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Propolis
Propolis is often considered a natural antibiotic. Thanks to new scientific findings, it is often called the “medicine of the 21st century”. In terms of its origin, propolis is considered to be the resinous secretion of the tissues of tree buds and bark, which the tree uses as a defence from harmful microorganisms. It is collected by bees, and then mixed with their saliva, and modified by enzymes so that the main components, the flavonoids, become pharmacologically active compounds. The word propolis stems from the Greek words pro, meaning defence, and polis, meaning city, or defence of the city, defence of the hive. Bees use the propolis to fill cracks in the hive, but an even more important role of propolis is the disinfection of the comb cells prior to the laying of new bee larvae. Bees use propolis to mummify small animals that enter into the hive, preserving them. Essentially, bees use this substance as their own “medicine”.
Flavonoids in propolis
Propolis contains more than 200 components (plant resin, balsams, wax, pollen, organic acids, polyphenols, minerals, vitamins, terpenes, flavonoids…). The most pharmacologically active compounds are the flavonoids. These are plant pigments that play a protective role in plants. Flavonoids are considered to have many therapeutic effects, such as anti-oxidant, anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-inflammatory, and anti-tumour action. They are increasingly mentioned in the treatment of various diseases, due to their exceptional ability to “capture” free radicals and their capability of inhibiting specific enzymes.
Native purified propolis standardized for flavonoid content
Numerous factors, such as the vegetation composition, raising of bees, manner of collecting, storage conditions and the extraction procedure can impact the quantity of propolis (particularly its share of flavonoids), thus affecting its therapeutic value. New analytical methods allow for the standardization of propolis on the basis of its pharmacological compounds – flavonoids, and therefore, native propolis is purified, selected, analysed and standardized. The chemical characterization and standardization of propolis is a prerequisite for its future applications in contemporary medicine. The standardization of propolis, or the standardization of the quantity of active compounds – flavonoids – in propolis and its products, is the foundation for research and development, and the production of products from the Farmakol brand.
For that reason, the current practice of declaring propolis as “native propolis” (as it contains more than 50% wax and other compounds) and the content of “% dry matter” should be abandoned. What is most important is the standardized content of flavonoids in the final product, confirmed by analyses.
