Birch sap

[irnbru]

I heard birch sap could be a good natural remedy to the birch tree pollen allergy that's endemic at the moment. Anyone know if they sell it here in shops? Like Life health food shops etc? I also heard its really popular in Russia so do they have any ethnic supermarkets in Helsinki that sell it?

[Upphew]

Iirc I have seen the stuff in local Citymarket.

[Y77]

i tried it last year and collected it myself from birch trees in a forest using empty plastic bottles,like a real savage,you could try and do the same. I read on a paper that its supposed to be very healthy,but beware that it doesn't taste like irn-bru,or haggis,so you might not like it.

[onkko]

i tried it last year and collected it myself from birch trees in a forest using empty plastic bottles,like a real savage,you could try and do the same. I read on a paper that its supposed to be very healthy,but beware that it doesn't taste like irn-bru,or haggis,so you might not like it.

Remember that it has to be your own forest or its illegal.

[Logic]

Is it just me or was today the worst so far! Even the pollen report showed a high birch pollen count.

[Upphew]

Nordic koivu, 3,89/250ml. Citymarket.

[Rosamunda]

I have also read that eating locally produced honey all through the winter can also reduce symptoms in the spring. As local as possible to get the right mix of allergens. Not imported stuff.

eg:
http://www.hayfeversolutions.com/local- ... rgies.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/51358 ... fever.html

It might be rubbish though, I have no idea.

Do you have an ioniser or at least some kind of electric filter in your home? It might help you sleep better at night. And if you work, ask your boss if you can use in the workplace.

[jahasjahas]

I have also read that eating locally produced honey all through the winter can also reduce symptoms in the spring. As local as possible to get the right mix of allergens. Not imported stuff.
--
It might be rubbish though, I have no idea.

This was discussed recently in Reddit's /r/askscience: I was told today that eating local honey helps build a resistance to local pollen, therefore decreasing the effect of allergies. Is there any truth to this?

Rajan et al (2002) compared local honey, commercial honey, and honey flavored corn syrup in a randomized trial. It found no difference among the three.

This review says that honey is no more effective than placebo for treatment of ocular allergies.

Saarinen, Jantunen, and Haahtela (2011), which silveraw posted, found that birch pollen honey was effective for birch pollen allergy relative to a control group of "usual allergy treatment", but no different than regular honey.

I am not expert in this field, but my interpretation is that there is little evidence that local honey is more than a placebo. The effect that Saarinen, Jantunen, and Haahtela (2011) find could just be a placebo effect since they did nothing to their control group. Giving the control group a dummy treatment of honey flavored corn syrup, like Rajan et al (2002), is a much better experimental design.

On the other hand, I've noticed that honey is great for burns and sore throats, which is nice.

[Kutittaa]

I heard birch sap could be a good natural remedy to the birch tree pollen allergy that's endemic at the moment.

And drinking paint thinner, makes you thinner!

[irnbru]

Nordic koivu, 3,89/250ml. Citymarket.

Thanks. Probably too late to start drinking it now to get any effect but maybe next year.

[irnbru]

i tried it last year and collected it myself from birch trees in a forest using empty plastic bottles,like a real savage,you could try and do the same. I read on a paper that its supposed to be very healthy,but beware that it doesn't taste like irn-bru,or haggis,so you might not like it.

Don't care what it tastes like, just so long as it stops me scratching my eyes out and my nose running.

[Upphew]

[quote="irnbru"Don't care what it tastes like, just so long as it stops me scratching my eyes out and my nose running. [/quote]
Are you popping antihistamine? Zyrtec has done the best advertising as it was the first brand that I remember. And I have vague memory that I have been eating it too when I was a young one.

[irnbru]

Are you popping antihistamine? Zyrtec has done the best advertising as it was the first brand that I remember. And I have vague memory that I have been eating it too when I was a young one.

Yep might as well be eating smarties. I have Xyzal and lomudal. They help a bit but not enough.

[irnbru]

i tried it last year and collected it myself from birch trees in a forest using empty plastic bottles,like a real savage,you could try and do the same. I read on a paper that its supposed to be very healthy,but beware that it doesn't taste like irn-bru,or haggis,so you might not like it.

Did it help with your allergy (or were you just drinking it for fun?)

[Logic]

'Allergy sufferers in Finland are being plagued this spring by the highest birch pollen count in nearly 20 years.'

I felt this year wasn't normal!!