Products of the hive - sticky, sweet and healthful

Propolis: building a "city," rebuilding our health

Glenn W. Geelhoed, M.D., and Jean Barilla, M.S., in their 1997 book, Natural Health Secrets From Around the World, write the following about propolis:

"Asians, Arabs, and other people around the world use propolis for everything from bad breath to colds, migraines, hearing loss, and other ailments. The Russians have even been using it to stimulate the body's [production of] white blood cells to prevent infections before and after surgery. Research in Poland has confirmed the antibiotic qualities of propolis."

Propolis is made by bees from a sticky sap gathered by them from balsam, poplar, and pine trees. Once back at the hive, they mix the sap with a wax secreted by special glands on their underside. They line the floor and the walls of the hive with it, and it hardens. The word "propolis" comes from the Greek, and means "before the city." The ancient Greeks called it that because they observed that bees used propolis to line the entrances to their hives -- their own cities.

Propolis inhibits microorganisms in the hive and is an antiseptic and healing agent, sealing the queen's chambers to guarantee a germ-free, sterile environment in which she will lay thousands of eggs.

Propolis also appears to have healing properties, including antibacterial. "In a recent study that pitted bee propolis against an array of conventional antibiotics, propolis prevented the growth of over 56 types of staphylococci bacteria," write Geelhoed and Barilla. "The conventional [bacteria] killers -- ampicillin, penicillin, streptomycin, and others -- failed the test. Further research has even shown that, while microorganisms typically `learn' to resist modern antibiotics, they never learn to resist the power of propolis."

Additionally, propolis does not destroy friendly bacteria working to defend us. In fact, propolis has been used for centuries in folk medicine to soothe and heal sore throats. In fact, many health food manufacturers include it in their throat lozenges, some of which contain vitamin C and/or zinc.

Royal jelly: fit for a "queen," healing for us

Another phenomenal product from the hive is royal jelly. I first tasted it back in 1985 when I interviewed Barbara Cartland, Britain's "first lady of nutrition," at the time, and author of more than 500 romance novels, while visiting her 54-room mansion in Hatfield, England.

In her book, The Magic of Honey, Cartland explains that the one thing that distinguishes the Queen Bee from worker bees -- and makes her a thing of beauty -- is an exclusive diet of royal jelly, a milky white substance produced in the pharyngeal glands of worker bees.

While worker bees live only 40 to 50 days, the Queen Bee can live for as long as four to five years. Researchers agree that she lays as many as 2,000 to 2,500 eggs daily, weighing about 2 1/2 times as much as her own body.

Cartland told me that royal jelly can do marvelous things with birds, animals, and people. She recounted a Cornell University study which found that "chickens fed royal jelly laid twice as many eggs as those that didn't. Even older chickens beyond the laying age began laying eggs again after having royal jelly added to their diet. So this substance seems to have the power for rejuvenation."