PROPOLIS The Natural-—_

Antibiot

Ray Hill
Explains the remarkable
properties of this newly rediscovered
product of the beehive — an antibacterial
substance used by man since
recorded history began
(NATURE'S WAY
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 PROPOLIS
This book explains the medical significance of
propolis — a resinous substance gathered by bees
from the leaf buds and bark of trees and used to
maintain and disinfect their hives. Includes
suggested treatment and dosage for such ailments
as throat infections and coughs, ulcers, wounds,
gum disorders and halitosis.
 PROPOLIS
The Natural Antibiotic

by
RAY HILL

NATURE’S WAY

THORSONS PUBLISHERS LIMITED

Wellingborough, Northamptonshire
 First published January 1977
Second Impression May 1977

© RAY HILL 1977

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by

way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or
otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in
any form of-binding or cover other than that in which it 1s
published and without a similar condition including this
condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

ISBN 0 7225 0353 9

Filmset by Specialised Offset Services Ltd., Liverpool

and printed and bound in Great Britain by
Weatherby Woolnough, Wellingborough,
Northamptonshire.
 CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter
The Bee’s Antibiotic
A Salve Known to the Ancients
The Bee’s Story
Medical Uses
ee
el
Se How to Use Propolis
Index
 INTRODUCTION

It has been said that propolis is the most

effective natural antibiotic yet discovered by
man, and the strange thing is that its
discovery probably took place over 2,000
years ago. So much ancient wisdom has been
lost to modern man, but fortunately this
remarkable substance, put into daily use by
‘the bees, has in recent years been
‘rediscovered’ and_ its effectiveness is
constantly being proved by _ scientific
research.
Propolis is just one of the products
resulting from the ingenious organization of
the beehive and is of enormous benefit to
man. It is a resinous substance, gathered by
the bees from the leaf buds or bark of trees,
particularly poplars, and used as a ‘cement’
in the maintenance of the hive. Bees,
themselves amazingly complex creatures in
their way of life, seal up any cracks and holes
in the hive and fix the comb to the roof with
this, their own brand of building material,
8 PROPOLIS

and they also take advantage of its

antibacterial qualities by using it to encase
any unhygienic foreign bodies that get into
the hive but which they cannot remove —
cocooned in propolis, any decomposing
matter that threatens to pollute the bees’
living quarters is made safe.
This instinct to plaster everything with
propolis was a great source of irritation to
beekeepers in the past, but nowadays, as
research into the therapeutic effects of this
substance widens, it has become one of the
most valuable products of the hive, for the
implications to be drawn from the properties
it contains are indeed exciting.
Before the rediscovery of propolis, there
was one disadvantage to the Nature Cure
methods of diet, water cure, fasting and
exercise, and this was the fact that there was
nothing to replace the allopath’s antibiotic as
a speedy way of alleviating and curing
bacterial ailments. The naturopath’s
treatment, although one which helped the
whole body to a better state of health rather
than merely supplying drugs for a particular
problem, required time before the real
benefits could be seen.

AN ALTERNATIVE TO ANTIBIOTICS
Propolis now offers an alternative to
 INTRODUCTION L

antibiotics in that it is immediate in its

action, yet has none of the side-effects that
drugs can produce, and it is in this role as
nature’s non-toxic antibiotic that fascinating
results are emerging.
Although it has proved effective for a
variety of ailments, it is in the treatment of
throat infections that propolis has shown its
most remarkable results. I myself have given
raw propolis chips to people with sore
throats and coughs, and almost without
exception the symptoms have disappeared
within hours. The taste of propolis in this
crude state may not be to everyone’s liking,
but it is now marketed in the form of chewy
lozenges with a fruity flavour, and these work
just as well.
There is also evidence that it relieves
halitosis and gum disorders, acne and other
skin complaints, ulcers, wounds, and various
other disorders, details of which are given in
the last chapter of this book. And as these
things are discovered, so propolis is being
sold in forms that make it more effective for a
particular condition; for example, there is
propolis toothpaste for gum disorders and
halitosis, capsules which dissolve in the
stomach for internal problems, ointment for
skin troubles, and tincture for wounds and so
on, or as a gargle to soothe sore throats.
10 - PROPOLIS

So, as can be seen, propolis is making an

exciting comeback into the field of natural
medicine, and as its rediscovery is still in its
infancy, whole areas of its possible powers
remain as yet untapped. Many people will
not even have heard of it, yet old herbals
prescribe it for numerous ailments, and its
antibacterial properties have _ been
acknowledged since the beginning of
recorded history. Why, although the other
products of the beehive have continued to
rank as some of the most effective health-
giving substances available to man, propolis
has had this period of obscurity is
mysterious, but the worldwide interest now
being shown in it by researchers is fast
bringing it back into the limelight, and I
hope that this book will help to spread the
word even further.

WHERE PROPOLIS FITS IN

To look at the hive as a whole and study the
life-style of the bee is interesting, for almost
every part of its system produces something
that is of use to man.
Honey is of course the most well-known
product, and one which has very real healing
effects. The worker bees spend much of their
lives gathering nectar and pollen, which is
stored in the cells of the comb, and it takes
 INTRODUCTION 11
something like two million bee flights from
hive to plant to make one pound of honey.
It contains vitamins of the B complex and
a significant amount of vitamin C, and is also
an excellent source of minerals such as
calcium, copper, iron, magnesium,
manganese, potassium and sodium, as well
as of protein. One of the most easily
assimilated foods, it is recommended for a
variety of ailments and as an important food
supplement. But another very important
attribute of honey is its antiseptic property,
provedsatime and time “again by¥
bacteriologists and medical _ scientists;
indeed, in some hospitals it is used as a
dressing for wounds after surgical
operations. It also makes a fast-healing salve
for burns, and there is nothing new-fangled
about any of these discoveries for in the
fourth century BC, Hippocrates, the Father
of Medicine, prescribed honey for sores and
ulcers.
Honeycomb, which includes the wax
manufactured from the bees’ wax glands to
make up the cells, has long been considered
to be one of the finest remedies for hay-fever,
but it is now thought that honey cappings,
the thin wax cappings that are sliced from
the comb before the honey is extracted,
provide an even better one. People have
12 PROPOLIS

found that if they chew honey cappings for a

month before the hay-fever season begins,
they will not suffer attacks at all, or at worst
only extremely mild ones. Severe sufferers,
however, would need to chew honeycomb or
honey cappings three times a day, starting
three or four months before the hay-fever
season and continuing the treatment into it if
necessary.
It is thought that the minute amounts of
pollen in the comb and cappings serve to
make this such a successful remedy. The
body thus has a chance to develop enough
antibodies to ward off the attacks which
normally occur during heavy pollen counts.
Research has proved that pollen itself is
one of the richest sources of vitamins,
minerals, fats, enzymes, and hormones, as
well as having a very high protein and amino
acid content. The bee itself feeds on pollen
and until recently man had to depend upon
the industry of the bees to collect pollen for
human use — nowadays, however, it is
harvested by machines direct from the plant.
It is a strangely underestimated food
supplement, for a dose of high-potency
pollen every day can improve the state of
health to such an extent that many athletes
maintain that it has considerably enhanced
their performance. Older people,
 INTRODUCTION 13

particularly, find it beneficial, and it is a

specific remedy for depression, fatigue, jaded
nerves, and many medical problems such as
anaemia, disorders of the colon, and as a
restorative for those recovering from serious
illness or shock.
When the honeycomb is constructed in the
hive, some of the cells are made to slightly
larger dimensions, and these are known as
the ‘royal cells’. The eggs which are laid in
these cells by the queen bee are designed to
produce potential queens, for the grubs will
be fed on royal jelly, with which the royal
cells are provided. Royal jelly is a viscid
substance secreted by the glands near the
mouth of the honey bee, and contains many
vitamins of the B complex, including
pantothenic acid which has now been proved
to be efficacious in the treatment of arthritis.
This is the food which gives the queen bee
the potential for an amazingly prolific output
during her egg-laying period. From a human
point of view, it is recommended as an
energy-giving food and also has rejuvenating
qualities, as well as having been found
excellent in the treatment of some heart
conditions.
Even the wax produced by the bees is
useful to man, though not as a food or
medicine, since as a furniture polish beeswax
14 PROPOLIS

has no equal. And even the thing which

makes most people steer clear of bees — their
sting — has in several cases proved to have a
marked therapeutic effect in the treatment of
arthritis and rheumatism, and is used by
some practitioners as a regular form of
treatment for these conditions. ;
And so the phrase ‘a hive of activity’ was
well coined, for as we shall see these
treasures of the hive have been produced by
ceaseless industry. The intricate and
beautifully symmetrical construction of the
comb gives us honeycomb and_ honey
cappings; the endless flights out to plants,
collection and storage in the cells give us
honey and pollen, the production of food for
the royalty of the hive provides us with royal
jelly, and the collection from leaf buds of a
substance with which to maintain the hive
and keep it free from bacteria is man’s source
of propolis.
It is with the last of these, not only from a
therapeutic point of view, but in its context
as a vital link in the activity of the hive, that
this book is concerned.
 CHAPTER ONE
THE BEE’S ANTIBIOTIC

Just as the construction industry needs

cement for building, so the bee needs
something of a similar nature to fix the
honeycombs to the hives and to stop up any
cracks and crevices, and as is to be expected,
the ingenuity of the bee in providing itself
with a suitable substance is as resourceful as
man’s own. The raw material the bee uses is
a resinous substance exuded by the buds of
trees such as the horse-chestnut, and found
in cracks in the bark of trees such as spruce,
larch and other conifers, but especially in the
leaf buds of poplars. This substance is
propolis, and it is far more than a building
material alone.
It has been found that the bee produces
several substances with antibacterial
properties, but propolis is one of its most
important agents against infection in the
hive, and whether by its scent, or by instinct,
they will soon discover the best source of
propolis in their neighbourhood. Bees live at
16 PROPOLIS

very close quarters — a hive may contain as

many as 40,000 or 50,000 of them — so that
unchecked infection could swiftly spread to
cause a large-scale disaster.
The word propolis comes from two Greek
words meaning ‘defences before a town’, and
the appropriateness of its name is illustrated
by the barrier of propolis which bees
sometimes build behind the entrance to the
hive, so that all the inmates must pass
through it on their way in and out. It is
indeed a vital element of their activities for
they will use it as a defence against any
potential disintegration of the hive on one
hand and for the removal of the possibility of
pollution from foreign bodies on the other. It
points out the remarkable organization of
nature that the bees have managed to
discover such a_ useful substance and
integrate it so ingeniously into their way of
life.

WHAT PROPOLIS CONSISTS OF

Propolis is a sticky substance which protects
leaf buds and prevents them from drying out,
and it varies in colour according to the plant
source — it may be dark brown, or a lighter
shade, and can even be of a reddish or violet
hue.
Although its biologically active
 THE BEE’S ANTIBIOTIC 17

components may vary according to its

source, a test of propolis collected in fifteen
different districts of the USSR showed
uniform constituents, the approximate
breakdown of which was 50-55 per cent resin
and balsam, up to 30 per cent wax, about 8
or 10 per cent fragrant essential oils and
about 5 per cent solid matter. It is said to be
rich in fats, amino acids, organic acids,
composite ethers of univalent alcohols, and
trace elements such as iron, copper,
manganese, zinc and others, tannic acid,
phytoncides, and antibiotics. Apart from
this, it has a high vitamin content, especially
those of the B group, but also E, C, H, P, and
protovitamin A, because pollen accounts for
5-10 per cent of its composition.
Further analyses show a formidable list of
strange-sounding ingredients including
cinnamic acid; cinnamyl alcohol; vanillin;
chrysin; galangin; acacetin; kaempferid;
rhamnocitrin; pinostrobin; caffeic acid;
tetochrysin; isalpinin; pinocembrin; and
ferulic acid.

ANTIBIOTIC PROPERTIES
The antibiotic properties of propolis are
believed to come from the flavanoids it
contains — particularly galangin, the name of
which comes from the active substance in
18 PROPOLIS

galingale, an aromatic plant root from the

East which is related to ginger and has
always been used medicinally as well as for
culinary purposes. Plants containing
flavonoids had been used as natural remedies
for centuries before these active substances
were scientifically identified, but in the late
twenties, a Hungarian, Szent-Gyorgi,
isolated vitamin C from oranges, and the
discovery of flavonoids stemmed directly
from this.
Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is known even
to those who have never studied nutrition,
but less known is Szent-Gyorgi’s discovery in
1936 of a substance in lemon peel which was
effective in cases of bleeding which had not
responded to the administration of vitamin C
alone. This substance, called citrin, is also
made up of flavonoids, and its efficacy
appeared to come from a strengthening effect
on the capillary walls of the blood vessels.
The chief flavonoid in citrin is hesperidin;
another named rutin was found in tobacco
and buckwheat plants. The flavonoids were
called vitamin P, and it was found that a
combination of vitamin C and vitamin P had
in many cases a dramatic effect on a variety
of disorders including blood vessel ailments,
some types of haemorrhages, and even virus
infections and rheumatism. The action of
 THE BEE’S ANTIBIOTIC 19

flavonoids is not precisely understood, but it

is believed to lie partly in the prevention of
rapid oxidation of vitamin C, resulting in the
strengthening of the body’s own defences
against disease and infection. The antibiotic
properties of the flavonoids in propolis have a
similar effect.

PREPARATION FOR HUMAN USE

Most of the propolis for human use comes
from poplars which are found in the woods
and forests of central Europe, although, as
has been mentioned, other trees also produce
the substance. Its preparation for human
consumption is subject to strict controls, and
each batch is analysed to ensure it is free
from any. contamination and is genuine
propolis manufactured by the bees from
plant resin.
In its raw state it looks like mineral
chippings, because it is literally chipped
away from the hive and breaks off in little
pieces. It is sometimes sold in this form, or is,
ground and marketed as a powder, loose or
in capsules. In order to make it yet easier to
take and more practical for the consumer, it
is also available as an ointment or cream for
both oily and dry skins, in tincture form for
internal and _ external use, and -is
incorporated into lozenges and toothpaste for
20 PROPOLIS

a number of mouth infections.

EXPERIMENTS AND TESTS

A great deal of work has gone into finding the
best methods of. preparing propolis for
human use and in establishing how it will
keep, as well as whether the preparations
remain active in storage. The French
entomologist, Dr P. Lavie, described how the
extract was made by heat treatment in either
alcohol or water: 50 grammes of the propolis
was boiled for an hour in 1 litre of each solvent
in a flask with a condenser. The extract was
then filtered, evaporated in a water bath and
redissolved. He found that in most tests the
alcoholic extract proved slightly more active
than the aqueous one. The extracts
redissolved in water were stable for several
months when kept in a refrigerator and
protected. from light. Russian workers,
however, considered that long storage (three
or four years) did not reduce the content of
the chemical components of propolis
extracts, and did not result in reduction of
antibacterial activity.
In other Russian experiments, extracts
were prepared by mixing one part by weight
of propolis with two parts alcohol. The
mixture was left to stand for three to four
days, during which time it was transferred
 THE BEE’S ANTIBIOTIC 21

frequently from one vessel to another. After

filtering through muslin, the residue was
weighed to ascertain the concentration of the
extract. The required concentration was then
adjusted by adding alcohol, the solution
obtained being a brown colour. To produce
an alcoholic watery solution, the necessary
quantity of distilled water was then added to
the extract.
In Germany, Kohler extracted propolis
with a dilute aqueous solution containing
water soluble organic compounds if desired.
Filtration and acidification of the extract
gave a preparation which, after decanting,
washing and vacuum drying, was a pale
yellow to brown amorphous material with a
strong odour. Small amounts of wax were
removed by treatment with carbon
tetracholoride and the material was purified
chromatographically.
It is through these various experiments
and tests that it has become possible to make
propolis available in different forms to match
specific requirements and to make taking it
as beneficial to the taker as possible.
 CHAPTER TWO
ASALVE KNOWN TO
THE ANCIENTS

Man’s interest in bees and his dependence on

them for sweetness in his food goes back as
far as the records of human life itself, and
many legends in which these insects feature
have been handed down to us from the
ancients. One of the oldest rock paintings, in
the Cuevas de la Arana in Valencia, shows a
hole in a cliff with bees flying around and two
men climbing primitive ropes to take the
honey. Bees were also widely depicted on
tombs, coffins and vases from ancient Egypt,
while the sign of the bee was associated with
the titles of the kings, and was used as the
motif on ornaments presented as rewards for
valour.
By the time of the Greek and Roman
authors, the art of beekeeping had been
established. Virgil, for example, was a
beekeeper, and wrote extensively on the
subject, both in practical and poetic terms,
 A SALVE KNOWN TO THE ANCIENTS 23

and some of the observations made by early

writers on the life of the bee are astonishingly
accurate, particularly as they had no
scientific means of checking their discoveries.

MYTHS AND LEGENDS

One area in which knowledge was lacking,
however, was the generation of bees
themselves. It was widely believed that they
obtained their young from flowers,
particularly the olive, and the best-known
legend of all was that bees were born from
the carcase of an ox. These insects were
probably drone flies, and it is thought that
they deceived Samson just as they deceived
Virgil and others. When an ox was killed, it
was lain on a bed of thyme and sealed up ina
room for three weeks. The room was then
opened to the air, and some eleven days later
there would be nothing left but a skeleton
and clusters of bees.
Legend also has it that Jupiter
transformed the beautiful Melissa into a bee,
and that bees were bred from hornets and the
sun.
In Great Britain the custom of ‘telling the
bees’ still persists in country areas — the bees
must be ‘told’ or languish and _ die.
Swarming, too, is regarded as lucky in some
parts of the world and unlucky in others;
24 PROPOLIS

Virgil, for instance, considered a swarm to be

an unlucky omen — he thought it foretold the
coming of a foreign army and its general.
Bees have always been regarded as weather
prophets, with the result that honey was
often used in rain magic. It has also been
used in both birth and death rituals — the
Assyrians and Egyptians buried their dead in
wax and honey, an early use of the
antibacterial qualities of the hive.

FOLK MEDICINE AND PROPOLIS

But it is not only legend that surrounds the
bee, for the medicinal properties of the
products of the hive have been known and
used for centuries. Books about folk medicine
from all over the world show that since the
beginning of recorded history resins have
been used in wound dressings and to heal
inflammations and infections. Without being
-able to analyse their effects, man found that
these natural substances would form a
protective coating over his wounds, would
draw out foreign bodies and help promote
healing. Resin preparations were also taken
internally for stomach and urinary disorders.
In his massive Natural History, Pliny (first
century AD) mentioned the uses of resins in
general, but went into considerable detail
when dealing with propolis. He stated that
 A SALVE KNOWN TO THE ANCIENTS 2S

there were three separate layers in the

cementing materials used by the bees.
First they construct combs and mould wax,
that is, construct their homes and cells, then
produce offspring, and afterwards honey, wax
from flowers, bee-glue from the droppings of
the gum-producing trees — the sap, glue and
resin of the willow, elm and reed. They first
smear the whole interior of the hive itself with
these as with a kind of stucco, and then with
other bitterer juices as a protection against the
greed of other small creatures, as they know
that they are going to make something that
may possibly be coveted; with the same
materials they also build wider gateways
round the structure.
The first foundations are termed by experts
commosis, the second pissoceros, the third propolis,
between the outer cover and the wax,
substances of great use for medicaments.
Commosis is the first crust, of a bitter flavour.
Pissoceros comes above it, as in laying on tar,
as being more fluid than wax. Propolis is
obtained from the milder gum of vines and
poplars, and is made of a denser substance by
the addition of flowers, and though not as yet
wax it serves to strengthen the combs; with it
all approaches of cold or damage are blocked,
and besides it has itself a heavy scent, being in
fact used by most people as a substitute for
galbanum.
26 PROPOLIS

It seems probable that all three layers were

in fact propolis, but obtained from different
sources. In another volume Pliny referred to
the current medicinal uses ofpropolis, saying
that it ‘extracts stings and all substances
embedded in the flesh, reduces swellings,
softens indurations, soothes pains of the
sinews and heals sores when it seems
hopeless for them to mend.
‘THE BEST EXTRACTIVE’
Celsus, in the first century AD, wrote:
The following mature abcessions and promote
suppuration: nard, myrrh, costmary, balsam,
galbanum, propolis, storax, frankincense, both
the root and the bark, bitumen, pitch, sulphur,
resin, suet, fat, oil.... The best extractive,
however, is that called by the Greeks rhypodes,
from its resemblance to dirt. It contains
myrrh, crocus, iris, propolis, bedelium,
pomegranate heads, alum, mistletoe juice,
turpentine resin or he-goat’s suet.
Dioscorides wrote in similar vein
of:

-.. the yellow bee-glue that is of a sweet scent

and resembling styrax, is to be chosen, and
which is soft in ye excessive dryness of
it, and
€asy to spread after the fashion of mastic.
It is
extremely warm and attractive, and
drawing
out of thorns and splinters. And
being
suffumigated it doth help old coug
hs and
 A SALVE KNOWN TO THE ANCIENTS 27

being applied it doth take away the lichens. It

is found about ye mouths of hives, in nature
like unto wax.

THE BRITISH HERBALS

In John Gerard’s famous herbal The Historie
of Plants (1597) reference is made to ‘the rosin
or clammie substance of the blacke Poplar
buds...’ and the fact that it was used by
apothecaries to make ointments. And
Nicholas Culpeper’s Complete Herbal, under
the heading ‘The Poplar Tree’ states ‘The
clammy buds here of, before they spread into
leaves, are gathered to make Unguentum and
Populneum ...’. Culpeper goes on to say
‘The ointment called Populneum which is
made of this Poplar, is singularly good for all
heat and inflammations in any part of the
body and tempers the heat of the wounds’.
‘In later herbals, poplar resin was
acknowledged as_ having considerable
medicinal value, but mostly in the form taken
directly from the tree and not from the
beehives. In Green’s Universal Herbal (1824)
two poplar species are listed. Under Populus
Nigra (Black Poplar Tree) we read:

The young leaves are an excellent ingredient

for poultices for hard and painful swellings.
The buds of both this and the White Poplar
 28 PROPOLIS

smell very pleasantly in the spring, and being

pressed between the fingers, yield a balsamic
resinous substance which, extracted by spirits
of wine, smells like storax. A drachm of this
tincture in broth is administered in internal
ulcers and excoriations and is said to have
removed obstinate fluxes proceeding from an
excoriation of the intestines.

Another interesting use is mentioned under

Populus Balsamifera (Common Tacamahaca
Poplar Tree):

The buds of this tree from autumn to the

leafing are covered with an abundance of a
glutinous yellow balsam, which often collects
into drops, and is pressed from the tree as
a
medicine. It dissolves in the spirits of wine;
and the inhabitants of Siberia prepare
a
medicated wine from the buds. This wine
is
diuretic, and, as they think serviceable
in the
scurvy.

It can be seen, therefore, that resins

were
used extensively in the treatment of woun
ds
and inflammations, often in conjunction with
honey, and propolis, according to the Rom
an
author, Merula, was even then being
bought
by the doctors for a price higher than that
of
wax. Centuries later, the wheel may
well
have turned full circle!
 CHAPTER THREE
PIE BEES STORY

The activities of the beehive are fascinating

in their ingenuity, and propolis, as we have
seen, plays an important role, both from a
constructional and a hygienic point of view.
When a queen with her colony enters a
fresh hive, the worker bees at once begin to
clean and refit their quarters. The propolis
‘foragers’ set out to collect their building
material and then begin the intricate work of
using it to cement any cracks or minute
holes. While they are busy on this
miniaturized housework, other bees hang
from the roof in a _ solid curtain and
manufacture from their wax glands the wax
for making the comb. The comb is made up
of six-sided cells and is suspended from the
top of the hive; these cells are so incredibly
regular in shape and size that it was once
even suggested that they could be used as a
unit of measurement!
In these beautifully constructed cells, the
queen lays her eggs at the astonishing rate of
 30 PROPOLIS
over 3,000 a day. Some of these will be laid in
the ‘royal cells’ which are larger than others
in the comb and are supplied with royal jelly.
From these will emerge potential queen bees.
Royal jelly, a glandular secretion produced
by the worker bees, is a highly concentrated
food and although all the grubs in the hive, it
is thought, are fed on it for the first two or
three days of their existence, only the
potential queens continue on this diet. The
workers, produced from fertilized eggs laid in
the smaller cells, and the drones, from
unfertilized eggs, are then fed by ‘nurse bees’
with pollen and honey. During this egg-
laying marathon, the queen’s attendants feed
and clean her, and worker bees fly out in
search of nectar and pollen for storage in the
cells.

THE BEE EMERGES

The larva spends about three weeks in its
cell, emerges from a chrysalis and, by eatin
g
its way out through the mixture of pollen and
wax which caps the cells, feeds itself for the
first time. Worker bees soon instinctively join
in the ‘chores’ of the hive, gathering necta
r,
pollen or propolis and helping with cleaning,
feeding and repair work. The drones are
lazy
and have to be fed; their sole purpose in life
is
to fly out and mate with the young quee
ns
 THE BEE’S SFORY 31

from other hives. After this mating flight they

die — any which are left alive at the end of the
season are killed by the workers.
The newly emerged queen bees are all
potential rivals to the existing queen. She will
leave, taking a swarm of workers with her,
and fly to a new hive, when a young queen
will take over the old hive. If two young
queens leave their cells at the same time, they
will fight to the death, for there can only be
one ruler in the hive. The ruling queen in a
hive is looked after by the inmates until she is
no longer able to lay a steady supply of eggs.
When her strength begins to fail she will be
put to death, either by the workers
themselves or by a younger, emerging queen.

WORK IN THE HIVE

So the world of the bee is a microcosmic
civilization. Worker bees forage for food and
propolis, feed the embryos, feed and groom
the queen, and even have a system of cooling
the air in the hive by the rapid fanning of
their wings. They clean the hive, taking out
any foreign matter, but anything which is too
large for them to remove is sealed over
hygienically with propolis. Mice, for
instance, will occasionally get into a hive.
The bees can sting it to death, but cannot
remove the corpse, so they cover it with a
 52 PROPOLIS

bacteria-proof ‘skin’ of propolis, and it thus

will not contaminate their surroundings.
During the long winter, when the bees
cluster together in the hive for warmth, this
cleanliness will keep them free from
infection.
But, certainly before the medicinal
properties of propolis were rediscovered, the
hygienic habits of the bee were regarded as a
nuisance by most beekeepers. One story tells
of an ingenious arrangement of drawers
invented by an enterprising beekeeper to
facilitate the gathering of honey. All this
inventiveness came to nought because the
bees simply glued all the drawers together
at
every joint. with propolis! It was
also
regarded as a contaminant of the wax, for
it
spoiled it and made it char and clog if
used
for candles. The dealer would test
the
beekeeper’s wax and if it contained
very
much propolis he would have to accept
lower
payment. |
Nowadays, however, propolis is rega
rded
as a valuable asset for, on a weight-f
or-
weight basis, it is the most expensive
item to
come from the hive.

COLLECTING THE PROPOLIS

Although it is easy to see how the
bee uses
propolis in the hive, it is only rece
ntly that
 THE BEE’S STORY ) 33
the actual collection of the substance has
been investigated in detail. The activities of
the bees have been documented more
thoroughly than those of any other insect,
and gradually the areas of doubt have been
explored and mysteries solved — from the
generation of the bee which puzzled the
ancients, to its mating flight, and even the
discovery of which colours bees are able to
distinguish — because propolis is taken from
the tops of trees, its collection has been the
most difficult of the bee’s activities to
observe. |
Some of the most detailed information
available comes to us because of the
persistence and ingenuity of a German
scientist, Waltraud Meyer, of the
Koologisches Institut der Freien Universitat, Berlin,
who carried out his observations by setting up
artificial sources of propolis. He took some
from the hive and placed it in a dish in a
selected place, which gave him excellent
opportunities for studying the bees at work.
This could not of course exactly duplicate
natural conditions, as the propolis from the
hive was more solid than the sticky covering of
the tree buds, but he could at least examine
the method used.
Collection under natural conditions begins
at the end of June, with marked activity in
34 PROPOLIS

the late summer and autumn, and finishes

when the weather becomes too cold for flying
in October or November.
The bees are particularly active on hot
days as the sunshine makes the raw propolis
more workable — it becomes softer and
breaks more easily. But Meyer found that
bees would occasionally collect in very
unsuitable weather — windy, wet, and quite .
cold.

BRINGING IT HOME
The bees seem to have two ways of
transporting propolis to the hive, depending
upon the distance involved. If collected far
from the hive, it is packed into loads in the
bee’s corbiculae (pollen baskets). But when
Meyer put it on the alighting board outside
the hive it was gripped with the mandibles
and taken inside in small lumps. An
interesting detail in his observations was that
if there was a gap of only 1.5 centimetres
between the source of propolis and the
alighting board, the bee would still pack the
propolis in its corbiculae!
Meyer was able to break down into steps
the extraordinarily deft manner in which the
bee handles and transports its sticky load. If
the propolis is solid it is nibbled off, but if it is
soft, as on a hot day, the bee grips it with the
 THE BEE’S STORY 35

mandibles, then moves its head backwards,

pulling the substance into a long thread
which finally breaks off. The two forelegs
reach forward to knead and shape the lump,
after which they take it from the mandibles.
It is then passed, with intricate movements
by one of the middle legs, to the corbicula on
the same side. While thus engaged, the bee is
already groping with its antennae for more
propolis.

USING THE PROPOLIS

Once back in the hive, the bee waits near the
scene of cementing activity while other bees
come and remove the propolis from the load,
particle by particle, and deposit it where it is
needed. Meyer recorded that it took between
one and several hours for a propolis forager
to get rid ofits load in this way.
The remarkable smoothness of the
cementing is not achieved by any ‘polishing’
action, but simply by the continuous
nibbling off of minute rough particles.
Meyer also made observations on the work
force of the bees, and found that two groups
were engaged in cementing. There were
‘cementing’ bees who kept strictly to their
own work, and ‘casual workers’ who helped
wherever they were needed. By marking
individual bees, he was led to believe that
36 PROPOLIS

although all propolis foragers also did

cementing work (usually carried out later in
the day), not all cementing bees foraged for
propolis.
He also discovered that the foragers could
easily be diverted into collecting honey or
sugar syrup by placing a container on top of,
or near to, the propolis. The bee approached
to take the propolis, found the syrup and
took that back to the hive instead. Arriving
for the next load, it would go straight back to
the syrup and ignore the propolis altogether.
If the syrup was removed after the bee had
made several trips, it would search for it for
five or ten minutes and then go back to
regular propolis collecting. This behaviour
was observed with twenty-six bees, who all
reacted in the same way, and led Meyer to
wonder if propolis was only collected in the
late summer and in the autumn because
there was so little nectar available.
 CHAPTER FOUR
MEDICAL USES

Although propolis has had a period of

relative obscurity as regards medical uses, it
was still being applied to slow-healing
wounds during the Boer War, and even
during the Second World War in Russia.
After 1945, little attention was paid to the
study of natural medicinal substances in the
West, for resources were being concentrated
on the development of chemically
synthesized drugs, but in the USSR far
greater importance is attached to this subject
~ than it is in the West, and extensive research
into the properties of propolis have been
carried out there. But researchers in different
countries, working independently and
without intercommunication, will sometimes
come to similar conclusions at about the
same time, and it was because of this that
interest in propolis revived in the West in the
1950s.

RESEARCH AND ITS FINDINGS

The most important European discoveries
38 PROPOLIS

about propolis were made_ almost

accidentally, and the facts are set down in a
doctoral thesis by Dr Lavie.
‘The study of antibiotics in bees (Apis
Mellifca L.) arose by chance,’ he wrote.
‘Some freshly killed bees were put into a
liquid culture medium without any aseptic
precautions, yet no bacterial development
resulted.’
It therefore became clear that the bee was
equipped with an extraordinarily powerful
weapon in the shape of a natural antibiotic.
A series of experiments followed in an
attempt to identify this substance, but Dr
Lavie was simply studying the natural
biochemical defence of insects rather than
looking for a new antibiotic. It had already
been established by White in 1900 that
material found in beehives was remarkably
free from bacteria and that honey and bee
larvae were always sterile, but the discovery
of antibiotics by Fleming was yet to come,
and at this stage work progressed no further.
Lavie’s experiments showed that in the bee
and its surroundings could be found at least
seven different antibiotics. The first was the
one which had originally attracted his
attention, a substance from the body of the :
bee itself, and the others were found in the
glandular secretions of worker bees, in wax,
 MEDICAL USES 39

pollen, honey, royal jelly, and propolis.

ACTIVITY OF PROPOLIS ANTIBIOTIC

It has already been mentioned that when the
antibiotic extract from propolis used in
experiments was prepared in both alcoholic
and aqueous solutions, the alcoholic extract
in most cases proved slightly more active
than the aqueous one. The activity of the
propolis antibiotic against several different
types of bacteria was compared with that of
the antibiotics taken from other hive
products. The propolis preparation showed
‘interesting activity on B. subtilis (Caron.), B.
Alver and Proteus vulgaris, was less active
against Salmonella pullorum, Salmonella
gallinarum, S. type Dublin, Escherichia colt, B.,
and Bacillus larvae’. It was not active against
four strains of Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas
pyocyanea. Of the substances tested, propolis
was the only one which was also shown to
have fungicidal properties.
Lavie became interested in the fact that
samples of propolis did not all have a
constant antibiotic potency, and considered
that this could be explained by the fact that
the samples often came from different
sources. He differentiated between the
propolis obtained directly from the outside of
buds or trees, and that manufactured by the
40 PROPOLIS

bees from the resinous substances present in

pollens. As poplar trees are the most
important source of propolis, Lavie referred
to the substance named chrysine which
occurs both in propolis and in the poplar
buds themselves, together with the leaves
and green parts of the tree. He made extracts
from the buds and found that their antibiotic
action was almost identical with that
obtained from propolis when tested on seven
different kinds of bacteria. Extracts obtained
from other trees gave very variable results,
and none was as potent as that from populus
mgra. It is not surprising, therefore, that
propolis is always thought of in connection
with poplars.

PRACTICAL PROOF
Laboratory tests will obviously have less
meaning for the layman than _ practical
demonstrations. There are records, however,
of practical tests with propolis which are of
interest. For example, in the same way that
propolis will kill harmful bacteria, it can also
stop growth in the form of plant germination.
Gonnet found that potato tubers placed in
occupied hives failed to germinate as a result
of substances inhibitory to plant growth,
which were deposited on them by the bees.
When the coating was sufficiently thick,
 MEDICAL USES 41

tubers removed from the hive showed

permanent inhibition, and of the hive
products examined, only propolis caused this
effect.
Rumanian workers also found that
alcoholic extracts of propolis at 1:10 dilution
inhibited the germination of hemp seeds. An
even more practical instance was given by
Kivalkina, namely the fact that pieces of
meat embedded in propolis are preserved
because all microbes which could cause
decay are killed — the meat will therefore
keep its colour, odour and consistency for a
long period of time.

MEDICAL USES
As far as the direct medical uses of propolis
are concerned, reports have been collected
from all over the world, and some of the most
interesting are summarized here.

Inflammations of the Throat and Mouth

Dr Maximillian Kern, of the Clinic at
Ljubljana in Yugoslavia, established very
good results in cases of inflammation of the
mucous membranes of the throat and mouth
by giving such patients propolis bonbons to
chew. In cases of acute inflammation, almost
all patients were free of fever and felt no pain
on swallowing as little as six to ten hours
42 PROPOLIS

after starting the treatment. The method

used was to dissolve one propolis lozenge in
the mouth at two-hourly intervals until the
temperature had returned to normal and
swallowing was painless. Even patients
suffering from chronic inflammation of the
mouth and gums found that symptoms were
hardly noticeable by the following day.
Halitosis
Dr Kern added that propolis was also given
to patients suffering from bad breath, and
that symptoms had entirely disappeared
after a few days. After two months he
checked all the patients again and found no
return of the condition, and also that there
was no adverse reaction to propolis, as there
is with most antibiotics.
Tonsillitis
Also from Ljubljana comes the report of a
case of severe and persistent tonsillitis in a
four-year-old girl, the daughter of a dentist.
The child had been ill for some time, and
when seen by the doctor had a temperature
of 39.7°C (103-5°F), was drowsy and refused
food. The doctor prescribed tincture of
propolis on sugar lumps, which could be
sucked easily. After two doses, the child slept
well, her temperature had dropped to 37.6°C
(99.7°F), and her appetite had returned.
Subsequent examination by the ear, nose
 MEDICAL USES 43

and throat specialist showed the tonsils clean

and free from inflammation.
Stomach Ulcers
Ulcers feature very largely in reports on
propolis from all over the world. Dr F.K.
~Feiks, of the Public Hospital at
Klosterneuberg in Austria, used it in treating
both resident patients and out-patients.
Fifteen out-patients with proven ulcers were
treated exclusively with tincture of propolis.
Only one case subsequently required
hospital treatment; the other fourteen
remained in their own homes and the ulcers
healed. By comparison, a further seventeen
out-patients were treated with conventional
medicaments, and of these, eleven had to be
hospitalized later as the ulcers caused serious
complaints or could not be healed over a long
period.
With in-patients, Dr Feiks used propolis
tincture as a supplementary therapy in 108
cases out of a group of 294, the remaining
186 remaining as controls. After two weeks,
over 90 per cent of the propolis patients were
free of symptoms against 55 per cent of the
control patients, and in addition the num-
ber of operations necessary during
hospitalization was reduced by one-third. Dr
Feiks stressed that when patients remained
under observation for at least two years,
44 PROPOLIS

relapse remained equai in both groups, so

that while the activity of the ulcer is eased, a
chronic ulcer condition will tend to remain.
Dr Feiks considered that observation would
have to be extended over a longer period in
order to establish if a repeated prophylactic
treatment at critical times would achieve a
cure. He cited one instance which gave
grounds for hope — that of a female patient of
eighty-one who had had a chronic stomach
ulcer for twelve years. She had not been
operated on because of a heart condition,
and annual X-ray controls had always
shown the ulcer to be unchanged. She was
given a six-week course of treatment as an
out-patient, using propolis tincture alone,
and the ulcer was subsequently found, by X-
ray examination, to have healed. In this case
it did not reappear later, and when the
patient died of a stroke at the age of eighty-
five, the post-mortem showed only the scar.
In Yugoslavia, the case is recorded of a
fifty-year-old mechanic, a heavy smoker,
suffering from stomach ulcers. He had severe
pain after every meal, and in an attempt to
avoid this he began to eat less and less. The
result was considerable weight loss, leading
to weakness and reduced efficiency in his
work. He was recommended to try propolis
capsules three times daily, half an hour
i
MEDICAL USES 45

before meals. From the very first day he was

without pain, and soon found that by
continuing to take the capsules regularly he
was able to eat anything and gradually
began to regain weight.
Burns
In nthe USSR> in -1958 —-Demecky,
recommended propolis ointment for second-
degree burns; its efficacy resulted apparently
from the tannin content of the propolis, the
cleanliness of the wound surface and the
soothing changes of dressing which the
ointment made possible. The anaesthetic
properties of propolis are also valuable in the
case of burns, and, furthermore, healing is
effected without disfiguring scars.
Dermatology
A great many conditions, both mild and
serious, are grouped under this term, and a
high proportion of them may be alleviated by
the use of propolis.
Striking results have been reported from
Austria in the treatment of acne cases. Dr
Edith Lauda tested propolis tincture and
ointments in the treatment of fifty-nine
patients who had suffered for several years
from acne of varying degrees of severity, and
which had withstood treatment in
dermatological clinics. Previous treatmen ts
had included antibiotics taken internally,
46 PROPOLIS

together with the external application of

cortisone and other’ ointments. The
conditions treated extended from simple
comedone acne to acne pustulosa and acne
conglobata.
Dr Lauda reported that twenty-five cases
of acne simplex were completely healed by
home treatment with propolis tincture and
ointment within a week. Thirty-five cases of
acne simplex combined with acne pustulosa were
healed by home treatment in three weeks,
with only three weekly treatments at the
clinic.
Among the most notable results was the
dramatic improvement in a woman who had
been treated unsuccessfully for thirty years
for acne conglobata on the chin. After only two
treatments at the clinic the infiltrated parts
of the skin were free of inflammation and
only small remainders of acne were visible.
Another woman, aged forty, had acne
pustulosa covering her whole face, and had
unsuccessfully tried every available therapy.
Here, too, acne was eliminated within two
weeks by home treatment with tincture and
ointment. Dr Lauda pointed out that the use
of propolis carried no danger to the system.
Internal findings, particularly regarding the
ovaries and the gastro-intestinal tract, were
neutral, and no organic or neuro-vegetative
 MEDICAL USES 47

disturbances of any kind were established.

A report from the USSR states that in
cases of neurodermatitis and dry eczema
there was diminution or complete cessation
of itching after twice-daily application of a
lanolin, vaseline and propolis ointment, and
this was followed by a complete cure of the
condition. The report adds, however, that
wet eczemas were aggravated by the propolis
ointment. It was curative in_ strepto-
dermatitis, but not in staphylodermatitis.
Slow-healing Wounds
Propolis has been found to have a
stimulating effect on the regenerative
processes of the skin, as it promotes wound
granulation and is believed to have
antiphlogistic, or cooling, qualities. When
mixed into an ointment with vaseline it has
been used successfully on slow-healing war
wounds; other suitable bases include lanolin
and sunflower oil. The use of propolis had
been found particularly suitable following
amputations.
In Yugoslavia a case was reported of a
fifty-four-year-old miner whose right ear was
amputated after the discovery of a
malignancy. The operation was successful,
but the patient requested that he be provided
with an artificial ear for cosmetic reasons.
The artificial ear was later torn off in an
 48 PROPOLIS

accident and the resulting wound became

infected. As the area had previously been
subjected to powerful irradiation, the
hospital had to carry out a skin transplant,
but after a few days the wound began to
suppurate. The patient was allowed to go
home, but had to return to the hospital
regularly for the wound to be cleaned. After a
year it seemed unlikely that new skin would
_ ever grow around it.
When the man later visited an otologist
because of an inflammation in the auditory
passage, the doctor, on learning the patient’s
history, cleaned the wound surrounding the
ear and treated it with lanolin and propolis
ointment. He continued this treatment twice
a week, and when healing began he
substituted an application of propolis
tincture with a covering of gauze to
encourage drying. During the treatment
there was no sign of infection or suppuration.
The skinless area became smaller and
smaller and after two months it was healed,
completely clean and of a normal colour.
Ear Infections
Many other cases have been reported of the
favourable effects of propolis on the auditory
passages. A_ forty-year-old woman, a
diabetic, was found to be suffering from
eczema and inflammation of both auditory
 MEDICAL USES 49

passages. Cortisone treatment was effective,

but the symptoms returned after treatment
ceased. The otologist changed the treatment,
using a propolis ointment every second day.
Healing began after a week, the irritation in
the ears diminished, the surface of the skin
lost its scaly appearance and improved in
colour, and the patient’s hearing also
improved. It is well known that diabetics are
especially sensitive to infections, and
suppurations will often occur with skin
troubles. The rapid healing which resulted
was, therefore, all the more noteworthy.
Besides inflammations of this type,
propolis has also been used — notably in
Russia — to treat some types of hearing
defects. A 30-40 per cent alcoholic tincture of «
propolis was mixed with olive oil or maize oil
(1:4) to make a creamy emulsion. Patients
with various ear diseases and defects were
treated by inserting a gauze plug, soaked in
the emulsion, into the aural passage. In
adults, the plug was left for between thirty-
six and thirty-eight hours and the treatment
repeated ten or twelve times. Out of 382
patients treated, 314 showed improved
hearing. Fewer patients reported head noises
after treatment than previously.
Anaesthetic Effects of Propolis
In Russia in 1955, Prokopivic established the
50 PROPOLIS

anaesthetic quality of propolis solution by

carrying out trials on rabbit cornea. An 0.25
per cent propolis solution was 3.5 times more
effective than a corresponding cocaine
preparation and fifty-two times more
effective than a novocain preparation in the
same concentration. It is considered suitable
for anaesthetic use in some nasal operations,
especially if the patient has a sensitivity to
other anaesthetics. It has also been used in
dental practice and for the anaesthesia of the
gums and mucous membranes of the mouth
for small surgical operations. In 1973 it was
reported from Russia that a new anaesthetic
preparation had been developed using a
mixture of novocain and propolis.
Since 1953 the following preparation has
been used in dental practice in the USSR: 2-
4 per cent alcoholic solution of propolis (40
grammes dry propolis in 100 millilitres 70
per cent alcohol), left for three days, shaken
occasionally, then filtered through dense
gauze.
Other Indications
The uses of propolis range from the
treatment of corns — long-standing in folk
medicine — to present-day reports of its
protective effects against radiation. It has
been successfully employed after
tonsillectomy, when it was used to staunch
 MEDICAL USES 51

blood, its glutinous composition having a

varnishing effect on the operation wound. It
has been used in the form of eye drops to
reduce intra-ocular pressure. A Soviet author
reported the successful treatment of bone
joint tuberculosis with local applications of
ointment and with a propolis-butter extract
taken orally. Some types of virus influenza
will also respond favourably to treatment
with propolis.

ALLERGY TO PROPOLIS
Although propolis is a natural and harmless
substance which can be of great benefit, as is
the case with most substances, a small
number of people are allergic to it, and it
goes without saying that anyone who
develops a rash after using it either orally or
externally should discontinue the treatment.
Not surprisingly, the few cases recorded in
detail concern beekeepers who come into
constant contact with the substance during
the summer months. In 1967 a paper was
published at the Department of
Dermatology, Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh,
on Contact Dermatitis in Beekeepers due to
Propolis.
The report estimated that possibly 0.05
per cent of beekeepers in Britain might be
affected. A typical case history was that of a
52 PROPOLIS

sixty-two-year-old man who had_ been

keeping bees for thirty years. During the
previous six years he had developed an itchy
rash affecting the chin, neck, face, hands,
and wrists after working in the apiary. The
attacks lasted from one to two weeks and
were serious enough to keep him off work.
His rash appeared only during the times
when he was handling bees, honeycombs or
frames. There was a row of poplar trees near
his hives, as well as some willow and spruce
trees, which the bees would have visited for
propolis. At the hospital a patch test was
made to the beekeeper’s own propolis and it
was strongly positive.
A survey was subsequently made by the
department, when beekeepers who claimed
to have a rash after handling propolis were
contacted. Similar case histories were
coliected and it was notable that in all cases
the skin remained clear during the winter
months when no work was done on the hives.
Incidentally, beekeepers may find a silicon
barrier cream helpful, as it prevents the
propolis from sticking to the skin during
handling and makes it much easier to wash
off.
In previous cases reported from the
Continent it had been discovered that some
patients who reacted to propolis were also
 MEDICAL USES 53

sensitive to poplar resins, other tree resins

and balsam of Peru. It was suggested that
cinnamic acid derivatives might be the cause
of the allergy, but the report from Edinburgh
stated that the strong sensitizer in propolis
and in poplar was apparently none of the
cinnamic derivatives they had tested up to
the time of reporting. The author of this
report remarked that there were far more
poplar trees in the British Isles than was
commonly realized and that the sudden
sensitization of a beekeeper after thirty or
forty years was sometimes due to the recent
planting of poplars within the two or three
miles flight range of his bees.
 CHAPTER FIVE
HOW TO USE PROPOLIS

Propolis, as we have seen, is an age-old

remedy that is once again gaining
recognition and so, because people may not
know how best to use it medically and in
what dosage (for, as it has been classed as a
food supplement, there will be no
instructions on the packaging), I have listed
a number of complaints where either my own
experience or that of others has indicated
that a specific dose has produced a beneficial
result.
If a particular ailment is not mentioned, it
does not necessarily mean that propolis
cannot be used in its treatment. But since the
recent researches began, there has not been
time to build up evidence for every illness
and it is thus not yet possible to substantiate
all findings. For instance, although
rheumatism does not seem to respond to
propolis in the cases tried, it may well be that
it does in others; and though it has value in
the treatment of some forms of arthritis, it
 HOW TO USE PROPOLIS 55

does not follow that it will help in every case.

Work is being carried out in Scandinavia
into whether propolis is effective in the
treatment of some tumours, but again the
results remain to be seen. This goes to show,
however, that tests and experiments are
going on all the time and we will continue to
learn more and more about propolis.

PREPARATIONS
The first thing to ascertain is the various
forms in which propolis can be bought.
Although until quite recently only raw
propolis chips were available, the taste of these
does not appeal to everyone, and other
methods of taking propolis have now been
devised. The propolis lozenge is a delicious
sweet and is really effective for sore throats
and coughs. Propolis capsules, which are hard
gelatine capsules containing finely ground
propolis, are very useful for stomach and
intestinal infections.
Propolis cream is available for both dry and
oily skins, and this should obviously be used
as an external ointment. If care is taken in
choosing the right one for the type of skin,
excellent results can be expected. Propolis
cream can also be used as a cosmetic for
difficult skin.
The name of propolis skin tonic can cause
56 PROPOLIS

confusion, for although it is a good tonic for

the skin, it is in fact a tincture of propolis,
and as such can be used internally, either as
a gargle (four or five drops in half a glass of
warm water) or a few drops can be put on a
sugar lump and sucked for throat infections.
This particular skin tonic is sold under the
brand name Salvaskin, and as far as I know it
is the only true tincture of propolis.
Therefore, when tincture of propolis is
prescribed for a particular ailment in this
chapter, Salvaskin Propolis Skin Tonic is
what the reader wishing to obtain it should
ask for.
Propolis toothpaste is also available now and
is especially beneficial for those suffering
from gum disorders. It should be used as a
regular tooth-paste whether there is any
infection or not, however, because the
antiseptic, antibacterial action of propolis
will kill off the harmful bacteria which breed
in the spaces between the teeth, so
preventing gum disorders from developing.
All these products are available in health
food stores and can sometimes be found in
chemists’ shops which specialize in health
foods and allied products.

INFECTION OF URINARY TRACT

For infections of the kidney, bladder,
 HOW TO USE PROPOLIS 57

prostate gland and sexual organs, take 3

grammes of propolis for the first three days
and 2 grammes for about eight days
thereafter.

INFECTION OF DIGESTIVE TRACT

Infections of the digestive tract are known to
succumb very quickly to propolis chewed
raw or in lozenge form for the upper tract,
and in powder (capsule) for the stomach and
intestines. This should be taken for about five
days, after meals in doses of 2 grammes
spread over the day. Chronic infections will
obviously take longer to cure.

SPECIFIC DOSES
Propolis can be tried for anything in which
harmful bacteria, germs or viruses are
involved. If a positive sign is not seen within
three weeks in acute cases, then it may be
assumed that the treatment is not going to
work. In chronic cases, however, it can take
far longer, and a course of treatment should
last at least eight weeks.
The following alphabetical list of ailments
is designed to guide the reader in the correct
use of propolis.
Abscess
Apply tincture ofpropolis to the affected part.
58 PROPOLIS

Acne
All forms of acne benefit from treatment with
propolis. Apply tincture of propolis daily until
the condition subsides. Further applications
of propolis cream may be used from time to
time as a preventative where this condition is
of a long-standing nature.
Bad Breath (Halitosis)
Suck a propolis lozenge every two or three
hours, or as required.
Bleeding
Because of its glutinous nature, propolis is a
most useful remedy for staunching bleeding,
and for this tincture of propolis should be
used. Alternatively, raw propolis chips can be
chewed and the saliva applied to the wound.
Corns
Propolis cream used on corns is an age-old
‘remedy. Apply night and morning and cover
with a small gauze pad.
Coughs
A propolis logenge should be sucked as often as
required, or raw propolis may be chewed from
time to time. A gargle made from tincture of
propolis should be taken on rising and
retiring: prepare this by placing four or five
drops of the tincture in half a glass of warm
water. The gargle may be swallowed if
desired.
 HOW TO USE PROPOLIS ey)

Cuts
Because of its antibacterial properties, tincture
of propolis should always be used on cuts to
reduce the risk of infection.
Cystitis
Cases of cystitis have been greatly improved
by taking one propolis capsule three times daily.
Indeed, propolis can be tried in all conditions
affecting the urinary system.
Eczema (Dry only)
The application of propolis cream once daily
can have an outstanding effect on this form of
eczema. It is also recommended that propolis
capsules be taken twice daily for a few days at
the beginning of the treatment.
Propolis can aggravate Wet Eczema,
however, so it should never be used for this
condition.
Gum Disorders (Gingivitis, etc.)
Take one propolis lozenge three or four times
daily or chew a small amount of raw propolis
from time to time. The teeth should always
be cleaned with propolis toothpaste.
Psoriasis
Follow the instructions given for Dry
Eczema. This is a difficult disease to treat, so
if there is no visible sign of improvement after
a week there is little value in carrying on with
the treatment, and further advice should be
sought.
Boa PROPOLIS
Shingles
Take one propolis capsule twice daily between
meals, and apply propolis cream to the affected
part before retiring. This treatment has even
proved to be efficacious when the disease has
been present for many years, as it has the
effect of eradicating the itching which makes
this particular ailment so irritating.
Sinusitis
As with all infections of the mucous
membranes, propolis often has a rewarding
effect here. Chew propolis lozenges or raw
propolis as often as required.
Sore Throat
As I have said earlier in this book, it is with
this condition that propolis can have the
most amazing results. In many cases two or
three propolis lozenges can clear all the
symptoms of a sore throat. Suck a lozenge
every hour for up to four hours, continuing
the treatment until there is no pain on
swallowing.
Gargling with a solution of four or five
drops of tencture of propolis in half a glass of
warm water is also very soothing for a sore
throat.
Teeth
As I have already mentioned, propolis
toothpaste has a healthy effect on the gums and
helps to eliminate harmful bacteria. It will
 HOW TO USE PROPOLIS 61

also keep teeth white and is recommended

for regular use.
Tonsillitis
Suck four or five drops of tincture ofpropolis on
a lump of sugar three times daily, or suck a
propolis lozenge three or four times daily.
Toothache
Because of its anaesthetic effects, propolis
can be applied to the region of the aching
tooth until such time as the dentist can be
visited. Use tincture of propolis for this — put a
few drops on a pad of gauze and apply to the
affected part. Alternatively, chew raw propolis
until it has the consistency of chewing gum
and then let it adhere to the gum around the
tooth.
Ulcers
External. Apply tincture of propolis to a piece of
gauze and place it over the ulcer. The sting
this causes can be reduced by diluting the
tincture slightly with boiled water. Propolis
cream applied to the dry edges of the ulcer as
the area decreases will help it to heal.
Internal. Propolis is a valuable remedy for
stomach and intestinal ulcers. The best
treatment is with propolis capsules — take one
capsule three times daily, thirty minutes
before meals.
Mouth. Apply tincture of propolis to the affected
part two or three times a day. Propolis lozenges
62 PROPOLIS

may also be used.

Wounds (Fresh and Slow-healing)
Tincture of propolis should be applied to
wounds and as they heal and dry out propolis
cream can be used. Diabetics should take heed
of this since there is often a tendency for skin
infections to occur, and it is well known that
their wounds take longer to heal.

Two important points bear repetition at this

stage: |
1. The tincture of propolis mentioned in this
chapter is Salvaskin, and as far as I know,
at the time of writing, this is the only pure
tincture on the market in Britain.
Obviously, however, other brands may
emerge, and there are no doubt different
types outside the UK. If the reader is
offered another brand, he should check
very carefully that it is pure tincture
before taking it internally.
2. About 0.05 per cent of the population can
react adversely to propolis — they are
allergic to it, just as people are allergic to
a variety of things. This allergy takes the
form of a rash, which disappears as soon
as treatment with propolis is stopped. If
you have not taken propolis before, it is
therefore as well to check whether you
come into this category. Before going to
 HOW TO USE PROPOLIS 63

bed, take a very small amount and if the

skin remains clear, the treatment can
begin. However, if there are signs of a
rash, then propolis is not for you and
should not be taken in any form.

But propolis can and will be of great benefit

to many people, and I hope that this book
will help to spread the word about the
remarkable powers of this natural antibiotic.
 INDEX

Abscess, 57 Infections, 24, 57

Acids, 17 Inflammation, 24, 28, 41
Acne, 9, 45-6, 58 Intestinal infections, 57
Allergy to propolis, 51-3
Amino acids, 12, 17 Lozenges, propolis, 20, 42,
Anaemia, 13 58-61
Anaesthetic, 50
Minerals, 11, 17
Arthritis, 14
Mouth infections, 41
Bee stings, 14 propolis, 9, 19,
Ointment,
Biological components, 17
45, 47-9
Bleeding, 51, 58
Burns, 11, 45 Pollen, 12, 14, 30, 39
Powdered propolis, NO), SF
Capsules, propolis, 9, 19, Protein, 11
+55 Psoriasis, 59
Collection of propolis, 32-5
Colon, disorders of, 13 Raw propolis, 9, 19, 55, 58-
Corns, 50, 58 61
Coughs, 9, 55, 58 Rejuvenation, 13
Cream, propolis, 19, 55, 58- Resins, 7, 15, 17, 24, 28
62 Rheumatism, 14, 19, 54
Cuts, 59 Royal jelly, 13, 14, 30, 39
Cystitis, 59°
Shingles, 60
Depression, 13 Sinusitis, 60
Skin complaints, 9, 45
Ear infections, 48-9 Stomach infections, 57
Eczema, 49, 59
Enzymes, 12 Teeth, 60
Eye drops, propolis, 51 Throat infections, 9, 45, 58,

Fatigue, 13 Tincture, propolis, 9, 19, 58,

Fats, 12, 17 59, 61, 62
Flavonoids, 18-19 Tonsillitis, 42, 61
Toothache, 61
Gum disorders, 9, 41, 56, 59 nee ie propolis, 9, 20,
6
Haemorrhages, 18
Halitosis, 9, 42, 58 Ulcers, 9, 28, 43-5, 61
Hay fever, 12 Urinary disorders, 24, 55
Heart conditions, 13
Virus infections, 18, 57
Honey, 11, 22, 24, 39
Vitamins, 11, 12, 17
Honey cappings, 11, 12
Honeycomb, 11-13 Wax, 11, 24, 29, 32, 38
Hormones, 12 Wounds, 9, 24, 28, 37, 47-8
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