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What is Propolis?
Propolis has been around for over 45 million years, and has been used by man
for thousands of years. Propolis is a sticky resin, which seeps from the buds of
certain trees. The bees gather propolis, sometimes called bee glue and carry
it home in their pollen baskets. The worker bees then take the resinous material
and add salivary secretions and wax flakes to it and use the bee propolis in two
ways: firstly to reinforce the hive itself, and secondly propolis protects the
hive from bacterial and viral infection.
What is Propolis made from? Propolis
consists of 55% resinous compounds and balsams, 30% beeswax, 10% aromatic oils,
5% bee pollen. Chemically, propolis is exceedingly complex and contains a rich
variety of potent terpenes and benzoic, caffeic, cinnamic, and phenolic acids.
Propolis is very high in flavanoid content, which has been proven to account for
many of the health giving benefits attributed to propolis.
Chemical Composition More than 180 compounds have been identified in
propolis, and many are biologically active. Flavonoids are abundant, including
apigenin, galangin, kaempferol, luteolin, pinocembrin, pinostrobin and quercitin.
Why are flavonoids so important to our health: Propolis has a high
concentration of flavonoids. Flavonoids, or bioflavonoids, are a group of
polyphenolic substances which are present in most plants, concentrating in
seeds, fruit skin or peel, bark, and flowers. A great number of plant medicines
contain flavonoids Flavonoids play an important protective role in plants.
Flavonoids are found in a variety of foods and beverages, including
cranberries, peanuts, apples, chocolate, tea and red wine.
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