Flowers, Bees, and Cough Syrup

Illness forces us to slow down. We have to take time to stop and smell the roses because our bodies will rebel if we push through at our usual pace.

In my case, I have come down with Covid. Thankfully, I am at home and not holed up in a hotel room in Quebec, which is what happened when I got Covid the first time in August 2023.

I don’t have roses. Instead, I have rhododendrons. They have blossomed into fabulous arrays of pink flowers. I stood on my deck the other day and watched as bees half the size of my thumb buzzed from flower to flower.

Bees, unlike humans, always know what to do. They understand their purpose. The purpose of the bees behind my house was to collect nectar and pollen from the rhododendrons. I wonder where those bees live when they aren’t pollinating the rhododendrons, which is most of the year.

I also wonder why cough syrup in the United States is colored red. What is the purpose of adding red dye #40 to this product? I do not see the point. It adds no benefit, and artificial colors are not a healthy addition to any food or medicine. 

Cough syrup in Canada is not red. It is a clear liquid. I don’t know if that is true for all cough syrup in Canada, but the product delivered to my hotel room last summer was colorless. It also seemed to be effective at controlling my cough.

A quick search turned up an article on the placebo effect in cough medications. The article discusses the effect of viscosity, flavor, smell, and color. It notes that red medications are associated with a stimulant effect but that, “no published research has been found on the effect of color on the placebo effect of cough medicines.”

I bought red cough syrup because that was the only option that contained the active ingredients I thought I needed. What if I was wrong? What if I didn’t need cough syrup at all?

Back to bees. They play a critical role in our food systems via pollination, and some species also produce honey.

My primary care doctor told me—after I had already bought the cough syrup—that honey can be even more effective than dextromethorphan, an active ingredient in most over-the-counter cough medications. 

A study of about 100 children with respiratory tract infections backs her up. I find it a little hard to believe, though, that the study is truly double-blind. Don’t children react differently when tasting honey versus honey-flavored dextromethorphan?

Another study suggests that treatment with honey could reduce the overuse of antibiotics for treating acute coughs. In the section on “competing interests,” the article notes that one of the authors is a hobby beekeeper.

Regardless of possible bias, I like the idea of honey instead of nasty-tasting syrup dyed with artificial colors.