Everything to know about apitherapy

Bee venom

Worker bees produce venom to protect themselves and their hives from attack. Bees sting their attackers, injecting them with their venom. Bee venom is a mixture of proteins, amino acids, water, and volatile compounds that cause a painful reaction.

Royal jelly

Honeybees secrete nutrient-dense royal jelly to feed their larvae for the first few days of their lives. After that, only the bees that will become queens continue eating royal jelly. Worker bees usually live for 4–6 weeks, while queen bees can live for up to 6 years. Royal jelly is rich in B vitamins, proteins, and antioxidants. Antioxidants reduce the levels of free radicals in the body, which experts think may be responsible for aging.

Bee pollen

Pollen, which worker bees collect from plants, is rich in protein, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and amino acids. Bees pollinate plants while collecting pollen, as they transfer it from one flower to another. They also eat it, and it provides most of their dietary protein.

Propolis

Propolis is a sticky substance that bees make from plant resins. It is antiseptic and antimicrobial, and honeybees use it to keep the inside of their hives free of bacterial and fungal infections.

Beeswax

Bees make wax to construct their honeycombs and plug the honey cells when they are ready. Bees also mix the wax with propolis to cover any cracks in the hive and protect the bees from infections.

Beebread

Bees process pollen by mixing it with honey and different enzymes. The pollen ferments and forms beebread, which is both nutrient-rich and easy to digest. It also preserves the nutrients in the food.

Overview

Apitherapy is a type of alternative therapy that uses products that come directly from honeybees. It’s used to treat illnesses and their symptoms as well as pain from acute and chronic injuries.
Illnesses that apitherapy may treat include:

• 
  multiple sclerosis
  
• 
  arthritis
  
• 
  infections
  
• 
  shingles
  

Injuries that apitherapy can treat include:

• 
  wounds
  
• 
  pain
  
• 
  burns
  
• 
  tendonitis
  

During apitherapy treatment, honeybee products may be:

• 
  applied topically
  
• 
  taken orally
  
• 
  injected directly into the blood
  

Apitherapy has been used for thousands of years. It can be traced back to ancient Egypt and China. The Greeks and Romans used bee products for medicinal purposes as well, where bee venom was used to treat joint pain from arthritis.