治疗咳嗽：蜂蜜比药物有效

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治疗咳嗽：蜂蜜比药物有效

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2008-01-21 18:38

Honey Treats Coughs Better Than Drugs

There may be hope for parents looking for alternatives to drug-laden cough syrup to calm their children's coughs -- and help might be as close as that golden nectar in the kitchen. Honey can soothe throats and calm coughs, according to a new study.

The study, published Monday in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, found that children who received a small dose of buckwheat honey before bedtime slept better and coughed less than those who received either a common over-the-counter cough suppressant (dextromethorphan) or nothing at all.

"This is the first time honey has been actually proven as a treatment," says lead study author Dr. Ian Paul, a researcher at Penn State College of Medicine. He adds that honey has been recommended for ages by grandparents in certain cultures.

The researchers enrolled 105 children, between ages 2 and 18, in their randomized, partially double-blind study. On the first night of the study, the children received no treatment. Parents then answered questions about their children's sleep and cough, as well as the quality of their own sleep. The second night, the children were given either honey-flavored cough syrup or honey -- or nothing at all. Parents then reanswered the questions in the survey.

Parents whose children received the honey rated their kids' sleep and symptoms as better -- and their own sleep as improved as well.

Healing Powers of Honey
Paul says that the type of honey plays a role in the treatment.

"Darker honeys have more antioxidants than lighter honeys, and we wanted the best chance to see improvements," he says, noting that lighter honeys would probably also benefit kids. "At least locally [buckwheat honey] is available. I can get it here at the local supermarket."

Honey is also generally less expensive than over-the-counter medications, he says, and bring none of the side effects like dizziness or sleepiness.

The current study was inspired by an earlier investigation by Paul and his group. In 2004, they showed that the two most common active ingredients in cough syrup, dextromethorphan and diphenhydramine, had the same effectiveness in treating cough symptoms as a placebo ingredient.

Some of the kids who took honey did experience side effects, according to the study. The parents reported slightly more hyperactivity when their kids took honey, compared with when they took cough syrup.

But it's also interesting to note that this is not the first time the sweet stuff has been looked to as a remedy. Honey has been used since the time of the ancient Greeks and Egyptians to treat everything from wounds to insect bites. This usefulness can perhaps be attributed to the idea that an enzyme that bees add to the nectar produces hydrogen peroxide, an antibacterial agent.

A Conclusion That's Easy to Swallow
For coughs and sore throats, it may be the stickiness and viscosity of honey that makes it work well.

"It has long been known that demulcents [like honey] can soothe irritated mucous membranes and thereby remove the irritation that is fueling the cough reflex," says Paul Doering, co-director of the Drug Information and Pharmacy Resource Center at the University of Florida.

"This explains the popularity of the so-called 'cough drops' that we all were given as children," he says, adding that the cough syrups serve a similar purpose: they lubricate the throat, thus reducing irritation. "The immediate relief that one experiences when swallowing that dose of cough syrup is attributable to the viscous vehicle and not the medicine itself."

Other pediatricians warn that there is a minimum age when honey is appropriate. Only children 2 and older participated in the study.

"Pediatricians do not recommend using honey in any situation -- whether it be to eat or to relieve a cough in children younger than 1 because of the risk of botulism," says Dr. Ari Brown, a pediatrician in private practice in Austin, Texas, explaining that botulism spores in honey can harm infants.

Brown says that even if honey is eventually shown to have little effectiveness, it certainly will not hurt -- and it can make parents feel as if they're doing something.

"It's benign, and as opposed to standard cough medicine, it tastes good," she says. "But the authors admit that the improvement in symptoms may simply be attributable to the length of time a child has symptoms of cough and that the common cold will improve over time anyway."

Doering says that since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's recent recommendation that cough and cold medicines not be given to children under 6 years old, this new research may calm the nerves of parents who wonder what to give their children.

"I believe that recommending honey as a cough medicine has merits. It provides a safe option to using chemical based options," he says, adding that honey is part of a trend of recommending more commonplace traditional remedies for ailments.

"We are in an age of newfound caution when it comes to dosing our kids for minor illnesses," says Doering. "Personally, as a pharmacist, I always feel uncomfortable recommending a chemical solution to every ill that comes along."

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Health/ColdFlu/story?id=3947988&page=1

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2008-01-21 18:38

编译：

治疗咳嗽：蜂蜜比药物有效

父母寻找富含药物止咳糖浆的替代品用于治疗他们孩子的咳嗽是存有希望的。帮助可能就是来自于厨房里金黄色的花蜜。据一项最新的研究指出，蜂蜜能够润喉止咳。
这项研究（周一发表在儿科和青春期医学档案上）发现：在睡觉前服用小剂量荞麦蜜的儿童比那些服用普通非处方镇咳剂（右美沙芬）或什么都不用的儿童的睡眠（质量）要好。
“这是蜂蜜首次被证实是一种治疗方法”，首席研究作者、美国宾夕法尼亚州立医学院的Ian Paul博士说。他接着说，在某些文明中，蜂蜜已经被祖父母推荐了很长的时间。研究人员纳入了105名儿童（年龄在2至18岁之间）进行随机、部分双盲研究。在该研究的第一个夜晚，这些孩子们未接受治疗。父母当时回答有关他们孩子睡眠、咳嗽以及他们自身睡眠质量的问题。第二个夜晚，这些孩子们或者接受带蜂蜜味道的止咳糖浆，或者接受蜂蜜或者什么都不用。父母当时再次回答调查中的问题。那些接受蜂蜜的孩子的父母评价他们孩子的睡眠和症状较好，并且他们自己的睡眠也得到了改善。

蜂蜜的治疗功效

Paul称，蜂蜜的类型在治疗过程中起作用。
“深色的蜂蜜较浅色的蜂蜜含更多的抗氧化剂，我们想要最佳的机会来观察症状的改善”他指出浅色的蜂蜜也可能会对孩子有益。“至少本地的蜂蜜（荞麦蜜）是能够得到的。我们肯定能在本地的超市买到它。蜂蜜通常也会较非处方用药便宜，而且不会带来像头晕或嗜睡这样的副作用。”当前研究的灵感来源于Paul及其研究小组的一项早期调查。在2004年，他们指出：止咳糖浆中的两种最普通的有效成分（右美沙芬和苯海拉明），在治疗咳嗽症状中与安慰剂成分有相同的功效。据该研究称，一些服用蜂蜜的儿童的确出现了副反应。父母称，他们的孩子服用蜂蜜以后较服用止咳糖浆相比，活动过度会稍微更多一些。但同时也有趣地指出：甜的东西被看作是一种药物，这已不是第一次了。自从古希腊人和古埃及人应用其来治疗从创伤到蚊虫叮咬的每件事的时候就开始使用蜂蜜了。这种有效性大概可能引起人们产生了这样一个想法，即蜜蜂向花蜜中添加的酶产生了过氧化氢（一种抗菌剂）。

一个结论，蜂蜜很容易下咽

对于咳嗽和咽喉疼痛，可能是蜂蜜的粘稠度和粘滞度使得它能够很好地发挥作用。“长期以来人们就知道缓和剂（例如蜂蜜）能够缓和受刺激的粘膜，因此消除引发咳嗽反射的刺激，”弗罗里达大学的药物信息和药学资源中心的副主管Paul Doering说。“这解释了我们在儿时都服用过的所谓的‘止咳药片’的普及性，”他补充说：止咳糖浆应用于相似的目的：他们润滑咽喉，因此减轻了刺激。“人们吞咽那样剂量的止咳糖浆时所获得的症状的立即缓解，归因于粘稠的媒介物而不是药物本身。”
其他的儿科医生告诫：蜂蜜的适用人群存在一个最小的年龄。只有年龄大于等于两岁的儿童才能参加本研究。“儿科医生不推荐任何境遇下都使用蜂蜜---因为存在肉毒杆菌中毒的风险，在小于1岁的儿童中，无论蜂蜜是为了食用还是为减轻咳嗽，都不要使用。蜂蜜中的肉毒杆菌胞子能够给婴儿带来损害。” 德克萨斯州奥斯汀私人行医的儿科医生Ari Brown博士说。Brown说，即使蜂蜜最终显示出具有少许的功效，它当然不会带来危害---它也会让父母们感觉他们还是缓解了孩子们的症状。“相对于标准的镇咳药，它是温和的，味道不错，”她说。“但是作者承认，症状的改善可能只是归因于儿童存在咳嗽症状时间的长短，而且普通感冒无论如何都将会随着时间而好转的。”Doering讲，自从美国食物及药品管理局最近建议不要让6岁以下的儿童服用止咳和感冒药以来，这项最新研究可能会使那些不知给孩子服什么的父母松弛一下紧张的神经。“我相信推荐蜂蜜作为一种止咳药物是有价值的。它为使用以化学药品为基础的疗法提供了一个安全的选项，”他接着说，蜂蜜是推荐更加平常的、传统的疾病疗法的趋势的一部分。
“我们正处在这样一个时代，当想到要为我们的孩子治小病而用药的时候，我们会很谨慎”Doering说。“个人而言，作为一名药剂师，当推荐用一种化学溶液来治疗每个伴随疾病的时候，我总是感到不舒服。”

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Health/ColdFlu/story?id=3947988&page=1

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