What can the health benefits of propolis do for you?
Think of bee propolis as the glue that holds everything together. At first, people thought that propolis only protected the hive from bad weather like rain, cold winds, and snow. But propolis’s main job is to protect beehives. It also helps to strengthen the structure and security of the hive, lower annoying vibrations, keep disease and parasites from getting into the hives, and mummify small intruders who die inside the hive. Most of the time, propolis is a mixed glue made up of beeswax, saliva, sap, and different plants from the area. Like everything else that comes from bees, propolis has many health benefits when added to a person’s normal diet.
An All-Natural Fighter
You can get a lot of health benefits from propolis. I am always amazed at how well this dark, sticky substance works for me.
But not long ago, I had a sore throat that wouldn’t go away no matter what I did. That’s when I realised I, the “bee girl,” had forgotten to take my propolis. Once again, I hadn’t been taking it during the cold and flu season. This is most likely why I was having so much trouble with this problem. I went back to my trusted bee propolis medication and took it three times a day. The sore throat went away in a couple of days. Once again, the propolis worked its magic on me!
This made me want to learn more about all the health benefits of propolis. I know it’s great for colds and the flu, but I didn’t know what else it could be used for. I was shocked by how many papers and benefits I could find…
10 Health Benefits Of Propolis That Will Change Your Life
1. Propolis Kills Bacteria
For example, one study looked at how well bee propolis killed germs in the mouth, especially around root canals.
The researchers looked at propolis and calcium hydroxide, which is known to be a very good antimicrobial. They found that propolis is much better at killing some germs than calcium is.
People have used propolis for a long time to treat colds and the flu, and this study clearly shows how its strong ability to kill bacteria works all over the body.
2. Propolis Lowers Blood Pressure
It is very important for hearts to have nitric oxide. Nitric oxide tells the smooth muscles around your blood vessels to relax. This causes your blood vessels to vasodilate, or open, and more blood to flow through them.
High blood pressure is caused in large part by nitric oxide not being as available to the body for use. You’d have a heart attack without it. Tyrosine hydroxylase, or TH, is an enzyme that controls how much nitric oxide your body can make.
Scientists thought that propolis might be able to lower TH, which would then lower blood pressure. In order to make the rats’ blood pressure go up, they gave them something called nitro-l-arginine methyl ester for 15 days. After that, they gave the rats propolis every day for five days.
After doing this, they found that the propolis made the rats’ TH activity go down. Because of this, they thought that propolis might help control blood pressure.
If you do have high blood pressure, you might want to try raw honey. It includes propolis, which has been shown to lower blood pressure.
3. Propolis Helps Treat Bone Diseases
Propolis seems to be good for your health because it helps build and keep healthy bone tissue.
Recently, scientists looked into whether Caffeic Acid Phenethyl Ester, a strong chemical found in propolis, could stop or cure bone diseases that break down bones. They found that this compound was very good at blocking the inflammatory compounds that cause bone diseases. This led to the idea that propolis might be able to treat illnesses that break down bones, like osteoporosis.
This could be a very smart thing to do if you are losing bone density or if someone in your family has lost bone density.
4. Propolis Helps Treat Allergies
One great thing about propolis for your health is that it can help ease the effects of seasonal allergies.
Scientists gave rats propolis for two weeks and found that it stopped the mast cells in the rats from releasing histamine in a big way. The chemical histamine is what makes you sneeze, have watery eyes, and a running nose. In general, it makes your life harder. Most allergy medicines that you can buy over the counter are antihistamines.
Through stopping the release of histamine, their data clearly showed that propolis may help ease the symptoms of allergic rhinitis.
When allergy season comes around, don’t just take your bee pollen; also take propolis every day.
5. Propolis Boosts Prostate Cancer Cell Death
Men are more likely than women to get prostate cancer. We have good news about this dangerous disease, though: propolis seems to help your health by stopping and slowing down this type of cancer (at least in a test tube).
Scientists looked at how well propolis liquid killed two common types of prostate cancer. They came to the conclusion that propolis tincture greatly improved the death of prostate cancer cells, which suggested that propolis may play a major part in chemoprevention of prostate cancer.
6. Propolis Kills Colon Cancer Cells
Scientists have recently chosen to look into how propolis can fight both cancer and germs at the same time.
First, they put four different viruses in propolis. People who have used propolis to get rid of colds for years have known that it is a very strong antibiotic.
The scientists then checked to see if propolis could kill colon cancer cells. They discovered that it killed the cancer cells by cutting off their blood flow. This meant that only the cancer cells in the area died, leaving no healthy cells alive.
The opposite of this is what chemotherapy does: it kills both healthy cells and cancer cells. This is why chemo has such terrible side effects.
In the end, this study looks very good. Propolis and other bee products have been good for the health of some of the world’s best people for generations. Some of these people live very long, healthy lives, and a lot of them are centenarians. This exciting new study may help explain why.
7. Propolis May Help Treat Food Poisoning
Earlier this year, researchers looked at how well propolis fights the germs that cause what people usually call “food poisoning.” 16 types of Campylobacter jejuni
Scientists discovered that propolis stopped the growth of three bugs that are often found in people who get food poisoning: C. jejuni, Enterobacter faecalis, and Staphylococcus aureus.
They also said that propolis preparations could be used in addition to regular antibiotics to help treat infections, especially when drugs don’t work against the germs.
I always carry a bottle of propolis tincture in my bag because of this reason. I take a dose after eating in any restaurant or place I’m not familiar with.
8. Propolis Protects Injured Teeth
The study on tooth health and propolis was pretty hard for me to understand because it used a lot of big, complicated words that I didn’t know. But I’ll do my best to summarise it for you anyway.
Traumatic injuries to the teeth seem to be hard for the dentist to fix because they can lead to problems like inflammation after the procedure.
Scientists looked at propolis as an anti-resorptive drug in this study. They were mostly interested in finding out if propolis could help reduce swelling after someone had a tooth knocked out so that the teeth could be put back in.
They found that, yes, propolis did help. In many parts of the body, propolis can have very strong anti-inflammatory effects. Some illnesses, like arthritis, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, and many more, are caused by inflammation. A lot of new study shows that one of the main health benefits of propolis is that it reduces inflammation.
People who regularly eat propolis probably have less inflammation in their bodies, which means they get less sickness and live healthier, longer lives.
9. Heat Stress & Athletic Performance
Because it is so full of vitamins, propolis is very good for your health in many ways.
An article in the Journal of Food Science says that new study has shown how useful these antioxidants can be for athletes because they keep them from getting too hot.
The main ingredient in propolis is called caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE). It has many biological effects, such as being an antioxidant, reducing inflammation, and killing viruses.
People think that heat stress is the main reason why people get tired and dehydrated quickly when they work out in the heat for a long time.
Researchers looked at the blood of 30 competitive cyclists who had been riding for two to four years before the study.
At the end of the study, the lead researcher said that CAPE, one of the strong chemicals in propolis, might help athletes do better. So sports, don’t forget to take your propolis, especially in the summer. It might give you a natural, safe edge over your competitors!
10. Propolis an Effective Treatment for Warts
In my own experience, this advantage has been helpful. I had a heel wart that went away in less than two weeks with a propolis tincture. It hasn’t come back since.
Scientists found that propolis is very good at getting rid of warts. This was published in the International Journal of Dermatology in November 2009.
One-blind, randomised, three-month study gave oral propolis, echinacea, or a dummy to 135 people with different kinds of warts.
When propolis was used to treat people with common warts, 75% of them got better and 73% got better in two different groups. The outcomes were much better than those seen with echinacea medicine or a sugar pill.