey an evidence grade of C for unclear or insufficient scientific evidence for wound healing, however it is already being used in patient treatment. I always find substances that can do so much extremely interesting.

[nb]

When I was younger, my mom would always brew me ginger tea and add a huge dallop of honey in it and give it to me every time I had a cold. The honey coated my throat better than water alone, and I coughed significantly less. I'm a proponent for not using unnecessary medications, and this is great information for children, who are more prone to side effects from OTC/prescription medications. Mom was right again!

[nh]

I have never heard about honey reducing cough until reading this article. I think the results of this are going to be very beneficial for a lot of people. As a child, I would have loved to be given honey to help reduce my cough instead of the many different types of disgusting cough medicines I had to endure. Reading through the comments, I am also interested in future findings comparing the different types of honey and their synergistic effects. Either way, I know next time I have a cough or cold I am going to give honey a shot.

[ss]

Honey has been known to help with cough for centuries but general population during symptoms of cough tend to go to pharmacy and buy an OTC cough suppressant. More studies should be encouraged on Honey's possible throat related benefits especially in children who could be harmed by the synthetically formulated drugs.

[ki]

In response to Carla's comment, I have also heard that eating honey from local flowers can help with allergies to those flowers. I have not seen any evidence supporting this, but have heard that it is helpful from a few patients over the years. It may be an interesting area of further research, as it seems like it would make sense. I have also heard that bee pollen can help with allergies, but I did not see any evidence supporting this either.

[anonymous]

This is an interesting article. How much honey does it take to have this effect? The article says ten grams, which sounds like not too much, but I wonder practically how much that would be. This is a nice finding though because there is not a lot of options of cough medicines to give to children. Its so important for children to be well rested especially if they are sick and that would be hard to do if they were frequently woken up due to a nighttime cough. Also, the findings of this study were based on 300 children, which is a large sample size of sick kids, which is a nice size sample population. Hopefully more studies will be conducted to confirm these findings.

[HC]

My pharmacy school has recently started a natural medicines class. The professor who taught it went on and on about how honey can be used for cough. He didn't ever point out that it was specifically for children, although, it seems like a great alternative for children compared to the other OTC drugs that are available. It seems that honey has a lot of beneficial properties!

[Robynholman]

This article didn't surprise me, because my parents always gave me honey as a child with a cough. I am glad to see that true scientific evidence is being gathered. It is encouraging that we can make strong arguments for natural products in a world where pharmacy suggestions must be backed with scientific evidence. Our pharmacy curriculum, as I am sure most schools do, focuses on evidence-based medicine. This buzz word (excuse the pun for this article) really has a lot of weight, but if we can make natural product suggestions with the same strength of evidence, then we are coming a LONG way!

[Maryjoy Lepak]

It is fascinating to read about the effectiveness of honey as a cough suppressant! For years it has been recognized for its antibacterial properties, as well. Different types of honey may actually display more antibacterial effects than others. I recently came across an article about Manuka honey published this past June in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. This study examined the synergistic activity of Manuka honey and the antibiotic, oxacillin, in the treatment of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). This study demonstrated favorable evidence in the use of an antibiotic/honey combination, and leaves us wondering what further studies will take place using honey in the treatment of resistant disease.

[EE]

I am a staunch believer in the use of honey as a cough suppressant in any age group and I speak from experience. Growing up in a West African country, Cameroon, my parents always gave me a teaspoonful of honey whenever I came up with a cough as a child. I don’t exactly remember for how long, but I still use honey to suppress my cough today as an adult; and it works! I agree with the other comments that suggest that parents or caregivers should be warned about the possible risk of botulism in children less 1 years of age. But, from what I learned in the Natural Medicines class I took in pharmacy school, the concern about botulism should be mentioned if the parent or caregiver uses honey bought or picked up from a mom/pop honey stand on a road trip which is unpasteurized, in other words, giving the child unpasteurized honey could be the culprit of botulism in children less than 1 years of age.
I love that this article promotes the use of honey as a cough suppressant, but I look forward to reading more about this exciting adventure of Honey!!

[NA]

I usually turn to honey when I have a sore throat or a cough because I find it provides a soothing effect. It is great to see that it is being studied in children as young as 1 since there is a lack of studies in the pediatric population, overall. Among the 3 types of honey products used in the study mentioned, I wonder which one is more effective. I am also interested to see what future studies will reveal about the use of honey and American ginseng in children with URIs.

[AS]

Carla, I have heard before that eating local honey can help with allergies also. Natural Standard gives it an evidence grade of C for unclear or conflicting scientific evidence. From what I can tell there has only been one study conducted that showed no benefit, but the study was poor quality. It would be so interesting to see if more studies could be done on honey for this use. As a seasonal allergy sufferer it would be a lot cheaper and more enjoyable to eat some local honey to help prevent my allergies than all the allergy medicine.

[anonymous]

If this works for children, I wonder if it will be just as effective in adults? I looked it up on the Natural Standard interaction checker database and it doesn't have any reported interactions! Thats great news, since most cough and cold medications can interaction (drug-drug, drug-disease state,etc.). I have also read that honey has been investigated for the use of Asthma and COPD, although not much success came from that. Honey is also believed to boost the immune system! I also believe the honey bee crisis has quieted down a bit too!

[Carla]

In response to SL's comment about there being many different types of honey, I have tried a lot of them. Buckwheat honey is pretty good. The type of honey depends on which flowers the bees get their nectar from. I have heard that eating honey from the local flowers might help with allergies to the local flora. Has anyone seen evidence for this idea?

[Jessica]

Great article! I love honey, and I am so glad to know there is evidence behind its therapeutic use. It would be interesting to see which of the honey groups was most effective, and if the combination of honey with another alternative medicine has a synergistic effect. I was surprised, though, that the article did not contain any warnings regarding honey and children under the age of 1 due to the risk of botulism. It is important to remind parents of that, especially since health literacy may be an issue and parents may not read the label/packaging.

[AS]

This is great. When I one day have children I would definitely prefer to try honey before many of the OTC cough suppressants. I also agree however with many of the other comments about comparing honey to the OTC cough suppressants. It would be interesting in general if more studies were done comparing CAM products with good evidence of benefit vs. placebo to OTC or prescription drugs for the same indication.

[AR]

I'll never forget when I read in my Self-Care textbook that honey could be used for wound management. I'm glad this article mentioned that. I actually had done some research for this in a past rotation and discovered that in most studies, honey has been proven to be superior to both silver sulfadiazine and Acetatmafenid! How crazy is that? Could you imagine your doctor writing a prescription for honey? That would be a fun battle with your insurance!

[LO]

I'm glad that natural products are being looked at for common conditions such as cough. Honey would be a much better treatment option than many of the other cough suppressants out there. I would also like to see exactly how much of a difference there was between the honey groups and placebo group. It's good to know that this has a benefit to the patient, especially since most households will have it readily available!

[SMK]

We learned about the use of honey in my OTC class in pharmacy school. I tried this on my niece, but she wouldn't eat it because of the taste and texture. I think this could be a problem in a lot of children if using the actual honey as a dosage form. I have a feeling that viscosity of the honey might have something to do with the therapeutic benefit, so I think it would be interesting to see honey made in to different dosage forms and see if it works.

[anonymous]

Very cool, I will have to keep it in mind for someday when I have children. There is not a lot available for children over the counter for cough. Personally, I do not feel very comfortable recommending most of the available over the counter products for children, so if this is actually safe and really works I would feel better recommending something like this! I will keep an eye out for any new information that is published on this topic to support these findings. I wonder if this works for daytime coughing in children as well.

[SL]

This is an extremely interesting read. I had no idea that there were several different types of honey! In general, honey certainly seems very soothing and I love adding it to tea. I would be curious if the consistency of honey, since it seems like it could potentially coat the throat, has anything to do with its effectiveness in suppressing cough. I’m sure most individuals would prefer the taste of honey to that of the cough suppressants that are available on the market!

[ams]

I'm excited to hear that honey--something most families keep on hand--may be able to offer children relief from URIs. This could be especially good when children become sick when patents aren't able to fetch medications for them (ex. in the middle of the night). If honey is immediately available, it could either give the child full relief or at least hold them over until medication can be made available if necessary. I usually try to avoid medications when possible, but I think that mentality is especially important when it comes to exposing children to pharmaceutical products. If there's something that could potentially decrease the need for cough syrups, etc. it should definitely be utilized.

I've even recently been coughing a lot, especially at night, so I plan on doing my own little experiment of N=1 by giving honey a try :)

[Marina]

I agree with Ashley, it would be great to see a trial comparing honey's effectiveness to common OTC cough suppressants. It would also have been interesting if in place of the placebo, simple cough drops could have been used.

Also, with an article like this, it's important to write a disclaimer stating that while honey is great for children's cough, it's important not to give it to children less than one year of age. Honey can contain spores of Clostridium botulinum, which would result in botulism in an infant less than one years old.

[ronak]

Great article! OTC cough suppressants may not be the most reasonable choice for children. A lot of OTC cough suppressant have alcohol in them, and may induce toxicities in children. Honey, being a natural substance, would seemingly be the best choice in children with a cough. However, you have to remember that children younger than 1 should not take honey due to the risk of botulism.

[Ashley Doyle]

Cough suppressants are such a relevant topic in pharmacy! I just had a patient come in the other day wanting more information about the available cough suppressants. I remember learning in pharmacy school that honey usually works just as well as dextromethorphan for cough suppression and water is usually comparable to guafenasin as an expectorant, but its really nice to have some data supporting the use of this commonly used natural product! I would love to read the full study for this- curious to see how much of a difference was seen in cough suppression versus placebo. It would be really nice to see some head to head trials comparing honey with the commonly used OTC cough suppressants as well. Thanks for posting!