Apitherapy

Apitherapy in very simple terms refers to the use of bee products to affect healing. It comes from the Latin term ‘Apis’ which means ‘bee’.

History Of Apitherapy

The history of Apitherapy dates back to the ancient Greeks, Egyptians and Chinese. It is almost as old as beekeeping itself. Hippocrates mentioned the use of bee venom for treating arthritis and other joint problems and Apitherapy also finds mention in Chinese texts almost 2000 years old.

It was Austrian physician Phillip Terc who initiated the study of bee stings and intentional bee stings. He published an article in 1888 about a connection between beestings and rheumatism. Bee venom was popularized all over America by the late beekeeper Charles Mraz of Middlebury, Vermont.

While Apitherapy began as part of folklore medicine and was passed down from one generation to the next, it is a well-established field of alternative medicine today. Thousands of professional and amateur practitioners use Apitherapy all over the world.

They use the honeybee and her products to help an individual or individuals prevent, heal or recover from various conditions and ailments. Honey, pollen, propolis, royal jelly and bee venom are some of the bee products used in Apitherapy for their medicinal properties.

Products Used In Apitherapy

Various bee products are used in Apitherapy to help heal many conditions. They are as listed below.

Honey:

Honeybees collect nectar from various flowers and convert the sucrose to glucose and finally fructose by adding their own enzymes. The fructose is stored in the honeycomb as honey, which is food for the bees. Honeycombs have been surviving on the planet for more than 50 million years!

Beekeepers harvest the surplus honey and sell it. We are familiar with honey as the spread we use on our toasts or the topping for our waffles. However, honey has many curative and therapeutic properties as well.

Honey is known to be good for the digestive system. It has a warming effect on the body and relieves constipation. It provides slow, continuous energy and is a great way to beat fatigue. It promotes brisk mental efficiency, heals fractured bones by supplying calcium, is good for colds and anaemic conditions and heals bronchial infections. Honey also has anti-bacterial properties and can be used for dressing wounds and burns to help keep them sterile and promote healing.

Royal Jelly:

Royal jelly is possibly one of the richest foods known to Mother Nature. It is produced by the worker bees for the Queen bee and developing bees. A milky white substance, royal jelly is produced in the salivary glands of worker bees.

The queen bees are fed royal jelly throughout their larval period and worker bees are fed it for the first three days of the larval period. It is known to encourage proper development and may also be the substance that dramatically increases the life of the queen bee and enhances her fertility.

Royal jelly is extremely high in nutrients and also has anti bacterial properties in the right strength. To determine whether the royal jelly is pure or adulterated, the three compounds of lipids, sugars and proteins need to be analyzed. If kept in dark places for a long period of time royal jelly darkens with age due to the natural oxidation process.

It is supposed to be highly beneficial in curing infertility, asthma, lack of appetite and continuous fatigue. It has also been known to decrease cholesterol levels in the blood. It is also used as a product in anti-wrinkle and age-defying cosmetics.

Pollen:

Pollen has been lauded for its therapeutic effects in ancient Chinese, Egyptian and Indian texts as well. Bees collect pollen from flowers to use as protein. Pollen can be harvested from the bees as they are about to enter the beehive. The beekeeper then cleans and dries or freezes the pollen to be used as an ingredient in herbal and natural medicines and as a food supplement.

Pollen is mostly used as an energy boosting nutritional supplement. It helps to increase endurance and vitality, aids in generation of new blood, for curing cold and cough and a host of other ailments.

However, pollen can also cause allergic reactions and needs to be consumed with proper precaution. It is often used to build resistance to allergens by injecting small amounts of pollen into the body and increasing the dosage gradually.

Propolis:

It is also known as bee glue. It is the sticky resin that oozes from the buds of certain trees like poplar. It may also be produced by the bark of conifers. Worker bees collect propolis, add their saliva and enzymes to it and then use it to coat the inside of the hive. It acts as an antiseptic layer of the honeycomb cells.

A resinous substance, it is often used as a part of tinctures, creams, cosmetics and tablets for its antiseptic properties. It is also said to have anti-viral, anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties. The alcohol of propolis is also said to have a local anaesthetic action.

Beeswax:

This is secreted by the worker bees from glands on the underside of the body. It is used to create the home and made from the honey eaten by bees. A bee needs to consume anywhere between two to four pounds of honey to produce just one pound of beeswax.

It is a highly priced ingredient in cosmetics, hand and face creams, ointments, lipsticks and lip salves.

Bee venom.

This is the factor that causes the stinging sensation when a bee stings. Many people are allergic to bee venom. The allergic reactions can vary from a mild swelling of the limb to an anaphylactic reaction, which can even cause death. However, bee venom has high beneficial properties as well.

Bee venom therapy or BVT is administered by injection or an actual bee sting. The venom contains powerful anti-inflammatory substances including adolapin and melittin. Melittin stimulates the production of cortisol. BVT is thus used for conditions like bursitis, rheumatoid, multiple scelrosis and osteoarthritis.

Application of Apitherapy

Apitherapy is used to cure many ailments. The use of bee products like honey and pollen is fairly simple. It is bee venom therapy that is the most complex part of Apitherapy. It is vital that only an expert practitioner should render BVT. Trying to ‘fix’ problems by getting stung by bees is definitely not the way to go.

Thus, Apitherapy is the use of natural bee products to help cure various ailments and enhance health.