Advice: Honey Bee products and their medicinal properties

 

A History

  Over the millennia, honey bee products have been used all over the world by the ancients.

  Though they probably did not understand how it works on a physiological level, they were wise enough to see the wisdom of the hive. For 50 000 years, Homo Sapiens have been using honey as the only naturally occurring sweetener. To make a sweet alcoholic brew, honey was mixed with water and left to ferment.

  Beehive keeping was only penned down in history about 4 000BC, though this has most probably started much earlier. During this time, the use of the full bee product became evident, as beeswax became rather expensive for its uses in mummification, coffin sealing and candle making.

  By 2 700BC, the medicinal value of bee products was well established, especially in the care of wounds. Popularity grew especially in Egypt, where almost all wound cures involved honey, beeswax or propolis. Bee products became extremely valuable in economical growth.

  Hippocrates (the father of the medical oath) recommends bee products for a wide and wild array of uses, like for wound care to even a contraceptive.

  Even to this day, honey is one of the last untreated natural foods…

  The rest, as they say, is history.

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Therapeutic uses of honey bee products

  The nutritional value of honey is well-established, for those who care to eat it raw. Here, we would rather expand on its therapeutic uses, that is to say, anything but in the gut.

  The main ingredients in bee products are beeswax, propolis and honey.

  Each of these, in their turn, have medical or therapeutic uses:

Beeswax

Due to its waxy substance, beeswax is a great carrier and binder of other oil-based substances. Beeswax itself have a variety of medicinal advantages, such as naturally being antimicrobial and antifungal. Studies have proven its ability to ward of Staphylococcus Aureus, Salmonella and an array of other bacteria. The uses of beeswax in various dermatological conditions have been well-established literally over thousands of years. The first description of beeswax being used in wounds and burns dates back to 3 500BC in the Ebers Papyrus.

Propolis

Propolis is a great antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and antifungal. In a recent study, the antiviral effects of propolis were studied and measured against a typical medicine (Acyclovir) in the treatment of genital herpes simplex.

Honey

The use of honey is even incorporated into modern medicine for the treatment of wounds, like pressure & venous ulcers and burn wounds. More recently, honey has also been studied for its effects against intestinal parasites. Honey is a potent anti-inflammatory and is also very well-known for its antimicrobial activity.

  All in all, bees truly are our little helpers, from medicine to a superfood. We need to love and respect these little guys and protect them with everything we have. Natural ways to do this for the average man is to simply allow his garden to flourish!

To read about the medicinal values of lavender, click here!

To view our range of natural health products, click here!

For further reading, please see the following links to medical studies:

Therapeutic Properties of Bioactive Compounds from Different Honeybee Products – PMC (nih.gov)

(PDF) Bee honey: history, characteristics, properties, benefits and adulteration in the beekeeping sector (researchgate.net)

Beeswax: A minireview of its antimicrobial activity and its application in medicine – ScienceDirect