Winter is in full swing here in the East Bay Area and naturopathic doctor’s offices are seeing an increase in upper respiratory tract infections.  There are several immune supportive supplements that you can take to keep yourself healthy this winter season – Vitamin D, Vitamin C, Zinc or Colostrum.  In this blog I wanted to highlight a natural treatment, honey, that has had several scientific studies validate its use in a cough associated upper respiratory tract infections.  Studies have shown that honey offers more relief than dextromethorphan or diphenhydramine.  In a couple of studies, a single dose of honey is administered 30 minutes prior to bedtime and cough frequency, severity and child and parent sleep quality were used to measure outcome.  Parents have rated honey as being more effective in providing symptomatic relief of their child’s nocturnal cough and sleep difficulty.

Here are a couple of cough remedies you can make at home!

Dr. Zeff’s Cough Medicine:

1 Tbl honey
1 tsp vinegar or lemon juice
1-2 drops peppermint extract
1 /2 – 1 tsp horseradish

Mix into a cup of hot water.  Add the peppermint and  horseradish for stronger effect, if you have them.  Take teaspoonful – tablespoonful doses as needed.

Dr. Mona’s Cough Medicine:

Sauté 1-2 onions in a little oil, then cover onions with honey; let simmer for awhile, until the onions are mostly all broken up/dissolved and it’s one thick fluid mixture. Take 1 tsp-1 TBS of mixture alone or mixed with vinegar as needed for cough.

You can read study abstracts about honey’s use as a cough remedies here and here.