Bee Propolis

The History of Propolis

Propolis was first used as folk medicine from the day of Aristotle ( which is around 350 BC). Apart from that, others believe it was first used by Egyptian priest doctor who started using it as medicine after first utilizing it successfully 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 used for treating wound, caries and all forms of  mouth or throat infections.

 

Modern History
When modern synthetic drugs were introduced and antibiotic was gaining popularity, the use of natural products like propolis dropped significantly.

 

It was only in China and Eastern Europe ( countries like Russia, Poland, Bulgaria and old Yugoslavia) that medical research were conducted on bee propolis.

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 point on, modern researches have been trying to extract that special ingredients in propolis that is beneficial for our health. 

Modern scientists were trying to do the same thing that they had done to medicinal plants. Isolate the chemicals that is beneficial, and throw away the others.

Fortunately, they just couldn't do it to propolis. It appears that you need to take whole propolis to get it's health benefits. When an extracted ingredient is used, the effect is not as good as the whole propolis. So, at the moment, nature wins.

To get the medicinal benefit from this resin, you have to use whole propolis. The combined and synergistic effects of propolis are proved to be better than any single ingredients extracted from it. 

Apart from that, these scientific researches have also concluded that is not a toxic substance - meaning it is safe to be used by human. 

However, it has a few side effects, mainly affecting those who are already allergic to bees or bee products.

 

Other Uses
Propolis is also used in Sub Sahara by the African natives. It is used to water-proof their containers and also as a form of adhesive. 

However, the main use of propolis is still as a traditional medicine.

In other parts of the world, propolis is also used as preservatives for living and dead things. From Stradivarius violins to fish, propolis offers great protection as it does to bee hives.