Propolis: The Most Powerful Healing Agent in Nature

Propolis as healing agent is well known as having powerful anti-viral, antibacterial, and anti-fungal properties. For more about the biological effects of the propolis on human body, please read “What is Propolis?”

Below we offer a less traditional view of the propolis… from the both the inside and the outside of the beehive. Have you ever wondered how bees collect propolis and what do they do with it?

Please read below…

Collecting the Propolis

Throughout the summer months honeybees will visit a variety of trees and shrubs to collect sticky resins and carry them back to their hive.

These resins are part of the immune system that protects trees, particularly the buds, from disease and harmful radiation.

 

Using the Propolis

Bees add enzymes, wax and pollen and transform the resins into a type of antibiotic polyfilla. They block up cracks in the hive and reduce the entrance size to make it easier to defend. Hence the Greek name for propolis…..pro (before) and polis (the city).

Every cell in the honeycomb is varnished with a thin coating of propolis before the Queen lays her eggs. Cells are like tiny incubators and have to be sterile to protect the growing larvae from disease. Remember that inside the hive it is crowded, with 50,000 or more bees; it is warm and moist and a perfect environment for bacteria and other pathogens to spread. For more than 100 million years bees have been using propolis to stay healthy, and to survive.

 

Human use of the Propolis as Healing Agent

Humans too have been using propolis as healing agent for many thousands of years. The ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans all used propolis for healing. In Eastern Europe there is a long tradition of propolis use and it is sometimes called “Russian penicillin”.

Today we have sophisticated laboratories and can analyse and study this wonderful substance. There is a wealth of scientific evidence supporting all the old folk remedy stories.

Propolis is not only antibacterial, but also one of the few genuine antiviral substances in Nature.

Viruses have a protein coat around them and compounds in propolis prevent the proteins binding to our cells. Thus the viral material cannot get inside to replicate.

Propolis effectively disables a virus.