Honey Promotes Faster Healing for Necrotizing Fascitis Wounds

A Comparative Study Between Use of Topical Honey and Edinburgh University's Solution of Lime (EUSOL) Dressing in Necrotizing Fascitis Wounds

Cureus. 2023 Jan 16;15(1):e33825

Introduction Necrotizing soft tissue infection is potentially life-threatening and involves subcutaneous fascial planes, later involving overlying skin and, eventually, underlying muscles. Early diagnosis and prompt treatment are necessary for this disease's management to avoid significant morbidity and fatality. 

After resuscitation and optimization, early surgical debridement is followed by serials of dressing. Various materials like Edinburgh University's solution of lime (EUSOL), normal saline, povidone-iodine, and honey have been used as dressing solutions for necrotizing fasciitis. This study is based on comparing the effects of honey and EUSOL as dressing solutions in necrotizing fasciitis wounds. 

Methods A randomized clinical trial was conducted at the Civil Hospital Karachi, from March 2020 to July 2021. This study has been approved by the ethical review committee of the institution and registered at clinicaltrial.gov. Based on the dressing solution for necrotizing fasciitis, patients were divided into two groups, The honey group (intervention group) contains 90 patients, and the EUSOL group (control group) has 85 patients. 

Results A total of 175 patients' data were analyzed, 90 in the honey group and 85 in the EUSOL group. Patients presented to the hospital with symptoms of 6.20 ± 2.72 days in the honey group and 6.67 ± 4.08 days in the EUSOL group. The days required for clearance of slough in the honey group were 2.83 ± 0.79, while 2.48 ± 0.82 days in the EUSOL group with a p-value of 0.005. The duration of hospital stay was 4.96 ± 1.31 days in the intervention group and 9.33 ± 1.45 days in the control group, with a p-value of 0.007. Wound healing days were 20.23 ± 4.45 in the intervention group while 28.38 ± 7.06 days in the control group, with a significant p-value of 0.000. 

Conclusion While managing necrotizing soft tissue infection wounds with honey. Honey promotes faster wound healing and shorter hospital stays compared to EUSOL.

Turkish First Lady Emine Erdogan Awarded for Promoting Apitherapy, Using Bee Products for Medicinal PurposeS

ANADOLU AGENCY

Turkish first lady Emine Erdogan on Friday received the Dr. Beck Apitherapy Award for promoting bee products for medicinal purposes.

She hosted the International Apitherapy Federation's executives at the Vahdettin Mansion in Istanbul.

At the reception, Janos Kormendy-Racz, head of the Hungarian Apitherapy Association, presented the award to Erdogan for her contributions to the dissemination of apitherapy studies in Türkiye.

“This award is half Turkish, half Hungarian. The person you see in the picture has made great contributions to the use of bee products in the field of medicine and to the development of bee studies. I hope that it will be an occasion for us to go further in Turkey as well,” Kormendy-Racz said...

New Video: 'Bee Air" Therapy in Moldova

Meet Mariana and Iurie, beekeepers from Moldova. Inspired by farmers from Ukraine, they decided to bring the innovative practice of apitherapy to Moldova. With big aspirations but little knowledge of business, they needed help with capacity-building to become successful entrepreneurs

As part of a programme to help aspiring Moldovan enterprises, PIN Moldova, in partnership with the local Socio-Economic Policy Centre, “CONSENS”, has worked with business owners like Mariana and Iurie.

WATCH THE VIDEO.

Bee Venom Therapy Popular in Sudan

Bee venom: Sudan's alternative medicine

Middle East Monitor

From inside his small shop in souk in the centre of the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, Abdullah Al-Sarraj was able to make bee stings an "effective and rapid treatment" for people who are suffering from chronic diseases.

In the shop with its own distinctive buzz, Hamza grabs forceps and gets to work with the bees. He says treatment by bees was mentioned in the Quran and everything that comes from the stomach of bees is healing, including the honey and wax, but he says even the venom from their sting can heal.

He says he uses the bees' sting to treat ailments by inserting them into specific sites on a patients' body depending on the disease being treated, adding that the "stings relax the nerves".

Al-Sarraj is considered one of the oldest therapists of this type of alternative medicine in Khartoum.

Bee venom contains "a treatment for about 140 diseases, because it contains organic, non-chemical medicinal substances that do not cause side effects," says Al-Sarraj.

Propolis, Royal Jelly, and Bee Venom May Help Treat High Blood Pressure (Hypertension)

Sci Rep. 2022 Dec 1;12(1):20765.

Apitherapy combination improvement of blood pressure, cardiovascular protection, and antioxidant and anti-inflammatory responses in dexamethasone model hypertensive rats

Hypertension-induced ventricular and vascular remodeling causes myocardial infarction, heart failure, and sudden death. Most available pharmaceutical products used to treat hypertension lead to adverse effects on human health. Limited data is available on apitherapy (bee products) combinations for treatment of hypertension.

This study aims to evaluate the antihypertensive effects of combinations of natural apitherapy compounds used in the medical sector to treat a variety of diseases. Rats were assigned into six groups consisting of one control group and five hypertensive groups where hypertension (blood pressure > 140/90) was induced with dexamethasone. One of these groups was used as a hypertension model, while the remaining four hypertensive groups were treated with a propolis, royal jelly, and bee venom combination (PRV) at daily oral doses of 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 mg/kg, and with losartan 10 mg/kg.

The PRV combination at all doses decreased arterial blood pressure below the suboptimal value (p < 0.001), and PRV combination treatment improved dexamethasone-induced-ECG changes. The same treatment decreased angiotensin-II, endothelin-1, and tumor growth factor β serum levels in hypertensive rats. Additionally, PRV combination improved histopathological structure, and decreased serum levels of NF-kB and oxidative stress biomarkers. We concluded that PRV combination therapy may be used as a potential treatment for a variety of cardiovascular diseases.

How To Treat Eczema Using Honey

The National Eczema Association reports that honey has become more popular in recent years for treating eczema, and while it appears to be safe, it should be used with caution. You should discuss it or any alternative treatments with your doctor. While an allergic reaction to honey is unlikely, it can happen — especially if you're allergic to bee stings or pollen. If you have any concerns, play it safe and test your skin. Apply a small amount of honey to a small area and watch for any symptoms that include itching, redness, or a rash. You should also never give honey to babies under one year of age because it could give them botulism, per WebMD.

HEALTH DIGEST

The Use of Medicinal Honey in Wound Care of Horses

The right kind of honey is key if you want to try this technique

By Carol Shwetz Dvm

Medicinal honey shows impressive results in combatting antibiotic resistance, improving patient welfare and economizing wound management for humans and companion animals.

When the source of honey is well chosen, there are no mentionable side effects or contra-indications.

Honey is roughly 80 per cent simple sugars (such as glucose and fructose) and 20 per cent water and also contains more than 200 different bioactive compounds (including proteins, enzymes, amino acids, phytochemicals, vitamins, antioxidants and minerals).

Its therapeutic potency is complex. It contains compounds both known and unknown by the scientific world. It is a product of nature and thus variations in composition occur between geographical locations of the hive, season, weather and the bee’s pasture conditions. As a result of this variability, science struggles to fully standardize, quantify and qualify the healing benefits of honey...

Honey-Propolis-Engineered Collagen Peptides as Promising Wound-Healing Matrix in Mouse Model

In this study, collagen hydrolysates (CHDs) were fabricated with honey-propolis wax (HPW), structurally modified as a sponge matrix, and experimentalized on wound healing in a mouse model. The scaffold was characterized by means of in vitro enzymatic degradation; in vitro HPW release; and in vivo wound-healing mouse model, wound-healing-specific RNA, transcripts, and protein markers. The functional activity of the HPW extracted from raw propolis was determined using total flavonoids, antioxidant scavenging assays, and anti-hemolytic principles. 

The results indicated that HPW had a high flavonoid content (20 μg/mL of wax) and antioxidant activities. The effective concentration (EC50) of HPW was estimated (28 mg/mL) and was then used in the subsequent in vivo experiments. Additionally, the dopped mixture of CHDs and HPW substantially enhanced the wound-healing process and regulated wound biochemical markers such as hexoseamine and melondialdehyde. CHDs- HPW upregulated the expression of growth factors including vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) (2.3-fold), fibroblast growth factor (FGF) and epidermal growth factor (EGF) (1.7-fold), and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) (3.1-fold), indicating their potential capacity to perform wound re-epithelialization and the loading of ground tissue. Pro-inflammatory markers IL-1 β (51 pg/mL) and TNF-α (220 pg/mL) were significantly reduced in the CHD-HPW-treated wound. 

These interesting results were further confirmed using mRNA and protein growth factors from the wound, which enhanced the load of collagen-I in the wound site. In conclusion, CHDs-HPW exhibited a significant reduction in inflammation and inflammatory markers and helped to obtain a faster wound-healing process in a mouse model. The newly engineered biosponge could be developed as a promising therapeutic approach for the regeneration and repair of damaged human skin in the future.

First Kenyan Apitherapy Workshop with International Participation, December 2022

 

Intensive Apitherapy Course & Workshops in Romania

Application form for the Intensive Apitherapy Course & Workshops (I.A.C.W.) with Dr. Stefan Stângaciu and his colleagues.

Flavonoid Extract from Propolis Protects Heart After Myocardial Infarction (Heart Attack)

Flavonoid Extract from Propolis Provides Cardioprotection following Myocardial Infarction by Activating PPAR- γ

Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2022 Jul 5;2022:1333545

We have previously reported that flavonoid extract from propolis (FP) can improve cardiac function in rats following myocardial infarction (MI). However, the mechanisms responsible for the cardioprotective effects of FP have not been fully elucidated. In the current study, we explored whether FP can reduce inflammatory cytokines and attenuate sympathetic nerve system activity and antiendoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and whether the cardioprotective effects are related to peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPAR-γ) activation.

Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into six groups: Sham group received the surgical procedure but no artery was ligated; MI group received ligation of the left anterior descending (LAD) branch of the coronary artery; MI + FP group received FP (12.5 mg/kg/d, intragastrically) seven days prior to LAD ligation; FP group (Sham group + 12.5 mg/kg/d, intragastrically); MI + FP + GW9662 group received FP prior to LAD ligation with the addition of a specific PPAR-γ inhibitor (GW9662), 1 mg/kg/d, orally); and MI + GW9662 group received the PPAR-γ inhibitor and LAD ligation.

The results demonstrated that the following inflammatory markers were significantly elevated following MI as compared with expression in sham animals: IL-1β, TNF-α, CRP; markers of sympathetic activation: plasma norepinephrine, epinephrine and GAP43, nerve growth factor, thyroid hormone; and ER stress response markers GRP78 and CHOP. Notably, the above changes were attenuated by FP, and GW9662 was able to alleviate the effect of FP.

In conclusion, FP induces a cardioprotective effect following myocardial infarction by activating PPAR-γ, leading to less inflammation, cardiac sympathetic activity, and ER stress.

Bee Venom May Help Treat Prostate Cancer

Formulation, characterization and cellular toxicity assessment of a novel bee-venom microsphere in prostate cancer treatment

Scientific Reports volume 12, Article number: 13213 (2022)

Bee venom (B.V.) is a toxin produced naturally by honey bees with several toxic and therapeutic efficacies. It is used in the treatment of different cancer kinds like renal, hepatic, and prostate cancer. Due to its protein nature, it is degraded in the upper gastrointestinal tract. Colon-targeted drug delivery systems represent a useful tool to protect B.V. from degradation and can be administered orally instead of I.V. infusion and traditional bee stinging. In the present study, B.V. loaded enteric-coated cross-linked microspheres were prepared by emulsion cross-linking method. Percentage yield, entrapment efficiency %, swelling degree, and in-vitro release are evaluated for prepared microspheres. Free B.V., optimized microspheres formula (F3), and doxorubicin cytotoxic effects were tested by MTT assay. Results concluded that free B.V. was more effective against the growth of human prostate adenocarcinoma (PC3) cells followed by optimized microspheres than doxorubicin. But both free B.V. and doxorubicin have a cytotoxic effect on normal oral epithelial cells (OEC). According to flow cytometric analysis, the optimized microsphere formula induced apoptosis and reduced necrosis percent at IC50 concentration. Furthermore, microspheres did not affect the viability of OEC. These results revealed that microspheres have a degree of specificity for malignant cells. Therefore, it seems that this targeted formulation could be a good candidate for future clinical trials for cancer therapy.

Bee Pollen May Be Useful as Protective Strategy for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)

Protective Effects of Bee Pollen on Multiple Propionic Acid-Induced Biochemical Autistic Features in a Rat Model

Metabolites 2022, 12(7), 571; https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo12070571

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are neurodevelopmental disorders that clinically presented as impaired social interaction, repetitive behaviors, and weakened communication. The use of bee pollen as a supplement rich in amino acids amino acids, vitamins, lipids, and countless bioactive substances may lead to the relief of oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, glutamate excitotoxicity, and impaired neurochemistry as etiological mechanisms autism. Thirty young male Western albino rats were randomly divided as: Group I-control; Group II, in which autism was induced by the oral administration of 250 mg propionic acid/kg body weight/day for three days followed by orally administered saline until the end of experiment and Group III, the bee pollen-treated group, in which the rats were treated with 250 mg/kg body weight of bee pollen for four weeks before autism was induced as described for Group II. Markers related to oxidative stress, apoptosis, inflammation, glutamate excitotoxicity, and neurochemistry were measured in the brain tissue. Our results indicated that while glutathione serotonin, dopamine, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), GABA/Glutamate ratio, and vitamin C were significantly reduced in propionic acid-treated group (p < 0.05), glutamate, IFN-γ, IL-1A, IL-6, caspase-3, and lipid peroxide levels were significantly elevated (p < 0.05). Bee pollen supplementation demonstrates protective potency presented as amelioration of most of the measured variables with significance range between (p < 0.05)–(p < 0.001)

Manuka Honey and Nitrofurazone Composite Boosts Healing of Burn Wounds

Enhanced Healing Activity of Manuka Honey and Nitrofurazone Composite in Full-Thickness Burn Wounds in the Rabbit Model

Front. Vet. Sci., 23 May 2022

Burns cause many significant changes in metabolism and inflammatory reactions, leading to poor regeneration in animals and humans. A list of medicines to treat burns is available in the market. But due to the high cost of these medicines, these are unaffordable, especially for farmers of middle-class families of Africa and Asia.

Therefore, a low-cost complementary treatment has always been a topic of many researchers, and there is a dire need of time for the welfare of animals to save them. The current study was planned to scrutinize the therapeutic effects of Manuka honey and Nitrofurazone ointments on full-thickness burn wounds in the rabbit model. The healing efficacy was performed through wound contraction rate, hematological analysis, the thickness of dermis and epidermis, and collagen content percentage.

Histopathology was performed after taking biopsy samples at the end of the research. Based on statistical analysis using wound healing time (days, D), the combination (MO + NT) resulted in a shorter period (27 D ± 1) than the average healing time of controlled (36 ± 2), Manuka ointment (31.33 D ± 1.52), and Nitrofurazone ointment (32 ± 1).

A significant decrease in the count of red blood cell (RBC), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), and mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) in all treatments was noticed mainly in MO + NT. Furthermore, burns induced a significant difference (p < 0.05) in the white blood cells (WBCs) count levels in the MO-treated group. While the level of platelets (PLTs) was not significantly different from the healthy control group. Histopathological assessment (epithelialization, fibrosis, and angiogenesis) of skin showed burn healing to be better in MO and MO + NT groups.

In conclusion, the composite of Manuka honey with Nitrofurazone led to the faster recovery than other treatments.

Bee Bread is Probiotic, Has Multiple Health Benefits

Biotechnological Processes Simulating the Natural Fermentation Process of Bee Bread and Therapeutic Properties-An Overview

Front Nutr. 2022 Apr 27

Recent signs of progress in functional foods and nutraceuticals highlighted the favorable impact of bioactive molecules on human health and longevity. As an outcome of the fermentation process, an increasing interest is developed in bee products.

Bee bread (BB) is a different product intended for humans and bees, resulting from bee pollen's lactic fermentation in the honeycombs, abundant in polyphenols, nutrients (vitamins and proteins), fatty acids, and minerals. BB conservation is correlated to bacteria metabolites, mainly created by Pseudomonas spp., Lactobacillus spp., and Saccharomyces spp., which give lactic acid bacteria the ability to outperform other microbial groups. Because of enzymatic transformations, the fermentation process increases the content of new compounds. After the fermentation process is finalized, the meaningful content of lactic acid and several metabolites prevent the damage caused by various pathogens that could influence the quality of BB.

Over the last few years, there has been an increase in bee pollen fermentation processes to unconventional dietary and functional supplements. The use of the chosen starters improves the bioavailability and digestibility of bioactive substances naturally found in bee pollen. As a consequence of enzymatic changes, the fermentation process enhances BB components and preserves them against loss of characteristics.

In this aspect, the present review describes the current biotechnological advancements in the development of BB rich in beneficial components derived from bee pollen fermentation and its use as a food supplement and probiotic product with increased shelf life and multiple health benefits.