Bee products—An overview of their pharmacological properties and medicinal applications

There are two types of apitherapy: (1) holistic apitherapy—recommendations are based on personal opinions and (2) rational apitherapy or apimedicine—recommendations depend on preclinical and clinical studies and evidence-based medicine. Concerning pharmacology, bee products are problematic because they are multisubstance mixtures with many components yet to be identified. Seasonal and regional variations and different bee species, nonstandardized extraction methods, and varying production and processing methods lead to almost unique multisubstance mixtures that are difficult to standardize. In contrast to the claims of apitherapists who believe that all diseases can be cured by apitherapy, bee products can only definitely be recommended for radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis (honey), wound infections (honey), burns (honey), herpes virus-associated skin lesions (propolis), and for children with acute coughs (honey). This conclusion relies on the fact that treatment choices should be considered based on efficacy, safety, cost, and availability. Eventually, further research will allow this list to expand in the future.