WHAT ON EARTH IS PROPOLIS?
The sticky stuff bees use to protect the hive — and why we keep putting it on ourselves.
We know honey. We know beeswax.
Then along comes propolis.
It appears on the labels of balms, creams, soaps, lotions and all sorts of natural remedies, usually accompanied by impressive words about soothing, protecting and healing.
But what actually is it?
As it turns out, propolis is rather clever stuff.
First, back to the bees
A beehive isn't just somewhere bees make honey.
It's home. Nursery. Food store. Workplace. And it's occupied by thousands of little residents living remarkably close together.
Keeping that environment protected matters.
Worker bees collect sticky resins from plants, tree buds and bark and take them back to the hive. There, they're mixed with beeswax and other substances produced by the bees.
The result is propolis — a sticky, resinous material sometimes called bee glue.
And the bees put it to work.
They use propolis to fill small gaps and cracks, reinforce parts of the hive and coat surfaces. More importantly, it forms part of the colony's defence against microorganisms.
Essentially, the bees invented their own rather sophisticated maintenance product long before we started putting propolis into little jars.
Why is propolis so interesting to humans?
Because when scientists started looking at what was actually in this sticky brown substance, things became rather interesting.
Propolis contains a complex mixture of naturally occurring compounds from the plants the bees visited. These can include polyphenols and flavonoids, compounds well known for their antioxidant activity.
Research has also demonstrated antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activity in various propolis extracts, and researchers continue to investigate its potential role in areas such as skin and wound care.
There is an important catch, though.
Not all propolis is the same.
What ends up in propolis depends partly on what was growing around the hive. Different plants, different regions and different seasons can produce propolis with quite different chemical compositions.
Which makes perfect sense when you think about it.
The bees aren't ordering their ingredients from a warehouse.
They're shopping locally.
So why do we put it in skincare?
This is probably where most of us have encountered propolis without giving it much thought.
You'll find it in moisturisers, soaps, balms, lip products and other skin preparations.
Its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties make it interesting for products intended to care for and protect the skin, while its antimicrobial activity has attracted considerable attention too.
There is also research suggesting that certain propolis preparations may support some of the biological processes involved in wound healing.
That does not mean every pot of propolis balm in the bathroom cupboard suddenly qualifies as a medical treatment.
It means there is genuine science behind our interest in something bees have been making for a very long time.
And we rather like that distinction.
Why is propolis associated with healing?
Humans certainly didn't discover propolis last Tuesday.
Various forms of propolis have a long history of traditional use, including for wounds and skin complaints.
Modern researchers have been trying to understand why those uses developed.
Wound healing isn't one single event. The body has to control inflammation, protect the damaged area, produce new tissue and rebuild the skin. Researchers have investigated whether compounds within propolis may influence some of these processes.
Results from laboratory, animal and human studies are promising in certain areas, but propolis preparations vary considerably and the evidence isn't strong enough to declare propolis a cure-all.
Which is probably worth saying because “natural” has never meant “magical.”
Then what is a propolis tincture?
This sounds much more mysterious than it is.
Raw propolis isn't particularly convenient.
It's sticky. It's resinous. And many of the compounds we're interested in need to be extracted from it.
One traditional way of doing that is with alcohol.
Raw propolis is soaked in alcohol — commonly ethanol — which extracts many of its soluble compounds. The remaining solids can then be filtered out, leaving a concentrated liquid propolis extract.
That is essentially a propolis tincture.
You'll see tinctures marketed for different purposes, so how one should be used depends on the particular product and its formulation. A bottle intended for topical use shouldn't automatically be treated as something to swallow simply because the contents came from bees.
But it's natural. Surely that means it's safe?
And here we arrive at one of our favourite subjects.
Natural doesn't automatically mean harmless.
Propolis can cause allergic reactions and contact dermatitis in some people. Anyone who knows they're sensitive to bee products needs to be particularly careful.
And that's exactly why we're enjoying digging a little deeper into the ingredients behind the word natural.
Sometimes synthetic is the kinder choice — as we discovered when we looked at shaving brushes.
Sometimes nature produces something extraordinary.
Sometimes something can be both natural and irritating.
And sometimes the answer isn't natural versus synthetic at all.
It's understanding what something is, where it came from and why we're using it.
Back to the hive
Perhaps that's what makes propolis so fascinating.
The bees didn't make it for us.
They collect and make it because their own home needs protecting.
We came along much later, noticed what they were doing, started asking questions and discovered that this sticky substance contains an extraordinarily complicated mixture of plant compounds.
Honey might get most of the glory.
Beeswax has certainly had its moment.
But tucked around the cracks and crevices of the hive is another little bit of bee ingenuity.
Propolis.
Not terribly glamorous.
Rather sticky.
And much more interesting than its name suggests.