Canadian Allergy Sufferer Turns to Apitherapy

Mother Nature's Medicine Cabinets
By Michael Booth, Surrey Now (Canada), 5/1/2009

…The proprietor of Chris's Honey Yard on the corner of 152nd Street and 72nd Avenue, Bright is devoted to the practice of apitherapy, availing himself of the medicinal properties found in beehives.

It all started innocently enough. The lifelong allergy sufferer was out on a shopping trip when he had a serendipitous moment.

"I believe in miracles, I really do," Bright says. "I was out thrift shopping at the Salvation Army and I was bored to tears so I went to the book section. Out of nowhere, I picked out a book at random and it was Honey and Your Health by Dr. Bodog Beck. I started reading and I still haven't put it down to this day. I still have that copy that I bought. It revealed to me the practice of apitherapy, something that has been practised by human cultures and has been passed down through the millennia."

Beehives are considered to be Mother Nature's medicine cabinets and humans have been popping in for assorted remedies since before the time of the ancient Egyptians.

While many of the medicinal benefits of bee products remain scientifically unproven, apitherapy adherents are convinced of the benefits of bees.

The first product of the beehive is honey, which is used for a variety of internal afflictions as well as topically to exploit its antibacterial properties.

"We stress that as long as the honey is pure, it doesn't matter where it comes from," Bright says. "It's the purity that matters. You can't expect cooked honey to give the benefits that raw comb honey gives."

Bee pollen is high in vitamins and is used to boost the immune system. Royal jelly is consumed for a wide variety of afflictions, including high cholesterol, wound healing and as an anti-inflammatory.

Propolis, a resinous material collected by bees from trees, is coveted for use as an antibiotic and antifungal agent, among other uses.

The final apitherapy product is bee venom therapy where the patient is stung in specific places to help promote healing of such medical conditions as arthritis, gout and even cancer…