Hi all
I guess I am the doubting Thomas here, but I have always been suspicious of the wisdom of consuming bee propolis, due to the fact the 1) its composition is extremely variable and 2) bees collect some weird stuff:
In this study, to identify and quantify the sources of airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs),
we gathered honeybee, pine tree leaf, and propolis samples to serve as bioindicators from five stations in
the village of “Bozkoy” in the Aliaga industrial district of Izmir (Turkey) during April May 2014.
Our correlation, factor analysis,
and principal components analysis (PCA) results indicate potential sources of PAH pollution in pine
leaves and honeybees from airborne emissions, but we found propolis to be contaminated by PAHs due
to the replacement of herbal sources of resins with synthetic gummy substances from paving materials
(e.g., asphalt and tar leaks).
Kargar, N., Matin, G., Matin, A. A., & Buyukisik, H. B. (2017). Biomonitoring, status and source risk assessment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) using honeybees, pine tree leaves, and propolis. Chemosphere.
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This one is a little more enticing:
Propolis is a resinous, strongly adhesive natural substance, collected by honeybees (Apis mellifera L.) from buds and leaves of plants, mixed with pollen as well as enzymes secreted by bees (Marcucci, 1995). It is widely used in folk medicine and cosmetology (Castaldo and Capasso, 2002) and over the last years, the biological activity of propolis, (e.g., its antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, immunostimulating, antitumor, and antioxidant properties) has been demonstrated by numerous scientifc studies (Marcucci, 1995; Banskota et al., 2001; Bankova, 2005a).
However, chemical composition of propolis is highly variable and depends mainly on the local flora (Bankova et al., 2000). More than 300 compounds (polyphenols, terpenoids, steroids, sugars, amino acids and others) have been detected in raw propolis (Graikou et al., 2016). Given the biodiversity of Greek flora, this implies the chances to find new bioactive compounds in propolis samples from different parts of Greece (Melliou and Chinou, 2004). Consequently, the present study attempts to expand the knowledge of Greek propolis chemodiversity and the potential biological activity of propolis extracts, derived from the Northern part of the country.
The present research provides additional data for the European propolis volatiles revealing the distinct character of Greek propolis. Furthermore, it highlights the problem of propolis standardization, since its composition may vary depending on the geographical origin of samples. On the other hand, many of the studied Greek propolis extracts were rich in natural antioxidants and showed high inhibitory activity, regardless their origin. Thus, they need further investigation since it is possible they contain protective agents that could be applied against various degenerative diseases.
Zioga, E., Τsiftsoglou, O., Katsiamouri, D., Karakasi, I., Peppa, S., Hadjipavlou-Litina, D., & Lazari, D. Chemical composition of propolis essential oils and biological activity of propolis extracts from four different geographic regions of North Greece.
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