Honey/Coffee Remedy
for Persistent Post-Infective Cough (PPC)
Treatment beats
conventional medicine
Who hasn't had one of those irritating, sleep-depriving, hang-around coughs
following an upper respiratory infection or cold? Maybe you resort to steroids,
antihistamines, bronchodilators, codeine, antitussives/expectorants (eg.
Dextromethorphan) or other drugs with all their unwanted side-effects - but the
cough still won't go away!
a surprisingly Successful treatment For Persistent
post-infective Cough (PPC) - from your own kitchen!
An article published in the Primary Care Respiratory Journal,detailed an Iranian double-blind,
randomized, controlled study conducted 2008 -2011 comparing the effectiveness of
3 treatments for reducing severity of persistent coughs that followed upper
respiratory infections. The study found
that a coffee/honey combination could be more effective at treating PPCs than a
commonly-prescribed systemic steroid or expectorant.
97 patients with PPC lasting more than 3 weeks were randomized into three
groups. Individuals with other causes of chronic cough
or systemic disease, smokers, and individuals who had abnormal routine lab tests
were excluded. Mean age of participants was 40, and mean duration of illness was
2.9 months.
Group “HC”- received paste of 20.8 grams of natural honey and 2.9 grams of
Nestle instant coffee
Group “S” - received 13.3 mg of prednisolone
Group “C” (control group) - received
guaifenesin, an expectorant
All products were prepared and packaged by pharmacists to have similar
appearance, flavor, and packaging.
Each participant was instructed to
dissolve their substance in warm water and drink it every eight hours for a
period of one week, and
then to measure the frequency of their cough before, during, and one week after
treatment.
Mean Cough Frequency
Degree 0 (Low)to 3
(High)
“HC” Group
Honey/Coffee
“S” Group
Prednisolone
“C” Group
Expectorant
Before treatment
2.9
3.0
2.8
After 1 week of treatment
0.2
2.4
2.7
Raeessi MA, Aslani J, Raeessi N, Gharaie H, Karimi Zarchi AA, Raeessi F. Honey
plus coffee versus systemic steroid in the treatment of persistent
post-infectious cough: a randomised controlled trial.Prim
Care Respir J.2013;22(3):325-330.
doi: 10.4104/pcrj.2013.00072.[PubMed][Cross
Ref]
Another study by the same authors compared the effect of both honey and coffee
individually to honey and coffee combined in 84
subjects with persistent cough. The combination of coffee and honey was
significantly superior at reducing persistent cough than either ingredient
alone.
Mean Cough Frequency(Degree 0-3)
Coffee Group
Honey Group
Coffee + Honey Group
Pre-treatment
3.0
3.0
3.0
Post-treatment
1.8
1.4
0.4
Raeessi MA,
Aslani J, Gharaie H, Karimi Zarchi AA, Raeessi N, Assari S. Honey with Coffee: a
new finding in the treatment of Persistent Postinfectious Cough.Iran
J Otorhinolaryngol.2011;23(2):1-8.
At home Honey / Coffee Treatment dosages
Take 1 tablespoon of honey (21
g) mixed with a half teaspoon
(3 g) of instant coffee, in ~8oz
warm
(not hot)water, 3 times a day
(about every 8 hours),
for at least 1 week.
Why do honey and coffee calm a cough?
Honey
Various
properties of raw honey may be responsible for its medicinal effects:
✔Acidity
✔Osmolarity
✔Hydrogen peroxide production
✔Reduces prostaglandin synthesis in the area of
application
✔Increases nitric oxide levels
✔Antioxidant effect.
COFFEE
Arabinogalactan-protein extract from instant coffee has an antitussive
effect
Nosalova G, Prisenznakova L, Paulovicova E, et al.
Antitussive and immunomodulating activities of instant coffee
arabinogalactan-protein.Int J Biol Macromol.2011;49(4):493-497.
Unknown if coffee efficacy relies on caffeination -caffeine may act as a bronchodilator, but the above studies involved very
small amounts of caffeine -probably not enough to cause bronchodilation.
Yurach MT, Davis BE, Cockcroft DW. The effect of
caffeinated coffee on airway response to methacholine and exhaled nitric oxide.Respir
Med.2011;105(11):1606-1610.
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