Someone gave me the article below-the first one and asked me to post on my feelings about honey. She said that reading things sometimes, like the reading she has done on honey makes her sometimes tempted to try embracing honey as a way of treating her IC.

What I would say is this-there are many wonderful foods that offer wonderful antimicrobial, antioxidant, and or other kinds of nutritional kinds of substances. The question is always -in what situation? One cannot only look at a single aspect of what a supplement or food has to offer. It has to be looked at from all sides. Honey has many of these kinds of qualities yes, but, at the same time, one has to look at what type of source those nutritional values are being derived. 

Many foods in nature may be used in this way-as antimicrobials or antioxidative substances, but, some are tonics and some are "cleansers, while others fit into more complicated categories. One must look at those aspects in order to determine if its use is appropriate for them. And then within the categories that are appropriate, one must consider other kinds of things such as whether that substance contains irritating ingredients such as certain minerals or vitamins that would prohibit that person from using it.

I personally am not a huge advocate of honey with IC bc I have seen more negative effects from it than positive. Honey is a tonic. When I use tonics, I draw from other sources that, in my experience, are more effective and less problematic. I am not saying that there are never instances where honey may be very useful. I am only saying that in my experience, I have not found honey to be useful in IC. Like other kinds of tonifying antimicrobial substances, it can be too tonifying and make the pathogens that exist within IC stronger owing to that tonifying effect.

OK, I am sorry, this was a lot for something that could have been a short subject. But, I am trying to answer this thoroughly. See beow for the various angels of honey. Hope this helped.

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/394054_honeyhealth30.asp

nutritional aspects of honey:
http://www.honey-health.com/honey-6.shtml

Raw honey vs. not:
http://www.pyreneeshoney.com/