The Components of Apitherapy

Apitherapy: A Science in Its Own Right
By Prof. Roch Domerego, Apitherapy Review, Fall 2009
President of the European Company of Apitherapy, Apimondia
Vice President of Apitherapy Commission of Apimondia

Any product that is created by the bees can become a remedy of great therapeutic interest. Thus honey, propolis, royal jelly, beeswax and even venom are the bases of the api-pharmacopeia, which leads to the realization that the hive has been a complete pharmaceutical laboratory since the beginnings of time. With this laboratory man has been able to overcome most of the pathologies, thereby insuring his survival, fragile as it has been.

The products of the hive have then become a salvation and green medicine a real health solution, indispensable at this time when chemical medicine has reached certain limits.

Each component of the hive posesses its specific therapeutic properties.

Honey

Its properties, known since the begining ot time, are many, and are often a function of the plants foraged and, sometimes of the race of the bee.

Its nutritional, energetic, anti-anemic and dynamizing roles are well known, as is its ability to absorb other substances. In addition it also has a strong capacity as a laxative and as a liver protector.

Honey also has antiseptic and antibacterial action. In vitro studies of different kinds of bacteria have demonstrated that this action is very dependent on the type of flower foraged (in particular mountain honey, Thyme, Lavender,…). It is a also dependent of the care shown by the beekeeper in respecting hygiene standards, of the quality in the handling of the hives and in the production of the honey.

Honey's strong wound healing capacity have been demonstrated and in many hospitals it is used to heal wounds, clean or infected.

The combination of honey with essential oils as aro-honeys results in a synergy that effectively addresses severe pathologies…

Aro-honeys

Aro-honeys are aromatic mixtures providing the possibility of synergies between honey and aromatic essences. These synergies increase the therapeutic activity of their constituents relative to what the activity would be if they were administered separately. Also, they decrease unwanted side effects…

Pollen

All the main religious or secular traditions have extolled the therapeutic virtues of pollen: toning, stimulating and metabolic.

Pollen is a good regulator of liver and intestinal functions, together with an anti-inflammatory action, particularly on the gut level.

Pollen has detoxifying and anti-oxidant properties. Pollen, as well as the Brazilian nut has the highest selenium content of food products…