While in medical school I took a course on extracting herbs, making tinctures, decoctions and other natural remedies. One such item was a homemade natural cough syrup made from honey and sliced onions. Doesn't sound so tasty, but once the honey naturally broke down the onions, you were left with a sweet syrup and no onion undertones.Recently, studies have placed a spotlight on honey. The Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine published a study where researchers studied 105 children between the ages of two and 18 who were having trouble sleeping due to cough. The participants were given either a small dose of buckwheat honey, honey-flavored dextromethorphan or no treatment at all a half-hour before bed.
Children who were given the honey had less frequent and severe nighttime coughing than either the children given dextromethorphan or those given no treatment at all.
Manuka Honey in particular is making headlines. It has been shown to kill resistant superbug bacteria that antibiotics are ineffective on. New products such as Medihoney are showing to be superior in the realm of wound healing and management and are being used in hospitals and doctor's offices throughout the world.
Homemade Cough Syrup
Here is a great recipe for a natural and effective cough syrup. This is non-toxic and excellent for that disturbing cough that keeps your kids up at night. Obviously, do not use this on children under the age of 1 where honey is not indicated.
Here is a great recipe for a natural and effective cough syrup. This is non-toxic and excellent for that disturbing cough that keeps your kids up at night. Obviously, do not use this on children under the age of 1 where honey is not indicated.
Ingredients
1 large brown onion, peeled and thinly sliced.
Honey, preferably Manuka honey (this is made from tea-tree flowers)
1 glass jar slightly larger than the onion with a lid.
Instructions
Place the sliced and peeled onion into the glass jar, tightly packed.
Cover with honey and close lid.
Let sit overnight. The onions will become dry as the honey extracts the onion juices out.
Remove the onion left-overs.
Keep refrigerated. Take as needed for cough.
Typical dose is 1 tablespoon for children under 6 and 2 tablespoons for 6 years and older.
DO NOT give honey to children under the age of 1.
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8 comments:
Manuka Honey is the best honey to use for therapeutic purposes because it's healing properties are stable and are not effected by light, heat or dilution. Standard honey can lose its effectiveness when it is heated by warm tea or diluted by bodily fluids.
Standard honey gets its healing properties from the presence of hydrogen peroxide. However, Manuka Honey has additional antibacterial components that add to its effectiveness.
HoneymarkProducts.com
One thing of interest is that different types of honey have properties that improve your health in different ways. The darker honeys like buckwheat honey have strong antioxidant properties.
Some research has shown that certain types of honey are good for wound healing.
Some researchers from Penn State have recently shown that Buckwheat honey is better then the OTC children’s cough medicines for children’s cough. There is a web site that talks about this, and gives lots of research to help people understand how honey effects health. Check out http://www.honeydontcough.com/
Thanks for your recipe,
-Daddydoctor
Thank you for this post! I've been looking for more formal academic info on this remedy. My daughter recently had a very bad cold in her chest and being too young for decongestants or expectorants, I really found myself searching for _something_ to help her. We ended up with Chestal (a honey based homeopathic syrup) and Sinupret (which she refused to take). In the future, I want to try the onion syrup or even a compress.
M
Follow up question: Someone has told me making this syrup could risk botulism from the onion.
Any thoughts on that? I'm afraid to give it to my daughter.
M
To the reader worried about botulism ? Do not find the manckiest rotting onion, do not get a filthy jar ,do not get a chopping knife that chopped last nights dinner that's been hanging around ,use common sense and basic hygiene and all will be well with the world!!!
What about addin 1/2 tsp fresh grated squeezed ginger and lemon juice ?
Was sitting, miserably in bed last night reading your posts, desperately searching for some relief from an extremely sore throat and tickly cough.
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I'm glad to see the great detail here!. Wockhardt cough syrup for sale
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