Bee Propolis Synergisitc HEALTHCARE for the 21st Centruy

For well over a century modern science has progressed at a startling rate. With this particular upsurge in knowledge has come medicinal and healthcare benefits that have seen ages peak and diseases eradicated. These medical advances were based around the paradigm of the "magic bullet", isolating the active ingredient and using it to alter the chemistry of a single molecule/protein to elicit a big change of state in the individual. Success however has considered obsession as cracks appear in the armoury of disease fighting drugs at our disposal. MRSA is rifling through our hospitals as antibiotics become ineffective and severe side effects of modern drugs have become common place now years after their introduction. A primary consequence of a one dimensional strategy, it really is maybe the time to acknowledge the synergistic health benefits of natural medicine.

Propolis is really a unique natural medicine due to its breadth of action. It has antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer and immunomodulatory effects, it might help treat asthma, allergies, arthritis and joint disorders, eczema and dermatitis, ME, viral infections including HIV and also cancer. This medicine could help treat an illness or keep you fit and healthy.

Propolis: Defender of the town

Propolis is really a mainly resinous substance that bees collect from trees and plants. Being comprised of waxes, resins, fatty acids and even amino acids. Aristotle reputedly coined the name Propolis meaning "defender of the town". This is just what Propolis is for the hive, it acts as a bee population's external disease fighting capability keeping the hive sterile and free from microbial invaders

Evidence Based Medicine

In this posting I will describe for you the pharmacological properties of Propolis. Before I really do therefore i must explain where this evidence comes from. All of the properties and actions of Propolis have been witnessed and detailed in scientific studies which have subsequently been published in journals. The bulk of these scientific studies have already been performed in vitro (i.e. in a test tube) or in vivo (i.e. in a bunch animal for instance rats), a much smaller proportion of these studies are clinical trials tested on humans. The abstracts of these papers can be found on the Medline and pubmed databases on the net.

Propolis: A natural antibiotic

Propolis is probably most widely known because of its antibiotic properties. Even as early as 1960 French1 research demonstrated the bacteriostatic action on Bacillus subtilis, Proteus vulgaris and Bacillus alvei. The outcomes have been replicated many times and Propolis has even been proven to work to MRSA2, exactly the same antibiotic resistant bacteria that has infected up to 70% of our hospitals. A 1997 study by Calder et al. at the University of Oxford concurred with these results and found that the cinnaminic acids and flavanoids present in Propolis specifically show bacteriocidal action. This action believed to be as a consequence of Propolis uncoupling the bacterial energy respiratory chain. Interestingly this step may be involved in a synergistic action with antibiotics when used together, boosting the potency of the drugs.

Anti-Viral and immuno-stimulatory

Viruses present a unique dilemma in the quest for good health, they are not suffering from antibiotics and mutate so frequently that vaccines are hard to produce. They also cause illness by hijacking cells and utilizing the cells machinery to replicate. Modern drugs try to slow or stop the virus from the replicating and subsequently because they're attacking host cell machinery they have certain side effects. Viruses perhaps pose the best threat to humans' health, we have been currently in the center of a HIV pandemic with "39.4 million" people infected globally. With a Flu pandemic overdue and certainly coming and predictions of worldwide casualties and chaos, a remedy is needed.

The bioflavanoids in propolis have a unique method of combating Viruses, rather than attempting to combat them once they have infected a cell, they lock the herpes virus in its protein coat. Therefore the dangerous machinery and DNA/RNA of the virus is nullified and the infection stopped.

Propolis has been shown to be more effective than the pharmaceutical anti-viral acyclovir in treating genital Herpes in a clinical trial conducted in the Ukraine4 and there's growing evidence that Propolis may help treat people who have HIV5.

Propolis also works hard being an immunomodulator which is of interest for all of us. It does this by altering just how cytokine production and release is managed. Cytokines will be the chemical messengers that allow immune system cells to communicate. By altering the cytokine system, it primes the disease fighting capability to prepare yourself to react to antigens quickly and effectively.

As well as this, bioflavanoids within Propolis stimulate the production of interferon which can help people get over ME, stimulating their immune system. This alteration of the cytokine and interferon systems means that your body is ready to fight off infection and keep you healthy, creating a case for using propolis as a supplement for good health, like vitamins. Prevention is better than the cure.

Anti-inflammatory and anti-allergen

A survey of Propolis consumers showed that arthritis was the health problem that Propolis was used to take care of the most. Simply because of the potent anti-inflammatory properties of the propolis constituents in particular CAPE (Caffeic acid Phenyl ester), CAPE has been proven to suppress T cell activation. A paper by Marquez et al in 20046 evaluated this to imply that since T-cells play a key role in the onset of several inflammatory diseases, CAPE is essential as the this phenolic compound is a potent inhibitor of early and late events in T-cell receptor-mediated T-cell activation. Results such as this have led other researchers to suggest that CAPE is really a worthwhile agent for reducing the severity of conditions associated with inflammation.

Most of the experiments performed on CAPE were done so in vitro, nevertheless the anti-inflammatory properties of Propolis have been documented in rats when treating rat adjuvant arthritis. A paper by Park et al in 19997 concluding that the ethanolic extract of propolis had profound anti-inflammatory effects on both chronic and acute arthritic inflammations. These anti-inflammation properties extend to other illness and disorders such as for example asthma and allergies reducing both smooth muscle airway contraction8 and allergic responses. Any disorder or illness linked to inflammation could be helped by Propolis.

Anti-tumour/cancer

Propolis and CAPE have been shown to reduce the size of tumours also to selectively destroy and to curb the proliferation of malignant cells of many various kinds of cancer. As recently as June 10th 2005 Cancer researchers have been given a grant of a million dollars to investigate the therapeutic value of Propolis for cancer. Costas Koumenis the lead investigator for the analysis was quoted as saying, "a very interesting property of these compounds is they have been proven to cause cell death in tumor cells but not in normal cells." This study and also other current studies promises to propel Propolis into the limelight in the field of cancer treatment.

Current Propolis Research in the united kingdom

BVR (BeeVital Research) recently won a significant government Research and Development Award, part of a �250,000 research programme considering the chemical, biological and clinical properties of propolis.

These studies will focus on the:

1. Documenting the regional variances in chemical and biological properties, by HPLS, GC-MS and NMR. (Taking place at Univeristy of Strathclyde)

2. Futher investigating the role of Propolis in the Hive (University of Gloucester)

3. Dental trials - looking at effectiveness of Propolis for Mouth Ulcers, Pericorinitis, Gingivitis and Sensitive Teeth. (Manchester University Dental school)

4. HIV/AIDS trials - looking at the potency of Propolis with anti-virals in Zambia and Tanzania

5. The effects of standardised propolis on mood, stress, fatigue and cognition at the Human Cognitive Neuroscience Unit at University of Newcastle.

6. To evaluate the usage of local and non - local propolis for wound healing and the treating skin and other dermatological problems. ( The Regional Teaching Hospital for University of Dar es Salaam)

How exactly to use/find propolis products?

A large selection of propolis products can be found on the market ranging from tablets, capsules, tinctures and liquids to specialist products for skincare - soap, lip balm, creams and oral health care - toothpaste, mouthwash , lozenges and tooth and gum liquid.

Traditionally these have already been available through health food stores but are increasingly obtainable in independent pharmacies.

Choosing the best products is not always easy. Current regulations means manufacturers cannot make any kind of medical claim for products that have not been licensed as medicines despite the fact that there exists a sound evidence basis for such claims. Part of the reason for that is that no single body is responsible for ensuring that product offered on the market actually are what they state they are.

That is why the BVR (BeeVital Research) programme is targeted at developing full medicines licenses for some key products. For the time being BVR have formulated many products for the health food market based on their research. Consumers, when purchasing products should look for those products produced by companies who can back up their products by good manufacturing practice (pharmaceutical standard manufacturing ) and research.

References:

(1)Lavie, P. (1960). Annals Abeille, 3: 103-201

(2)Anti-Bacterial properties of propolis. Grange, J. M., Davey, R. W. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 83: 160-1 (1990)

(3)Anti-microbial action of propolis plus some of its components: The effect on growth membrane potential and motility of bacteria. Mirzoeva, O. K., Grishanin, r. n., Calder, p. c. microbial - res, 152: 239-246 (1997)

(4)A comparative multi-centre study of the efficacy of propolis, acyclovir and placebo in the treating genital herpes (HSV). Vynograd, N.; Vynograd, I.; Sosnowski, Z. Institute of Epidemiology, Lvov State Medical University, Lvov, Ukraine. Phytomedicine (2000), 7(1), 1-6. CODEN: PYTOEY ISSN: 0944-7113.

(5)Current lead natural basic products for the chemotherapy of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. De Clercq, Erik. Rega Institute for Medical Research, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Louvain, Belg. Medicinal Research Reviews (2000), 20(5), 323-349. CODEN: MRREDD ISSN: 0198-6325

(6)Caffeic acid phenethyl ester inhibits T-cell activation by targeting both nuclear factor of activated T-cells and NF-?B transcription factors. Marquez, Nieves; Sancho, Rocio; Macho, Antonio; Calzado, Marco A.; Fiebich, Bernd L.; Munoz, Eduardo. Departamento de Biologia Celular, Fisiologia e Inmunologia, Universidad de Cordoba, Facultad de Medicina, Cordoba, Spain. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (2004), 308(3), 993-1001. CODEN: JPETAB ISSN: 0022-3565.

(7)Suppressive effects of propolis in rat adjuvant arthritis. Park, Eun-Hee; Kahng, Ja-Hoon. College of Pharmacy, Sookmyung Women's University, Seoul, S. Korea. Archives of Pharmacal Research (1999), 22(6), 554-558. CODEN: APHRDQ ISSN: 0253-6269.

(8)Bulgarian propolis induces analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects in mice and inhibits in vitro contraction of airway smooth muscle. Paulino, Niraldo; Dantas, Andreia Pires; Bankova, Vassya; Longhi, Daniela Taggliari; Scremin, Amarilis; Lisboa de Castro, Solange; Calixto, Joao Batista. Grupo de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento de Biofarmacos (BIOFAR), Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina, Tubarao, Brazil. Journal of Pharmacological Sciences (Tokyo, Japan) (2003), 93(3), 307-313. CODEN: JPSTGJ ISSN: 1347-8613.

James Fearnley of BeeVital Research is one of the worlds leading authorities on Propolis He has written extensively about them and published a significant review of all the current research around 2001 - Bee Propolis � Natural Healing form the Hive Souvenir Press. BeeVital Research info@beevitalpropolis.com