Honey Helps Tame Coughs in Children
Lee Swanson Research Update
People looking for a safe and effective natural alternative to children’s cough medicines may want to give honey a try. Honey is among the world's most time-honored cough remedies, having been used for that purpose since prehistoric times, and modern research appears to support this ancient practice. In a study published in the journal Pediatrics, researchers compared the effects of three varieties of honey (eucalyptus, citrus and labiatae) with a placebo in 300 children aged one to five years with upper respiratory tract infections (URI).
Subjects were given a single 10 mg dose of honey or a placebo 30 minutes before bedtime. Outcome measures assessed included cough frequency, cough severity, bothersome nature of cough and child and parent sleep quality. While there was significant improvement in all groups comparing the night of treatment to the previous night, the improvement was greater in the honey groups compared to the placebo for all outcome measures, leading the study authors to conclude that “honey may be a preferable treatment for cough and sleep difficulty associated with childhood URI.”
These findings are consistent with previous studies, which showed honey to be more effective than the popular drugs dextromethorphan and diphenhydramine for treating nocturnal cough in children.2,3 While honey was well-tolerated in each of these studies, it should be noted that all children involved were more than twelve months old, as honey should not be given to any child under one year of age.
1. Cohen HA, et al. Effect of honey on nocturnal cough and sleep quality: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study. Pediatrics. 2012 Sep; 130(3): 465-7. doi: 10.1542/peds.2011-3075.
2. Paul IM, et al. Effect of honey, dextromethorphan, and no treatment on nocturnal cough and sleep quality for coughing children and their parents. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2007 Dec;161(12):1140-6. Retreived 6 Dec 2013 from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18056558
3. Shadkam MN, et al. A comparison of the effect of honey, dextromethorphan, and diphenhydramine on nightly cough and sleep quality in children and their parents. J Altern Complement Med. 2010 Jul;16(7):787-93. doi: 10.1089/acm.2009.0311.