Whenever we hear the word “venom” we tend to think only of pain, suffering and death, and why not. After all, the poisonous fluid that some animals and insects secrete can deliver on all our fears. The venom of some snakes, spiders and bees can be fatal when it enters the body of their victims. However, there are often other more helpful, rather than harmful, uses for venom. The video below looks at how bee venom therapy can help in the treatment of various health conditions.

My Notes:

Bee venom comes from the stingers of honey bees. These are the ones that use their venom to defend the bee colony. Bee venom therapy is, as the name suggests, the medicinal use of the bee's venom. It's often used to treat those ailments that don't respond well to conventional medicine. One way to administer the venom is by injection. In other cases, the venom is administered to the patient using the actual sting of a live bee. Studies are ongoing on the true health benefits of bee venom therapy. What we do know is that the scientific community is taking the research very seriously.

Here are some of the suggested health benefits of bee venom:

• Anti-Inflammatory: Bee venom contains ingredients that have anti-inflammatory properties. These are mellitin, adolapin and apamin. They can help to reduce inflammation within the body.

• Arthritis: The American Journal of Chinese Medicine published a study in 2004. The research was on lab rats that were injected with bee venom. These rats had a much lower occurrence of arthritis than those that were not injected with the venom. The researchers resolved that bee venom treatment may also inhibit the development of rheumatoid arthritis in humans.

One scientific study on humans randomly divided 100 RA patients. One group went into the medication (control) group. The other went into the bee-venom group. The research observed the clinical effect of bee-sting (venom) therapy in the treatment of RA. You can read more about the study here:  June, 2008: Clinical randomized study of bee-sting therapy for rheumatoid arthritis.

• Pain Relief: Oxford University did a study in 2005 on bee venom as a potential pain relief solution. What the study found was that bee venom had potent pain-relieving properties.

Summary

What we know about bee venom is that it's a mixture of powerful chemicals. There're at least 18 active components in the venom that have some pharmaceutical properties. Research is ongoing and looks promising. Bee venom has been treating human ailments since ancient times, and it looks set to find its use once again in the twenty-first century.