PROPOLIS

 

Propolis is a material collected by honeybees from certain plants. This resin plant is used by bees as mortar and anti-infectives to clean the hive. It is harvested for its therapeutic properties.

The origin of the word propolis is associated with the Greek pro meaning "before, in front of, and polis," city "(referring to the reduction of the entrance to the hive with propolis to defend the colony).

Propolis is used as a product of embalming in ancient Egypt. She was also part of the traveling pharmacy Roman soldiers when they went to fight. In the eleventh century, the propolis was recommended to heal the wounds of arrows.

 

ORIGINS

Propolis is a complex produced by the bees from their secretions and a series of resinous substances, gummy and balsamic. Of viscous consistency, it is collected by bees from certain parts of plants. The main species occurring in propolis are conifers (pine bark, pine, spruce) and buds of several species of alder, willow, birch, plum, ash, oaks and elms, poplars (which seem to be the largest source) and horse chestnut.

The worker carries the resin into the baskets of her hind legs (the same way as pollen). These balls are a color from light yellow to green-brown. These are not stored in the cells but once used by the masons. The recent change in part by the contribution of their own secretions (mainly wax and salivary secretions), and apply it as needed. Plus the place is hot, the percentage of wax is important (propolis is viscous and sticky at around 20 ° C and becoming hard and brittle with the cold or aging). It is therefore logical to find a more concentrated propolis at the hole flight and head frames.

In the hive, propolis has multiple uses. It is the glue that is used for sealing cracks or gaps in the seal (from the humidity and mold growth), the strengthening rays or defective parts of the hive and protect the colony from the reducing the entrance to the hive. It is also an antiseptic varnish deposited in a thin layer inside the cells before the queen is laying, or to smooth the interior walls of the hive. It is also used to mummify the dead animals and intruders (rats and mice for example) too big to be evacuated by the bees avoiding their decomposition.

 

HARVEST

A colony produces between 100 and 300 g of propolis per year. The harvest work is often tedious and purification operations very difficult.

Some beekeepers, propolis is an embarrassment. Sometimes people take the trouble to collect during the cleaning frames. This raw propolis scraping needs to be refined because it may contain wax, wood and bits of insects. In some amateur beekeepers open their hives rarely, it can be quite old and degraded.

Propolis scraping may also contain pieces of bees. This last element gives the scraping propolis, a gain in terms of its qualities bio-apitherapy. In fact, used by bees for the job of embalming, scraping propolis present antibacterial qualities superior to propolis grid.

Propolis grid is mainly used by the bee as a building material, and not as anti-bacterial effectiveness of this plan was not a priority for the bee.

For a more profitable crop, it is preferable to use grids to propolis incorporated many spaces that the bee will seek to fill. This tool is placed over the heads of executives, often after the harvest (the temperature has fallen, propolis wax will be less concentrated, more abundant and new). He just have to put this grill in cold, propolis becoming brittle, twisting the tool will identify the pieces.

 

COMPOSITION

Propolis collected in the hive is generally composed of:

resins and balms 50-55%

Wax 30-40%

volatile or essential oils 5-10%

pollen 5%

various materials 5%

Propolis also contains many other elements such as organic acids, numerous flavonoids, trace elements, many vitamins.

There are different varieties of propolis and composition of propolis is highly variable and complex. More than 300 different compounds have been identified. Propolis is the most powerful is harvested freely by the people of bees in a hive and not treated in a protected environment.

 

MEDICINAL PROPERTIES

In the raw state, propolis can be chewed directly after sampling, but generally we take the other forms. She is naturally very clean before being used in preparation.

The raw propolis or as a tincture is a very powerful anti-infectives (antifungal, antiseptic, antibiotic). It has more power anesthetic, healing and anti-inflammatory and increases cellular metabolism.

This extract contains flavonoids recovered (mostly represented) and the various phenolics and aromatic.

 

MEDICINAL USES

Orally, propolis is used as a tincture or as a dry ear, nose and throat against the loss of voice, hoarseness, sore throats, sore throat, coughing, colds, bronchitis, pharyngitis, otitis media and sinusitis. Under this same form, we would use in dentistry (stomatitis, gingivitis and dental infections). Finally, external use, it is used in dermatology to clean and heal wounds, treat fungal and other skin problems.

Source : Wikipedia

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