Honey Quiets More Coughs Than Cough Syrup

It was maybe forty years ago, when I was a kid staying overnight at a friend's house, that I first heard of using honey as cough syrup. I was hacking away through the night, there in my sleeping bag, and my friend's mom, who was also a nurse, took me to the kitchen for some sweet relief. She said honey or pancake syrup worked as well as those over-the-counter medications, and it certainly worked for me that night.

I've thought about using honey from time to time when my kids cough, especially after my son had a bizarre reaction to cough medicine containing guaifenesin. But my husband would always give me that look -- the one that says, "You grew up in California, you with the wacky remedies" -- and I'd go for something reliably medicinal. Cough syrups without guaifenesin don't seem to flip my son out the same, but they don't make him stop coughing much, either.

Now, happily, research is supporting my wacky remedy, and backing up my friend's mom from all those years ago. According to a Reuters report, researchers at Pennsylvania State University found that a spoonful of buckwheat honey was preferable to the dextromethorphan (DM) in common cough remedies in quieting overnight coughing from chest colds.

I probably won't tell my husband that the study was paid for by the National Honey Board. I probably will mention that it was published in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, in an article calling honey "significantly superior" to DM cough syrup. That, along with the growing discomfort among pediatrician groups and the FDA regarding DM's affect on children (anything from hallucinations for the youngest patients to substance abuse for the older ones), sounds like a good reason to seek cough relief in the pantry instead of the medicine cabinet.

If you're trying to cut down on medications, or have noted odd reactions to cough medicine ingredients, or just want to save a few bucks, try a spoonful of honey before bed next time your child is hacking. Pancake syrup works, too. Sounds wacky, but research says it's worth a try.