Bee Pollen to Fight Cancer?

by Rebecca
(Pennsylvania)

Hi Angela,

I have bought some of your bee pollen before, and I'm wondering if it could help a family member who has cancer. She is currently doing conventional treatment, but I've been doing some research about natural things that may help her.

Can you tell me if supplementing with bee pollen and/or other been products may be helpful? I was thinking bee pollen would help, but I don't know which bee products or combination of products would be best, or how to take them, or how much to take. Also, do you know whether bee pollen is acidic, neutral, or alkaline? The alkaline lifestyle is something I have been looking into that looks promising, and I was wondering how bee pollen may fit in with that.

Thank you so much in advance for any information you could share with us!

Rebecca

Hi Rebecca,
Great question. Bee pollen is very high in antioxidants and may be an excellent support supplement during cancer treatment. Now, there is some controversy with regards to taking anti-oxidants during cancer treatment. The thinking is that the anti-oxidants can actually protect the cancerous cells from the chemo. I am not a cancer expert so I don't know if this is accurate or not. I would recommend you work with a Naturopathic Doctor if possible during this treatment.

That being said, propolis has shown tremendous activity against cancer cells in recent studies. I don't believe these studies have been done in humans so it is premature to say how and if they would support your family member but it is definitely something I would consider to support this family member. You can read some of these studies below:


Propolis Shows High Antimicrobial, Anti-Cancer Activity

Scientists recently decided to look at the anti-cancer and anti-microbial potential of propolis at the same time.
First they exposed propolis to four different pathogens. As those of us who've used propolis to kill many colds have known for years, the propolis showed very strong antimicrobial activity.

The scientists then tested propolis against colon cancer cells. They found that it caused the cancer cells to die by necrosis, which means that it interrupted the blood supply to the cell and caused just the local cancer cells to die and NOT healthy, living cells.

Chemotherapy does the opposite of this - it kills both healthy living cells and the cancer cells and is the reason why chemo has such violent and devastating side effects.

Ultimately, this research is very promising. Some of the longest living peoples in the world have experienced the health benefits of propolis and other bee products for generations. This exciting new research may be indicative of why these people live such long, healthy lives and have such high rates of centenarians amongst them.

Propolis Boosts Prostate Cancer Cell Death

Prostate cancer is a commonly diagnosed cancer in men. But there is exciting news regarding this deadly disease - one of the health benefits of propolis appears to be that it prevents and suppresses this type of cancer.
Scientists examined the cancer killing effects of propolis tincture on two common types of prostate cancer in the lab.

They concluded that propolis tincture markedly improved cell death in prostate cancer cells and suggested the significant role of propolis in chemoprevention of prostate cancer.

You can read more here:

http://www.bee-pollen-buzz.com/bee-propolis-health-benefits.html

Angela