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A recent study compared the effectiveness of honey to expensive cough medicines, as well as to no treatment at all, and found that the folk remedy worked better than any other option. Honey may work by coating and soothing an irritated throat, according to the study's authors.
"Many families are going to relate to these findings and say that grandma was right," Ian Paul, lead investigator and an assistant professor at Pennsylvania State University's College of Medicine, told the Associated Press. Researchers recruited 105 kids that suffered from upper respiratory infections from a clinic in Pennsylvania. Parents were given a paper bag with a dosing device that contained nothing at all, a dose of honey-flavored cough medicine that contained dextromethorphan, or a similar dose of honey.
After parents observed their children's sleep and cough systems, both before and after treatment, they were asked to rate the symptoms using a seven-point scale. And although all the kids recovered, honey scored the best performance across the board.
"Give them a little time and they'll get better," said Pat Jackson Allen, a professor at Yale University School of Nursing.
We should note, however, that the study was funded by the National Honey Board, an industry-funded agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, though Paul said that the organization in no way influenced study design, data, or results. ::CNN.com
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