Kat Lay Health Correspondent

The Times

Gerry Gajadharsingh writes:

 “It’s great that research is being carried out into “folk remedies” that have been with us thousands of years. Honey, now part of official NICE guidelines for treatment of irritating coughs, is one of those remedies. The aim of much of this is for patients to engage more with self-help and not reply on the GP’s to prescribe antibiotics for conditions which are usually self-limiting. Over prescription of antibiotics is now a major problem, keep them for when you really need them!” Note honey has a high glycaemic load, so I advise just using it when you need to, not as a part of daily food intake.

It has long been a folk remedy for an irritating cough, but now a spoonful of honey has been included in official guidelines for treating the condition.

Doctors should not send patients with coughs to the pharmacy for antibiotics but instead direct them home to their kitchens for a dose of honey, the drugs watchdog said yesterday.

Draft guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) emphasise that antibiotics should not be used as the first line of treatment for coughs. Patients should be told to practise “self-care” if they have a cough caused by a cold, flu virus or bronchitis, they say.

Honey’s inclusion in official guidelines comes after trials found that it can relieve symptoms. Not all old wives’ tales stand up to scientific scrutiny, however. In May Nice said there was no evidence that cranberry juice helped to treat cystitis.

The watchdog is responsible for issuing guidance on how the NHS in England should treat health conditions, as well as determining which drugs and technology it should fund.

Its latest advice aims to reduce the spread of antibiotic resistance by cutting down on prescriptions for such drugs. Research published this year found that 41 per cent of GP consultations for an uncomplicated cough ended with antibiotics being prescribed. Experts said the figure should be about 10 per cent.

Some over-the-counter cough medicines that include herbal remedies also show evidence of benefit, Nice said. Honey should not be given to infants under 12 months, it added, because of the risk of botulism.

Susan Hopkins, a deputy director at Public Health England, said: “Taking antibiotics when you don’t need them puts you and your family at risk of developing infections that cannot be easily treated.” Antibiotics should be used only “when a person is at risk of further complications”, Mark Baker, director of Nice’s centre for guidelines, said.