Home Remedy to Ease Coughs: Raw Honey and Cinnamon

Cold and flu season is upon us (when is it not?) and if there is anything OMT likes it’s a home remedy that doesn’t produce harmful side-effects. While I will take OTCs, I’d rather use a proven all-natural symptom reliever: enter raw honey and cinnamon.

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Doesn’t hurt if you use a cute dispenser!

(source: Amazon)

I have used raw honey successfully to ease my cold/flu cough at bedtime. Here’s the reason some scientists think it works:

Taking a small amount of honey at bedtime appears to reduce the number of coughing spells in children age 2 and older. Honey appears to be at least as effective as the cough suppressant dextromethorphan in typical over-the-counter doses. Some researchers think the sweet taste of honey triggers salivation. This, in turn, promotes secretion of mucus, which wets the airway and calms the cough.

For cough: 2.5-10 mL (0.5-2 teaspoons) of honey at bedtime.

My typical dose is 1 tbsp at bedtime.

CAVEAT about raw honey and small children: The Centers for Disease Control, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Honey Board recommend that you not give honey to infants under the age of 12 months. Infant botulism is a rare disease caused by the bacteria, Clostridium botulinum. The disease causes varying degrees of paralysis. Children over age 1 and healthy adults have the mature digestive systems necessary to prevent botulism spores from thriving.

DISCLAIMER: I am NOT a doc, nor play one on the Internets. Check with your child’s doctor before giving honey, raw or otherwise.

Why raw honey?

(source: Amazon)

“…during the process of pasteurization of honey to conserve it and to bottle it to be sold in the markets, much of the nutritional content of raw honey gets destroyed. This includes powerful antioxidants, enzymes, and natural vitamins that are destroyed when heating is applied to raw honey. There are many wonderful health benefits of eating raw honey. It is anti-viral, anti-fungal and antibacterial in nature, but the same cannot be said about regular honey because of all the heat that is applied to it making it lose its nutritional value and contents.”

BOOM! Knowledge is power, my babies.

If you want to add a powerful anti-inflammatory PUNCH to your cough remedy, you can add 1/4 tsp of cinnamon to 1 tsp of honey. Both of these ingredients can boost your immune system while fighting your cough/cold.

Tasty and nutritious, too!

Can’t say that about OTCs!

I’m including the honey we use below.

Bee healthy, y’all!

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