Posted by admin on Thursday, August 6th, 2009 , Posted in Getting To Know , 3 Comments »
The main component of propolis are resins. The flavonoids and phenolic acids rich resins make around 40 % to 50 % of propolis.
Because propolis comes from variety of plants, availability of the plants sap and the type of bees, no two propolis are alike. They would be different in term of colors, odors and compositions.
Chemical Ingredients
Chemically, propolis is exceedingly complex. Apart from flavonoids, propolis is also rich in caffeic acid phenethyl ester. This is a substance that has been proven to inhibit cancer growth and reduce inflammation in animal studies.
Bee propolis also contains organic acids, their derivatives as well as terpenoids. These constituents contribute to it’s antibiotic, anti fungal and antiviral effects.
Apart from that you will also find :-
- kaempferol
- apigenin
- pinocembrin
- galangin
- luteolin
- pinostrobin, and
- quercitin
All of which are anti-inflammatory, antiallergenic, antioxidant and/or antimutagenic.
Chemically complex
Scientifically, studies done on propolis had found that it actually contains more than 150 chemical components. Some researchers even found as much as 300 components in their sample propolis.
About Propolis Antibacterial and Antiviral Effects
There is an interesting difference between propolis’s antibacterial property compared to an antibiotics.
Antibiotics works by killing bacteria in our body. That includes “friendly” ones needed by the body. Among the good bacteria killed by antibiotics are ones responsible in helping the body produce vitamins like B and K. The more antibiotics you use, the more “friendly” bacteria will you kill.
On the other hand, propolis raises your body’s natural resistance by stimulating your own immune system. It also adds vitamins like B1, B, C, E and essential minerals including iron, aluminum, manganese and silicon to the body.
Posted by admin on Thursday, August 6th, 2009 , Posted in History , 2 Comments »
When synthetic drugs were introduced and antibiotics was gaining popularity, the use of natural products like propolis plummeted.
It was only in China and Eastern Europe ( countries like Russia, Poland, Bulgaria and old Yugoslavia) that medical research were conducted on bee propolis.
Propolis brought to the West
The medical community in the West only took notice in the 1960s and 1970s after the works of Dr. Aagard Lund in Denmark and Dr. Remy Chauvin in France was published – outlining the benefits of propolis to health.
Starting from that, like any other useful natural plant or substance, scientists have been working hard to extract that special ingredients in propolis that is beneficial for our health.
But it appears that you need to take whole propolis to get it’s health benefits. The combined and synergistic effects of propolis are proved to be better than any single ingredients extracted from it.
Non-toxic
These scientific research have also concluded that propolis not toxic. In simple words this means it is safe for you to take propolis.
However, it has a few side effects, mainly affecting those who are already allergic to bees or bee products.
Posted by admin on Thursday, August 6th, 2009 , Posted in History , 1 Comment »
Propolis was first used as folk medicine during the days of Aristotle ( which is around 350 BC). Others believe it was first used by Egyptian priest doctors who used it as medicine after successfully using it for mummification.
Later on, propolis were also mentioned in Arabs, Greeks and Roman medical treatises during the late 19th century. Equivalent to today’s medical journals, these treatises talk about using propolis for treating infection, skin diseases, respiratory and joint problems. The Greeks were known to use it for abscesses while the Assyrians used it to heal wounds and possibly tumors.
In Europe and North Africa, propolis have been reported as a form of treatment for wound, caries and all forms of mouth or throat infections.
Posted by admin on Wednesday, August 5th, 2009 , Posted in Getting To Know , 2 Comments »
In simple words, propolis is bees’ own medicine.
What is it made of ?
It is made of various resins collected by the honeybees from plants – particularly from flowers, leaf buds and the bark of trees.
Other names
The usually brown substance is also called bee glue. But note, it is not the same as bees wax.
Beeswax is secreted by bees while the chemically complex propolis is collected by bees from trees.
Picture Credit
Martin
A populous colony may contain 40,000 to 60,000 bees during the late spring or early summer. Propolis keeps the hive strong and sterile.
What is it used for ?
Bees use the versatile resin for :-
- Sealing cracks and as natural cement to hold their home.
- Keeping themselves and their hives bacteria-free, and
- Coating invaders.
Sealing and strengthening hives
As propolis is sticky in warm weather, bees use it as a form of glue to seal cracks or hold the hive structure together.
Some African tribes are also using propolis in the similar way – to water-proof their water containers and seal cracks in their boats.
Keeping the colony bacteria-free
Living in a hive is like living in a super-busy apartment building, and sharing it with other 50,000 living beings. It’s like making a crowded Tokyo subway your home.
But because propolis is used as the cement of the congested space, as bees squeeze themselves into or out of the hive, they will brush their body against the wall, and the propolis.
This contact with propolis helps reduce bacterial and viral infection from spreading in their congested home. Without some kind of natural antibiotics protection, the whole colony would be dead.
Scientist studying bees have agreed that the hive is as clean and sterile as most of our modern laboratories.
Coating Intruders
If a rodent like a rat enters the hive, bees will sting it to death and coat the carcass with propolis.
Because it cannot carry the carcass away from its’ hive, bees need a way to sterile the dead body. By embalming the body with an antiseptic shell, the carcass will not rot and spread an epidemic in the congested space.
As it’s already used as the coating and cement for the hive, the anti microbial and antiviral propolis is the fastest and most effective substance for the job.
