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Journal of Thai Traditional & Alternative Medicine Vol. 6 No. 3 September-December 2008
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Vol. 6 No. 3 September-December 2008
Special Article

A Brief Introduction to Apitherapy Health Care

Fang Zhu*
Siriwat Wongsiri †

Apitherapy health care, or apitherapy for short, History and Current Situation
involves making use of bee acupuncture, bee prod-
ucts and the comprehensive natural factors of bee Chinese apitherapy

activities and apiaries to provide humans with medi- The history of making use of bees and their prod-
cal care. Apitherapy was developed from traditional ucts to provide humans with medical health care is a
Chinese medicine, pharmacology and the subject of very long one. From ancient times wild pigs, black
health preservation. It has since developed to a cer- bears and other animals sought honey comb, and
tain extent and has become a major frontier science primitive man also learned to look for beehives in
between bees on one side and pharmacological rock outcrops and the holes of trees. These bee colo-
science on the other. Beekeepers, including special- nies stored honey, pollen and pupa combs; they were

ists and amateurs, and consumers of bee products certain to be targets for primitive men who suffered
have priority in acquiring apitherapy health care. stings in getting these products. In fact, when they
Acquiring apitherapy health care is a basic right looked for the larvae and pupas of bees, ate honey
for human beings struggling to survive. Contempo- and suffered stings, they were the first people to have
rary society vies with one another and strives to en- received apitherapy.
able members to attain a good medical condition. At Chinaûs ancient prescription book, Fifty-two Pre-
the current level of medical science and technology, scriptions, was written on a silk scroll and found in
the condition of the medical care relates to the medi- the third century B.C. in Han tomb No. 3 of Ma Wang
cal insurance and medical care systems in society, as Dui, located in Changsha, Huûnan Province. It con-

well as self-health care. Therefore, popularizing and tains two prescriptions involving bees, one of which
spreading apitherapy, which has been effectively used uses honey to treat diseases.
for thousands of years, is worthwhite because it is a It was recorded in Li Ji Nei Ze that 2,300 years
simple, convenient and available method of self-heath ago sweet honey had been used to show filial piety
care. and respect for the elderly; moreover, bees and the
larvae of cicada, which have a high nutritional value,
were the food of monarchs and the other nobility.

Sheng Nongûs Herbal came out 2,000 years ago;
*International Society of Apitherapy, Yunnan Province, China
† it records 365 kinds of medicinal materials, of which
Faculty of Science, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai Province,
Thailand honey, beeswax and bees are considered higher grade

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