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It was probably the Egyptian priest-doctors
who first utilised propolis as a
medicine, having observed its role in the hive and used it
successfully for mummification.
Propolis has been referred to in
medical treatises from Arab, Greek and Roman times right up
to the late nineteenth century -being recommended for
a variety of health problems, including respiratory and joint
problems as well as infections and skin diseases.
With the advent of modern synthetic
drug- based medicines, around 100 years ago in the
West, the use of propolis along with other natural products
began to decline in favour of the New Medicine, still derived
from plant sources but now based on single active ingredients
designed to target specific health problems .
Only in Eastern Europe - Russia
, Romania, the old Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Poland etc did propolis
continue to be used and its scientific basis researched.
Medical institutes in Russia since the 1930's have carried
out a great deal of practical research into the chemical structure
and in particular the antibiotic function of propolis.
A renaissance of interest in the
West came in the 1960's and 70's with the work of Dr.
Aagard Lund in Denmark and Dr.Remy Chauvin in France. Dr.
Lund describes an incredible variety of health problems that
propolis can treat.
Between 1980 and 1996 309 scientific
papers were published about propolis. Nearly half of
these were reports of projects conducted in Western countries.
This ratio has continued to increase over the last 8 years.
Many attempts have been made to
isolate those particular chemicals in propolis thought to
be the 'actives', but in general researchers agree
that it is the combined and synergistic effect of propolis
which remains most effective.
Pharmacological studies - studies which
have looked at propolis in vitro i.e. not in humans - have
illustrated the antibiotic, anti inflammatory, anti viral,
antifungal, antioxidant and antiseptic as well as other properties
of propolis.
The fact that propolis has so many
different properties makes it able to work in a whole or 'holistic'
way - that is, through its ability to trigger the body's
own fighting mechanisms rather than by killing or destroying
specific bacteria, viruses or fungi.
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