Honey works best to calm kids' coughs, study finds

By Michael Conlon

CHICAGO, Dec 3 (Reuters) - A spoonful of buckwheat honey quells a child's nighttime chest cold coughing better than the most common cough suppressant in nonprescription medicines, researchers said on Monday.

"Honey may be a preferable treatment for the cough and sleep difficulty associated with childhood upper respiratory tract infection," a team of investigators from Pennsylvania State University said.

Their study, paid for by the National Honey Board, an industry-funded U.S. Agriculture Department agency, compared honey to dextromethorphan -- or DM -- the most common cough suppressant in over-the-counter remedies.

Honey is not recommended for children under the age of one. Buckwheat honey is a dark variety that tends to have more compounds associated with honey's antioxidant properties, the researchers said. In addition, they said honey can sooth the throat and thus help control coughing.

The report said that neither the American Academy of Pediatrics nor the American College of Chest Physician backs the use of DM for childhood cough.

In addition the substance has been implicated in drug abuse among teenagers who use cough medicine to get high.

The study, published in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, comes just weeks after a government advisory panel recommended that many nonprescription cough and cold medicines in use for decades should not be given to children under 6 until their efficacy can be proven.