Bee Propolis

What Is Bee Propolis ?

Bee propolis or also known as propolis is a  kind of natural resinous substance. It is made from a blend of different portions of resins^[1] and beeswax. The propolis resins source is collected from various vegetation/plants.

How Bee Propolis Made

Propolis is not made by bees, instead, they gather and compile it from various vegetation resources. Bees shred the ‘shielding resins’ from the vegetation of their choice (i.e flower and leaf sprouts) by using their lower jaw /mandible. And after that, they take the resinous substance to their hive – just like pollen granules on their legs. It might be presumed that during the gathering process, bees blend the resins together with their saliva ^[2] or are at least, bees partially metabolized it^[3]. However, due to the fact that it is almost impossible to trace bees on their foods-seeking-travels, the exact provenances of some specific bee propolis resins are pretty hard to be identified.

Vegetation Sources Of Bee Propolis Resin

Even though the vegetation/plant sources is difficult to be identified there is a study that provide this answer. Commonly, bees use this following vegetation:

1. Poplar (Populus sp.)
2. Birch (Betula alba)
3. Beech (Fagus sylvatica)
4. Horse chestnut, (Aesculus hippocastanum)
5. Alder (Alnus glutinosa) and other various conifers ^[4].

The difference choice of vegetation source is depending on the region where bee colony lives, and this what makes color, scent, and exact composition differ for each specific  bee propolis variants. Next section will give a brief explanation about propolis properties.

Bee Propolis Properties

If you ever wondering how does bee propolis looks like, Then this section will describe it for you. As outlined by Coggshall and Morse, propolis color might be yellowish, reddish, green, or even transparent. But generally, propolis color is dark brown ^[5]

Aside from different colors and scent, temperatures might affect bee propolis properties, as this following description:

• When frozen or at near freezing temperatures (usually for lower than 15⁰ C) it is harden and fragile.
• At normal temperatures (about 25ºC – 45ºC) bee propolis is a lenient, tender and very adhering.
• For the temperature of 45ºC – 59 ºC it will become increasingly adhering and gluey.
• At  60ºC to 70ºC  bee propolis will become liquid. However it is found that in several samples, it can melt at 100⁰C. ^[2]

However, in one of the most recent research, it is reported that  bee propolis from Amaicha del Valle and apigenin, chrysin, galangin were found to be stable from room temperature to 120ºC ^[6].

Bee Propolis Uses For Bee Colony

To answer the question “what is propolis used for bee colony”, we can simply see from the literal definition of bee propolis. The term itself comes from Greek. It is devised by Aristotle from original words ‘pro’ and ‘polis’.  ‘Pro’ (προ ) means ‘before’ while ‘polis’  (πόλις) means ‘city’. As a complete word, propolis means  ‘Defense Of The City’. This literal term  definition, is the actual bee propolis uses for bee colonies.

Bees use propolis  to ‘paste’ and seal off any crack that is found in their hive, especially brood combs – Brood  comb is the beeswax structure of cells where the queen bee lays eggs. It is also a place to raise new brood/bee larva.

Another bee propolis uses for bee colony is to decrease the hive entrance capacity. By doing this, bees get at least two important benefits:

1. Bees are purged from harmful microbes. This is because bees have to creep via a narrow canal that has been coated by bee propolis when they want to enter their hive.
2. Seal off any animal or insects corpses that are too big to be taken out from the hive. In this case, bee propolis functioned to suppress the decomposing bacteria growth (from the tissue of animal or insect corpse) thus lowers the chance of bee larva from any infection.

Those bee propolis uses mentioned above are very vital to guard the colony from any ailments, especially against Bacillus larvae^[7]. Bacillus larvae is a pathogen of bee larva, causing a fatal disease called American foulbrood.

The explanation of why bee propolis can be a successful defender for bee colony is related to its content. It has been proved to works effectively as natural antibiotic against bacteria, viruses, fungus and protozoa.

Bee Propolis Health Benefits

Bee propolis uses serve various purposes, primarily as cure and other medicinal concern. This because of its antimicrobial properties^[8] and various therapeutic effects. Bee colonies has successfully lived through million years and they know how to utilize bee propolis in an optimum way. Right now, we just partially find out what kind of benefits that it can give to us.

In this present time, there are already many evidences from various clinical studies and researches, showing that this ‘resinous substance’ has numerous therapeutic effect.

Therapeutic effect can be explained as an outcome of all kinds of medical therapy that are evaluated to be favorable and advantageous. This is correct regardless the result was predicted, unpredicted, or perhaps accidental. In simple words, therapeutic effects means health benefits.

Below are some  bee propolis benefits that you can have:

1. Proven Natural Antibiotics (Antibacterial, Antifungal, Antiviral)
2. Possible Anti Cancer and Tumor Shrinking Properties
3. Rich in Antioxidant
4. Anti-Inflammatory Effects
5. Possible Anaesthetic Effects
6. Possible Wound Healing and Tissue Repair Effects
7. Specific Synergistic Effects

Some research also show us that bee propolis is good to help  healing process of people who suffer to hypertension, atherosclerosis, diabetes, infertility, skin problem (such as warts, acne, boil), oral health problem (such as gingivitis, periodontitis, receding gums etc.).

Bee Propolis Side Effects

Aside from the numerous benefits that it can provide, bee propolis  can also cause some unwanted side effects. You can find deeper about this in Propolis Side Effects category.

One of the most well known  side effects is contact dermatitis (skin inflammation). Commonly, it is caused as a result of allergy reaction or hypersensitivity to some specific chemical constituents. For people who concern a lot about allergy and its related stuffs, you can see Propolis Allergy A Complete Guide article. It is really a complete and comprehensive one.  Check out also the article Propolis Dosage And Toxicity Explanations.

Last Words About Bee Propolis Blog

I’m really trying my best to build this blog, so that you can find factual and trustworthy information about bee propolis. If you have any suggestion or critic, just go put some comments.

I really hope that you can obtain something useful here…. Happy reading!

^Reference:

1. ^{Hill R. Propolis, The Natural Antibiotic. Thorsons, Wellingborough, England, 1977}
2. ^{R. Krell, Value Added Products From Beekeping. FAO Agricultural Service Bulltein  No. 124, 1996}
3. ^{A.  Cuellar,  Hernandez Rojas, Perez Martinez . 1990. Brand-new anti microbes architecture of bee propolis from Cuba. Revisi Cuba de Phararma cia, 2a (1): 5i-5b}
4. ^{Mochida, M Haga  and Y  Takino. (1985), Chemical bee propolis. J. Nat. Prod. 55, 1732Ð1740. constituents and antimicrobial effect of Japanese bee propolis. Apimondia. The 30th International Apicultural Congress. Nagoya-Japan, pp.455-456}
5. ^{Coggshall, W. and Morse, R.A. 1984. Beeswax: production, harvesting, processing and products. Wicwas Press, Ithaca, NY, USA, 192 pp}
6. ^{Mariela González, María Inés Gómez, María Laura Tereschuk and Amelia Molina. Thermal stability of propolis from Tucumán, Argentina. Journal of Apicultural Research Vol. 48 (4) pp. 270 – 278. October 2009}
7. ^{Mlagan, V. and Sulimanovic, D. 1982. Action of propolis uses on Bacillus larvae. Apiacta,17:16-20}
8. ^{Walker, P. and Crane, E. 1987. Constituents of propolis. Apidologie, 18(4): 327-334}

Share this: