Propolis supplement health benefit, review.
by Ray Sahelian, M.D.
Bee Propolis, also called “bee glue,” is a resinous, gummy substance collected by bees from flowers, buds, and exudates of plants that bees combine with wax to construct and maintain their hives. Due to its waxy nature and mechanical properties, bees use propolis in the construction and repair of their hives for sealing openings and cracks and smoothing out the internal walls and as a protective barrier against external invaders like snakes, lizards, and so forth, or against weathering threats like wind and rain. Bees gather propolis from different plants, in the temperate climate zone mainly from poplar.
It is a popular folk medicine possessing a broad spectrum of biological activities related to its chemical composition and more specifically to the phenolic and flavonoid compounds that vary in their structure and concentration depending on the region of production, availability of sources to collect plant resins, genetic variability of the queen bee, the technique used for production, and the season in which it is produced.
In laboratory and animal tests, bee propolis has exhibited a variety of interesting antimicrobial and anti-tumor properties along with hints of possible cardioprotective, vasoprotective, antioxidant, antiatherosclerotic, anti-inflammatory and antiangiogenic actions.
What’s in this superfood?
Propolis is a mixture of resin, essential oils and waxes mixed with bee glue. It it contains amino acid, minerals, ethanol, vitamin A, B complex, E, pollen and highly active ingredients known as flavonoids or bioflavonoids.
* THESE STATEMENTS HAVE NOT BEEN EVALUATED BY THE FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION. THIS IS NOT INTENDED TO DIAGNOSE, TREAT CURE OR PREVENT ANY DISEASE.