Seasonal Allergies

    The days are getting longer, weather is warming up, flowers are starting to bloom and grass is peeking through the layer of winter leaves. With all this growth and the gentle spring winds comes pollen and the opportunity for your immune system to react to it. Seasonal allergies occur when a person’s immune system produces an over-response to substances in the environment. This hyper-response causes a release of inflammatory cytokines, prostaglandins and histamine, which lead to the classic symptoms associated with seasonal or environmental allergies – itchy nose, sneezing, watery, itchy, and red eyes, headache, and fatigue.

    Naturopathic remedies can help decrease this inflammatory response and reduce or eliminate symptoms. At Boulder Natural Health our goal is to uncover the root cause of symptoms and direct treatment towards improving the root cause. Some of the most common root causes we see with seasonal allergies include:
    • Over-Active Immune Response
    • Dysregulated High or Low Cortisol Patterns from the Adrenal glands
    • Imbalanced Digestive Microbiome
    There are a variety of basic, natural solutions that can help you prevent seasonal allergies. Here are a few of our favorites below.

    Eat Local Honey

    Honey is believed to prevent symptoms of hayfever and seasonal allergies by acting similarly to an allergy shot. When bees pollinate and make honey, they collect allergens from flowers, trees and other plants. This leaves traces of those allergens in their honey. Eating local honey exposes you to small amounts of allergens and helps your body build immunity towards environmental triggers. Look for local honey at your local farmer’s market. One of our local favorites is Bjorn’s Honey- find more info on their products here!

    Color Your Plate With Bioflavonoids (Vitamin P)

    Bioflavonoids are a class of red, yellow, orange and blue pigments in plants known in medicine for their antioxidant properties in the body. Bioflavonoids were once called vitamin P due to their positive effect on vascular permeability and help reduce allergies by strengthening our capillaries. The most well-known bioflavonoid used for allergies is Quercetin, which has an anti-histamine effect. Food sources of quercetin include apples, onions, kale, dark colored berries, and peppers. Look for red, green and purple pigmented plant foods for tasty sources of quercetin. D-Hist is one of our favorite quercetin-containing supplements that can support you through allergy season, on top of an already healthy diet.

    Increase Vitamin C

    Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant that can have a dramatic effect on reducing allergy symptoms including hayfever and asthma. You can get vitamin C from citrus fruits, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, collard greens, cabbage, tomato and cantaloupe. Raw foods are best as cooking can destroy much of the Vitamin C. Also, boost absorption with an acid, such as lemon juice or vinegar. Supplementing vitamin C can be helpful to stabilize mast cells, which are the cells responsible for releasing the inflammatory cytokines. This helps reduce the inflammatory symptoms associated with allergies.


      Stress Management

      Yes! Managing stress could help with allergy symptoms! Chronically high cortisol, one of the hormones released in response to stress, decreases the mucus linings in the body. Thin mucus membranes makes it easier for pollens to enter to body and therefore easier for your body to identify it as something to attack. The biomarker secretory IgA helps us identify the health level of your mucus membranes. We can check this through saliva or through stool testing.

      Get more tips for supporting stress balance here and learn how to use a breathing technique to calm your stress response here. Read more about the link between high stress hormones and allergies in this article, which reviews a recent study published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences.

      Microbiome Support

      Along with managing stress, one way you can improve the health of your mucus membranes is by taking probiotics, eating fermented foods such as kimchi or sauerkraut, and getting enough fermentable fibers. Probiotics and fermented foods help populate intestines with good bacteria and fermentable fibers provide the food for good bacteria to continue to grow and flourish. Fermentable fibers are found in food such as sweet potatoes, slightly green bananas, and beans. Take note though, if you start consuming more pre/probiotics and you notice excessive gas and bloating, you could have an overgrowth of bacteria which could benefit from testing and treatment.