Honeybee Products for the 5-14 Curriculum

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Unlike any other species of insect, the industrious Honeybee (Apis mellifera) is especially interesting because of its long association with humans going back many thousands of years. Here are some of the reasons:

• Honeybees account for a large percentage of pollination services to both the natural environment and to the agricultural / horticultural food production industries.
• They provide useful products to humans, such as honey, wax, pollen, propolis, royal jelly, and even venom which can be extracted from their stings!
• They can be domesticated, kept easily in captivity in artificial nest boxes called hives.
• Their distribution crosses many continents and is almost worldwide.
• They can survive to a large extent, on 'natural' resources for food

Honey and Wax

Honeybee products such as honey and wax are the main attractions to humans.

Honey has been used for centuries as a natural sweetener, having been found in ancient Egyptian tombs. It is increasingly popular as a natural and largely organic sweetener in today's health conscious society. Honey also has some very interesting and useful properties as an antibiotic - its ability to kill bacteria and has been cited recently in aiding infection and wound recovery. This in fact is nothing new as historic records show honey being used to treat battle wounds hundreds of years ago. Modern day beekeepers seperate the honey from the wax comb by centrifugal force in an extractor, much like a spin drier removes water which leaves the comb intact ready to be used again by the colony.

Beeswax has been used over the centuries for, among other diverse things, as a source of very clean burning light as wax candles. Its use in this respect was in many countries reserved almost exclusively for the Christian Church, and this tradition continues today with a high percentage of beeswax used in Church candles. The wax is also now extensively used in cosmetics, medicine and in furniture and leather care products.

Pollen, Propolis and Royal Jelly

Pollen gathered from flowers to mix with honey and use as food for growing bee grubs can be harvested to use as a health food supplement. It is claimed to be useful for increasing energy, relieving stomach problems, and slowing down aging. Pollen contains a wide range of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, proteins, amino acids, and other natural constituents. Click here to see list.

Propolis is a mixture of natural plant resins which bees collect and mix to, amongst other things, stop up small holes and cracks in their nests. They will try to seal up any space less than 5-6mm with propolis, and conversly build brace comb in any space greater than 9.5mm. Propolis is recognised for its antiseptic properties, and is polularly used to relieve many inflammations, viral diseases, ulcers, superficial burns or scalds, and in conjunction with acupuncture , ayurveda or homeopathy .

Royal Jelly is a highly concentrated mixture of proteins, sugars and lipids in a water base, specialy mixed by worker bees for feeding to young bees and young queens in particular. As with Pollen and Propolis it is widely used as a health food and cosmetic addative.

Bee Venom, known as Apitoxin, is a potent anti-inflammatory agent and induces the production of cortisol in the body. It also prevents cell destruction in cases of strong inflammation. Its full potential is only just beginning to be studied but It is already known to be a highly complex mixture of chemicals, and shows promise in treating a number of medical conditions, including arthritis.

Honey and Infants

Honey can frequently contain dormant endospores of the bacteria Clostridium botulinum which can be dangerous to infants as the endospores can transform into toxin-producing bacteria in the infant's immature intestinal tract, leading to illness (Infant Botulism) and even death. Honey should not be fed to human infants under one year old.

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