One of modern medicine’s most celebrated ‘miracle drugs’ is steroids, but a recent double-blind, randomized clinical trial found that honey and coffee outperform prednisolone in treating symptoms of post-infectious, persistent cough.
A remarkable investigation into natural alternatives to medications found that compared to a systemic steroid was a combination of honey and coffee superior in reducing symptoms associated with a post-infectious cough (PPC).
PPC is a cough that remains after a cough cold or an upper respiratory infection for more than three weeks, and in some cases even several months. Conventional treatment can involve any number of powerful drugs, many of which have serious side effects, including codeine and dextromethorphan (so-called centrally acting antitussives), antihistamines, narcotics and bronchodilators.
The study, published in Respiratory diary for primary care, was conducted by researchers from Baqiyatallah University Hospital, Tehran, Iran from 2008 to 2011.[i] 97 patients who suffered from PPC for more than three weeks were randomized in a double-blind manner into three groups:
- A jam-like paste was prepared consisting of 20.8 grams Honey plus 2.9 grams of instant coffee for the first group (‘HC’).
- 13.3 mg of prednisolone for the second group (steroid, ‘S’).
- 25 mg guaifenesin for the third group (control, ‘C’).
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The researchers described the patient’s treatment protocol as follows:
“The participants were told to dissolve a certain amount of their product in warm water and drink the solution every eight hours for a week. All participants were evaluated before treatment and one week after completing treatment to measure the severity of their cough. The main outcome measure was the average cough frequency before and after one week of treatment, calculated using a validated visual analog score on the cough questionnaire.”
The results of the study are summarized in the following table:
As you can see in the table above, the honey coffee group saw their cough frequency decrease from 2.9 before treatment to 0.2 after treatment, while the prednisolone group only decreased from 3.0 before treatment to 2.4 after treatment.
They are detailed as follows:
“RESULTS: There were 97 adult patients (55 males) enrolled in this study with a mean age of 40.1 years. The mean (+/- SD) cough scores before and after treatment were: HC group 2.9 (0.3) before treatment and 0.2 (0.5) after treatment (p < 0.001); Steroid group ('S') 3.0 (0.0) before treatment and 2.4 (0.6) after treatment (p < 0,05); controlegroep ('C') 2,8 (0,4) vóór de behandeling en 2,7 (0,5) na de behandeling (p > 0.05). Analysis of variance showed a significant difference between the mean cough frequency before and after treatment in the HC group versus the S group (p<0.001). Honey plus coffee was found to be the most effective treatment modality for PPC.” [emphasis added]
The researchers reflected on the implications of their findings:
“Every year, billions of dollars are spent trying to control and cure coughs, while the actual effect of cough medicines is not entirely reliable.1,45 Even though PPC may account for only 11-25% of all cases of chronic cough8 and it is not related to disability and mortality, it can cause morbidity and is responsible for medical costs…13
Honey and coffee are natural edibles that are safe, pleasant, cheaper than drugs and easily available. Moreover, they have proven effective in a short time.”
Prednisone is a semi-synthetic hormone with a wide range of side effects, some of which are life-threatening. Given the relative safety and superior effectiveness of honey plus coffee versus prednisolone, this study adds to a growing body of biomedical research showing that natural substances, including herbs, vitamins and foods, are often superior in efficacy to synthetic drugs, while often maintain much higher levels. of safety towards them. Learn more about the health benefits of coffee by reading our feature article: Coffee: Medicine for the Body and Soul and search the GreenMedInfo coffee database below: Reference [i] Mohammad Ali Raeessi, Jafar Aslani, Neda Raeessi, Homa Gharaie, Ali Akbar Karimi Zarchi, Fereshteh Raeessi. Honey plus coffee versus systemic steroids in the treatment of persistent post-infectious cough: a randomized controlled trial.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of GreenMedInfo or its employees.
Source: GreenMedInfo
This article is copyrighted by GreenMedInfo LLC, 2022
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Sayer Ji is the founder of Greenmedinfo.comauthor of international bestseller REGENERATE: Unlock your body’s radical resilience through new biologyco-founder of Stand for health freedom (501c4), and UNITE.live, a global multimedia platform for conscious creators and their communities.