Like a slap in in the face with a frozen fish, autumn has suddenly arrived. Without warning, the mornings have an icy chill and the evenings are depressingly dark.

And with the seasonal turn will come the coughs and colds. For reasons not wholly understood, the pesky rhinovirus (the ‘common cold bug’) likes to spread its seed at this time of year – perhaps due to the temperature change or possibly because the kids go back to school and sharing their germs.

Tis time, then, to start stocking up on the cough medicine and throat lozenges. Unless, that is, you already have plenty of cough remedy in your cupboards. Which you probably do – and without even realising it.

Even though I am a medical man who fastidiously supports science-based medicine, it is obvious that there are times when a home remedy could do the job as well as a pharmacist’s tincture.

There are countless time-honoured cold treatments out there. Just think what your grandparents would suggest right now; chicken soup, garlic bunches and a hot toddy perhaps? These particular fixes have sadly been shown to be nothing more than old wives’ poppycock; but there is one tonic that stands the test of time: a spoonful of honey in a cup of steaming lemon tea.

For since God was a lad, honey has been used as medicine. You name it, and honey has been doled out for it: baldness, gout, neurological conditions, constipation, infections and infertility (to name but a few).

And bizarrely, the ancient Egyptians – clearly not happy with just spreading it on their toast – even smeared it on their skin to prevent infection. It doesn’t sound nice. I know what you’re thinking: with all those insects and sand around, they must have bee-n crazy.

It will come as no surprise, then, to discover that honey isn’t really a wonder drug, as was once hoped. But nevertheless there is some sweet science to say that it can help the body.

Put honey in a laboratory dish and it is possible to see the sticky stuff kill a wide variety of disease-causing bacteria. Darker honeys – like Manuka honey – seem to be particularly good bug-killers.

And while there is no evidence to show that honey’s antibacterial properties will rid you of your cold, swallowing some could nevertheless help a tickly cough. In one study, two teaspoons of buckwheat honey given to sniffly children before bed significantly eased their night time cough – just as well as a medicated syrup. It was even found that the parents got a better night’s sleep!

But perhaps honey’s most surprising ability is its power to fight wound infections. It seems that those funny Egyptians weren’t all that crazy after all: actual science now shows that honey applied to the skin improves the healing of skin ulcers, surgical wounds, dermatitis, and skin inflammation.

But it’s not a good idea to start slathering a tub of Wiltshire organic honey over your grazes. At the moment, only one honey-based preparation (called Medihoney) has so far been shown to be safe and effective… and not attract flies.

On a final point, it’s worth remembering that honey is mostly sugar. Weight-for-weight it’s probably a better sweetener than table sugar as it contains slightly fewer calories. That said, going overboard isn’t going to be good for the teeth or the waistline; official guidance states that adults should consume no more than 90g of sugar per day – from all sources.

And parents, never, ever give honey to a child under one year old. Sometimes honey can contain spores of the bacteria that causes botulism. If ingested, a young infant’s immune system may succumb to this deadly infection.

For the older ones, there’s little to argue against enjoying a bit of honey for ‘medical purposes’. Just heed the wisdom of Mary Poppins – the most trusted of all children’s nurses: “A spoonful of honey helps the medicine go down.”

Well, nearly.