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Received Feb 17, 2017; Accepted Apr 9, 2017
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
1. Introduction
Apiculture is the science and art of prolonging, sustaining, and retaining health by using products obtained from honeybee hives, such as honey, bee bread, bee venom, bee pollen, propolis, and royal jelly. Recent years have seen the fast application of bee products in both traditional and modern medicine. Currently, many studies are targeted toward investigating directed health benefits and pharmacological properties of bee products due to their efficacies, leading to the increasing development of nutraceuticals and functional food from these products. The concept of functional food refers to food that has the ability to promote better physiological or psychological health compared to traditional remediated and nutritional food. These effects positively contribute toward excellent health maintenance, well-being, and reduced chronic illness [1]. The present review focuses on the potential health benefits of bee products, including honey, propolis, and royal jelly.
Honey is a sweet liquid processed by the honey bee. Honey is recognized worldwide due to its high nutritive components that are beneficial for human well-being. It has been traditionally used by Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and Chinese to heal wounds and diseases of the gut, including gastric ulcers. It has also been used as a remedy for cough, sore throat, and earaches [2]. In India, Lotus honey has been traditionally used to treat eye infections and other diseases. In addition to being used externally, honey is also used internally [3] as a functional food to provide energy and nourishment to enhance vital organs in the body [4]. This has been in practice since ancient times. The active components of honey, such as glucose, fructose, flavonoid, polyphenols,...