Apimedica, an international conference in
Athens in 2005, provided the forum for a
dramatic flowering of this unique therapy. The
conference brought together some 50 scientific
presentations from 30 countries exploring the
therapeutic use of propolis, honey, royal jelly,
bee venom and pollen to treat a wide range of
diseases, including wounds, skin problems,
diabetes, cancer, oral health problems and
many more. A second conference is being held
in Rome this year.
In Apiceuticals the bee performs a unique, one
might say; ‘pharmaceutical’ transformation of
the raw material provided by the plant into
products like propolis, honey and bee venom,
converting plant pharmacology into entirely
new compounds which provide enhanced
functional support for the bee community
as a whole. Propolis for example (plant and
tree resins modified by the bees in the hive)
provides the bee colony with its external
immune system.
It was Propolis in particular that first excited
my own interest in Apiceuticals. At that time,
in the early 1990’s, few people in the UK were
aware of its properties. Over the last 15 years
a combination of consumer concerns over
conventional medicines and a mounting body
of research has led to a renaissance of interest
in propolis..
Products from the Honey Bee (Apis Mellifera) - honey, propolis, pollen, bee venom, royal jelly, bee bread and beeswax- have been used in a medicinal context since Egyptian times. Together with plants and herbs, they have formed the backbone of traditional healthcare systems. These plant and bee medicines draw their strength directly from nature to both maintain general health and fight disease, a concept captured in Hippocrates’ famous maxim “Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food” The value of Apiceuticals in treating disease has until recently been largely unrecognised. Despite this lack of public visibility a considerable body of scientific evidence has been built up over the last 60 -70 years. Much of the early work was carried out in Russia and Eastern Europe, but increasingly over the last 20 years in the Westernised countries too, notably in Japan, France, US, UK, Australia and New Zealand.
The last ten years has seen an avalanche
of scientific papers from all over the world
exploring the antibacterial, anti inflammatory,
anti viral and antifungal properties of Propolis.
Our own work over the last 10 years at Oxford,
Manchester, and the University of Strathclyde
has produced 7 peer reviewed papers with
more in preparation. The Propolis Research
Unit based at Strathclyde has examined the
chemical and biological properties of well
over 300 samples of Propolis from every
continent.
This has led to the setting of new
quality standards. The Research Unit, now in
it’s 5th year, has made a number of exciting
discoveries, including a correlation between
climate and the biological properties of Propolis,
as well discovering in
a Propolis from South
East Asia a new
flavonoid which seems
to be key to its uniquely
powerful antibiotic
effect which extends
even to MRSA..
Apiceuticals - A new name for old medicine
James Fearnley and Tony Jefferson inspecting hives for propolis
© 2008 Natures Laboratory Ltd.