Propolis is a sticky, usually dark coloured resin from the hive that honeybees collect from living plants and mix with wax and their own secretions, and it is used to repair and varnish their dwelling, cover the inside of the brood cells with a microscopic film of Propolis in order to sterilize a baby bee nursery and embalm dead intruders to prevent them from infecting the hive. It is also used to make the entrance of the hive weather tight and easier to defend.
Propolis consists of 50-55 percent resins and balms, 30 percent bees wax, 10-15 percent essential oils and 5 percent pollen. Although the analyses show various compositions (more then 190 compounds have been identified so far but still not totalling 100 percent), activity remains the same. It seems that the bees go to the plant sources around them and collect only material that will be most beneficial in defending the hive in that particular area.
Propolis has been rediscovered by western medicine relatively recently while in the Far East and Eastern Europe it has been widely and successfully used for medicinal purposes for centuries. As a matter of interest, children were given propolis for the first seven years of their life, just to survive under very poor living conditions.
Research has shown that propolis has the following properties:
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Anti-septic and anti-bacterial
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Anti-inflammatory
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Anti-parasitary
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Anti-mycotic (Candida)
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Anti-allergenic
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Stress-reliving
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Blood Vessel reinforcing
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Anti-fungal and anti-viral
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Wound healing and regenerating activityImmuno-simulative effect (Propolis is called BRM – Biological Response Modifier)
