Cold Medicine and Honey Should Not Be Taken Together
Introduction: Honey has the effect of relieving coughs, and some colds often come with a cough, so some people drink honey to stop the coughing. This is generally a good idea, but if you take cold medicine that contains fever-reducing ingredients at the same time, it can often interfere with the fever-reducing effect. Therefore, cold medicine and honey should not be taken together.
Honey moistens the lungs and relieves coughs, making it suitable for dry coughs due to lung dryness. If you have a cough with little phlegm, sticky phlegm, or a dry cough without phlegm, you can drink it dissolved in water. However, you should not take honey while you are on fever-reducing medicine or cold medicine that contains fever-reducing ingredients.
Many cold medicines, such as Tylenol, Fastcough, Ganlike, and Ganmaoqing, contain the analgesic and antipyretic acetaminophen. When it comes into contact with honey, it forms a complex that affects the body's absorption rate, thereby weakening the fever-reducing effect. Similarly, any traditional Chinese patent medicines containing honey, such as cough syrups and Chuanbei Pipa Gao, should not be taken with the aforementioned cold medicines.
Additionally, honey primarily relieves coughs by moistening the lungs. Coughs caused by colds are generally due to external pathogens and are not suitable for nourishing treatments, so it is best not to drink honey.
Therefore, when you have a cold and a cough, be careful with your medication. You must remember that for a cold and cough, cold medicine and honey should not be taken together!