The limits and the future of Apitherapy
2008 December 13

Let your food be your medicine and your medicine be your food. This is how Hippocrates expressed the view of medicine which is what ought to animate Apitherapy; its basic mission being to maintain health and to restore it when illness or accident threatens.

Apitherapy deals with the products of the honeybee. Here we count, as principal products, bee venom, honey, pollen, propolis, royal jelly. They all have a common property: they are natural and as such their chemical composition varies with time, place and, probably, race of the bee. Further their action is the result of the synergy of their constituents, as, most of the time more than one product is used. One consequence is that one exact chemical composition cannot be established for any product, therefore they cannot be manufactured “de novo”. That very variation has also the property of defying habituation on the part of the organisms receiving theses products. When addressing infection, Apitherapy has the immense advantage over the unique active chemically identified molecule of antibiotics of not creating habituation which expresses itself as resistance. As we know, this resistance demands the creation of new compounds that will overcome the state produced by the previous ones. This is a deadly spiral, if commercially very rewarding: the process is creating monsters and, in turn, the obligation to put together ever stronger weapons to conquer them. The end result may well be the harming or even killing the hosts together with the targeted offending agents.

For the purpose of this communication we propose to define Apitherapy as: a therapeutic approach in which one or more of the products, whole or extracted, of the honeybee plays a major role. Typically, in Apitherapy, one uses more then one product; they act in synergy. The definition proposed implies that other products or clinical techniques may be included as therapeutic agents combining their influence with that of the bee products; we have here another aspect of synergy as well as a question of limits. Currently the combinations most frequently encountered are, as technique, acupuncture, and, as products, essential oils and herbs.

Concerning the limits of Apitherapy, I want to stress that they are understood here to represent projects - to overcome them; as such they contribute to defining the future of Apitherapy. And they are many. Bee venom therapy –BVT- has widely been given an intimidating reputation. Uninformed persons will strongly advocate against its use, invoking real and imagined dangers, especially that of allergy. Not to forget that every bee may cause pain. Knowledge and training allow the safe and tolerable use of BVT. Currently Apitherapy is not taught in medical schools and the medical community is prejudiced against its use, the stronger so that it is less informed. It is not an acknowledged treatment modality. We have here a prime example of a limit of Apitherapy to be understood as project for the future: educating the medical community to include it as one of the complementary modalities, supported by peer reviewed publications so as to reach acceptance by physicians and recognition by the law.

Without Apiculture Apitherapy would not exist; In order to serve Apitherapy optimally, the manufacture of the products have to follow specific protocols, including a systematic control of quality. As of now it has only rarely happened.

Apitherapy is enormously developing: both in terms of biological and chemical research, animal experimentation, clinical applications. The results of the investigation of a variety of compounds extracted from bee products generally address the isolated compounds’ effects. In the natural situation, these compounds are acting in synergy with others: the study of this synergy belongs mostly to the future.

Apitherapy has immense promises, but equally major vulnerabilities. As it is not legally recognized or regulated (in most countries), it can be used by individuals unprepared and uneducated in the subject. If it is true that few examples of major harm or risk have so far been reported following apitherapeutic interventions, the risks are real and observation of incidents confirms the seriousness of this threat. Another subject of concern about the limits of Apitherapy is demonstrated by the situations where Apitherapy is applied instead of other measures that are medically indicated and should take priority.

I wish to stress the humanitarian aspect of Apitherapy: It can become a reality wherever bees can live, that is in most of the inhabited parts of the world. Further, when well organized, it could be made available at a very low cost to whole populations currently deprived of a fundamental right, the right to have access to medical care.

Th. Cherbuliez

(Mailed to C.d’A News letter and AAS journal20081213)