History of apitherapy
Bee products have already been an object of interest for more than 20,000 years.
- This is evidenced by cave paintings in the Cuevas de la Avena in Valencia, depicting an opening in the rock, into which bees fly, and beekeepers at work
- Ancient civilizations used bee products to treat many diseases. In ancient Rome, Greece, and Egypt, the healing properties of honey, pollen, and propolis were well known
- Greek and Roman physicians used bee products as antiseptics and wound healers. The Incas used propolis as an antipyretic.
- In the 17th century, propolis was introduced as a medicine in the British pharmacopoeia. Honey was also included in pharmacopoeias in various countries: the European pharmacopoeia, the American pharmacopoeia, and the Polish pharmacopoeia.
- In 1956, Professor Fang Zhu began research on the use of bee acupuncture in the treatment of chronic diseases such as rheumatism and arthritis.
- Professor Fang is the creator of Chinese apipuncture and the founder of the first Apitherapy Institute and Hospital in China, located in Jiangsu Province. He published the first article presenting the medical effects of propolis in China in the 'Chinese Journal of Dermatology'.
- In 2016, the first Apitherapy Center approved by the Ministry of Health was established in Turkey at Medipol University Esenler Hospital in Istanbul.
- Standards for education and practice in apitherapy have also been developed. A breakthrough in the field of apitherapy using hive air occurred in 2021 when a group of researchers from Egypt, Sweden, and China analyzed the composition of hive air.
- Currently, hive air therapy is recognized as a potential method for treating asthma, bronchitis, pulmonary fibrosis, and respiratory infections.
- In Germany, Hungary, Slovenia, and Austria, the therapy is popular and permitted for use. Currently, in many countries, there are apitherapy societies comprising doctors, pharmacists, and beekeepers.
referencje:
- Dilek Boyacioglu. Bee Products and Their Applications in the Food and Pharmaceutical Industries 2022, DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-323-85400-9.00016-2
- Mônica Valero da Silva, Nélio Gomes de Moura Jr, Andrea Barretto Motoyama, Vania Moraes Ferreira A review of the potential therapeutic and cosmetic use of propolis in topical formulations. Journal of Applied Pharmaceutical Science 2019, DOI: 10.7324/JAPS.2018.8801
- Aida A. Abd El-Wahed, Mohamed A. Farag, Walaa A. Eraqi, Gaber A.M. Mersal, Chao Zhao, Shaden A.M. Khalifa, Hesham R. El-Seedi Unravelling the beehive air volatiles profile as analysed via solid-phase microextraction (SPME) and chemometrics. Journal of King Saud University – Science 2021, DOI: 10.1016/j.jksus.2021.101449
