Health Benefits | honey-bee

The Healing Products of the Honey Bee

The earliest depiction of humans harvesting honey was over 7500 years ago when there were honey hunters. These individuals would risk their lives and climb trees to gather honey. The earliest record of keeping honey bees was in Egypt. The Egyptians sought honey as gold and even converted amount of gold to honey at an equal conversion. Honey now is ever important and more so is the honey bee. Without the honey bee the product of bee pollen, honey, royal jelly, and wax could never be replicated in a synthetic process. The honey has many properties that are extremely beneficial to the body. In our society many people are becoming sick and are heading right to the over the counter medicine, however there are many types of homeopathic remedies that have been in use for thousands of years. By implementing some of these methods into our daily lives we will be able to stop and prevent diseases from occurring.

By consuming honey it is shown to help with gastrointestinal problems. Individuals who have a low Bifidobacteria count have countless gastro problems and may take certain dairy products to help increase their count of Bifidobacteria. It has been shown that honey is able to increase the count of these bacteria from just a tablespoon a day. For individuals who enjoy working out honey may be the perfect tool to increased energy and stamina with an incredible 17g of carbohydrates and 56g of sugar this natural remedy can help to boost the energy of anyone. Honey is Hygroscopic, it is able to take moisture right from the air, which means that placing honey in open wounds can help stop bleeding, and keeps the skin moist preventing scarring from affecting the skin. It also encourages new cell growth allowing faster healing. By placing honey before putting on bandages it prevents the cloth from getting stuck onto the opening of the wound. Honey is able to heal wounds because “When applied, honey releases slowly hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), an antibacterial, antimicrobial, and antiseptic compound produced from an enzyme, disinfecting the wound, killing the germs and healing the broken skin.”(Benefits Of Honey). Honey is considered to be humectant so it can be used to smooth skin, and keep hair glossy. Honey is a source of antioxidants meaning that it is able to prevent many diseases that can occur over someone’s life time. These diseases can range from age relating diseases to cancer.

Bee Pollen is an incredibly important asset in our healthcare in present day. Not only is it a super food that is 40% protein but also it has all the essential nutrients that humans need in their everyday life. Due to the high concentration of protein it is used by many top athletes as a supplement to help reduce recovery time, as well as increase their strength in whatever sport they are participating in. It has been shown that there can be up to a 25 percent increase in strength in the field that they are participating in. In Chinese herbalism bee pollen is considered a nutritive tonic. It has numerous disease prevention and healing components and is continuing to surprise scientists to this day. It has been shown to help overcome retardation in children as well as overcome learning deficiencies; this may be due to the fact that bee pollen is high in Rutin, DNA, and RNA. It is also shown in a clinical trial to be able to reverse cancer in mice. A group of scientist had bred mice to having a 100% chance of growing a tumor within 31.3 weeks. When they fed bee pollen to the mice everyday they saw an incredible shift in their life cycle. Not only were they surviving longer but when checked at 56 weeks they noticed that no tumor had formed. Bee pollen can also increase fertility in women. The Bee pollen is able to increase the intensity of ovulation as well as withstand the incubation period. This time period is the most sensitive and without the survival there will be no embryo development.

Royal Jelly is another product that the bees produce that has enormous beneficial qualities for humans. Not only is royal jelly the main food for the queen bee it also contains the protein, Royalactin, which causes the phenotypic change which produces the queen bee. Royal jelly has a protein, hydrolysate, which has been shown to reduce blood pressure. In the United States of America we are experiencing an epidemic of high blood pressure. Instead of having adults who already have a weak heart consume medicine that makes them weaker we can use a natural method that reduces blood pressure. When royal jelly is combines with potassium there is a reduction of stress on the blood vessels of the heart. Royal jelly contains Lecithin which can also help individuals with high cholesterol. With a teaspoon a day it has been shown to reduce cholesterol in individuals, this can reduce risk of stroke, heart attacks as well as contribute to weight loss. Royal jelly can also be used to increase fertility; when tested on men it is shown to increase sperm count and in women to increases pregnancy. Royal jelly can be used to reduce inflammation on the body. By taking some of the jelly whether it be in powder or liquid form and rubbing it on the infected area. This is due to royal jelly having many active enzymes and vitamins which help it make it a great anti-inflammatory.

Beeswax is made up of entirely fatty acids helping keep large amounts of moisture which in turn has many beneficial qualities to the skin. The special qualities of beeswax are able to help maintain moisture in the skin while making the skin smooth. It can be used for hand lotion and lip balm because beeswax has a high concentration of moisture, alleviating chapped skin. Beeswax is a natural agent for acne and eczema when applied to these blemishes it clean pores and moistens the skin. Beeswax can be used to make organic non-toxic candles. Most candles that are used in many households these days are candles made from paraffin. Paraffin is a crude leftover from sludge of the bottom of oil barrels. It not only causes people to breathe in hazardous toxins it also stains walls, ceiling, and other household items. This candle adds to the pollution of the atmosphere. Using candles made out of beeswax will reduce the use of carcinogens and other toxic factors. The beeswax candle will also provide an aromatic smell and gives off better lighting then paraffin candles.

Creating your own aromatherapy beeswax candles:

Set out jars to put wax in

Boil water up to boiling temperature

Put wax in a metal bowl and place bowl in boiling water

Once wax has melted pour melted wax into jars

Place wick into jar

Light and enjoy

Bonus: while the wax is still in a melted state you can put different type of flower or herb essences into it so that your candle will have more therapeutic properties and smells to it.

Bees are an important part of our ecosystem as well as benefit humans in so many ways. Bees are incredible pollinators that have help spread beauty across the land and also produce products that are used in homeopathic medicine. However, bees are starting to disappear and without them we will lose a vital ally. The honey bee is considered by many ancient civilizations as a present from the gods and regarded the products that were obtained as treasure. The Egyptians have been known to be buried with jars of honey so that they may have sweetness in the afterlife. The bees are producers of vitality and we have to respect these incredible creatures so that we may continue to harvest products from the bees and benefit from them.

Bees have also been shown to reduce the effects of inflamed joints. It has been shown that bee stings are actually able to reduce individuals who suffer countless pain throughout the day. This method of treating joint pain has been used in many countries and still today there are countless stories advocating the use of sting therapy also called Apitherapy.

Sites used:

http://www.benefits-of-honey.com/antibiotic.html-Honey

http://www.mercola.com/article/diet/bee_pollen.htm - bee pollen

https://www.organicfacts.net/health-benefits/animal-product/royal-jelly.html - royal jelly

http://morenature.com/blogs/nature-news/36136260-what-makes-beeswax-so-good-for-your-skin - beeswax