Originally published July 17 2005
Bees provide wealth of healing substances
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The Contra Costa Times runs down the list of health-enhancing substances we get from bees, including propolis, honey, royal jelly and pollen.
In this time and place, around 4000 BC, it was accepted practice that for a month after a wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the "mead," or honey beer, he could drink.
From a nutritional perspective, bee products, including pollen, are just bursting with phytochemicals, which as you may remember, act as part of a plant's natural immune system to help ward off disease and eliminate toxins.
Flavonoids, carotenoids (like those found in carrots and sweet potatoes) plus phytosterols, quercetin and lycopene, have all been found in generous amounts in bee pollen.
And these are the very same nutrients that have been linked in study after study to the prevention of cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
In fact, chemical analyses have revealed that bee pollen is a complete food, meaning that it contains all of the necessary elements not only to sustain life but to help it thrive.
Happily, both research and anecdotal evidence point to a starring role for pollen here: that of helping to desensitize us against seasonal allergies.
In fact allergy sufferers often turn to bee pollen in an attempt to confront pollen allergies or more generalized hay fever, hoping that consuming small amounts of bee pollen over time will work like allergy shots, gradually desensitizing the body to the offending stimuli.
Propolis, a bee-made mixture of tree resins, wax, honey and enzymes, comes to the rescue as an embalming fluid.
The larvae, though, are permitted to feast on the jelly for three days and three days only.
Unpasteurized honey, while no danger to children and adults, can introduce minute amounts of bacteria and fungi to an infant's stomach, which without sufficient hydrochloric acid, is not yet prepared to deal with them.
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