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Our potential customers of dried bee venom are sending us a lot of questions.

I will now list most of the not answered questions up today:

1. How safe are bees when harvesting bee venom?

Bees are absolutely safe; we are cooperating with beekeepers having very big experience in safe harvesting bee venom. They know how many times, at what time and weather, and what level of electricity to use while collecting bee venom. Big experience and special knowledge is necessary in order to collect bee venom and not causing  harm to bees. Bees’ health is the most important for us, as only healthy bees can grant us strong, high activity of bee venom powder.

2. How much bee venom can be collected from one hive?

It depends on several circumstances:  collectors, how strong and healthy bees are, how many bees are there in the hive and when one is harvesting bee venom. On average, beekeepers take 0.3-0.7 grams of bee venom powder from each hive.

3. Can anyone use bee venom powder for producing any cosmetic or apitherapy product?

No.   It is highly advised that if a person is not a professional pharmacist, cosmetologist, apitherapy doctor or researcher, it is not recommended to use bee venom in any purpose. It is because, if somebody has allergy on bee venom, it may suffocate just in moment after opening up the roof of the bottle. One must be professional to use this substance.

4. Does the color of bee venom define the quality of bee venom?

Yes and no. Color is not a measure of quality. Color maybe pale gray, human skin color, light yellow and brownish. It depends on the technique of harvesting, time of harvesting and race of bees.  However, if bee venom is 5 or more years old, it becomes dark brown, because of the damaged cells of proteins and enzymes.

5. Which one of  bee venom components is more stable?

We, Bee venom Lab LLC have conducted very serious experiments and we already have of many years’ experience of testing and experimenting on stability of three bee venom components (melittin, phospholipase A2 and Apamin) in requests of our customers from pharmaceutical companies, and the result was as follow: Phospholipase A2 is the most stable. Shelf life of this component is 8 years at 0°C! Shelf life of Apamin is 5 years and most of the sensitive in time and not stable component of bee venom is melittin. Percent amount of bee venom is becoming less every year stored at any temperature. It does not matter at how low temperature it is stored, melittin is very sensitive to time.

6. What are CAS number of bee venom and each of its components?

One of our customer pharmaceutical company wanted to know about it and we worked hard on it, to find out almost all up today discovered components of bee venom. We have found CAS numbers of each component and here are our final results of our hard work:

 CAS NUMBER OF THE COMPONENTS OF BEE VENOM

Component	CAS number	%
Melittin	20449-79-0	40-75
Apamin	24345-16-2	2-3
MCD-Peptide (Peptide401)	32908-73-9	2-3
Adolapin	79029-92-8	1.0
Protease Inhibitor	66701-25-5	<0.8
Tertiapin	910044-56-3	0.1
Melittin F	37231-28-0	0.01
Procamine A, B	51943-80-7	1.4
Cardiopep	54511-11-4	<0.7
Hyaluronidase	9001-54-1	1.5-2.0
Phospholiase A2	9001-84-7	10-12
Histamine	56-92-8	0.6-1.6
Norepinephrine	51-41-2	0.1 -0.7
6 Phospholipids	123465-35-0	4-5
γ-Aminobutyric	56-12-2	<0.5
Secarpin	58694-50-1	<0.1
Minerals:
Phosphorus	7723-14-0	3.1
Magnesium	7439-95-4	<0.1
Calcium	7440-70-2	<0.1
Copper	7440-50-8	<0.1

7. Does the quality of bee venom depend on the content of Melittin?

Basically, yes. As far as melittin is the main component of bee venom, we can confirm that as much melittin bee venom contains, as high quality it is. However, it depends on what bee venom is used for. Not always is bee venom requested with a high composition of melittin. Sometimes, customer pharmaceutical companies are interested in phospholipase A2 and not interested in melittin at all.

8. Is it difficult to trust all provided certificates of bee venom?

Unfortunately, yes. Very often we read written”70% “and more percent across the melittin in the provided bee venom certificates. It is not true in most cases. I believe about 95 percent of beekeepers have a huge problem of testing bee venom they are harvesting. It is not surprising, because it is a real problem. Before testing bee venom it is highly necessary to clean it carefully in the special equipment, which is long lasting and hard work. After cleaning, it is necessary to dry it in the exsiccator at the appropriate humidity. Only after bee venom powder is absolutely cleaned from various contaminates, laboratory and HPLC testing starts.

 They have difficulties in finding the right laboratory with experience and standard of laboratory and HPLC (chromatography) testing. In order to test bee venom, it is necessary to have a lot of reagents for testing some very precious bee venom components, such as melittin, phospholipaseA2, Apamin and other components of bee venom which should be a subject of testing.  It is all because to determine the percentage amount and activity level of each components of bee venom. Each of these reagents and components of bee venom are very expensive and it is enough for only 2 or 3 tests. For example, the price of 1 mg. melittin of 95 percent purity is not less than 350 $. It is the same with other components of bee venom. It depends on how many components of bee venom you want to test.  Besides, to achieve a 100 % accuracy of testing it is necessary to possess right standard, high professional qualification and high technology laboratory equipment.

All above mentioned obstacles tell us how difficult it is to trust the certificate they provide to their customers. When the beekeeper offers about 500 grams of bee venom, it consists of bee venom batches collected from several different hives in different times. After they incorporate all these batches without laboratory testing. Having no laboratory makes it difficult to incorporate the batches of homogeneous parameters. That’s why it is necessary for laboratories to share experience and standard method of testing bee venom to overcome the difficulties that arise while providing the real test results. Thus, the beekeepers who need to have real certificate of the bee venom they are harvesting must pay for all the reagents and standards necessary for HPLC test of their bee venom powder.

We are always ready to share our experience and method of laboratory and HPLC testing to the laboratories interested in testing and certificating bee venom powder.

9. Can lyophilized (freeze dried) bee venom be considered as a Grade I of bee venom?

No. Lyophilized Bee Venom prepared from Grade III or Grade IV bee venom. The contaminated venom will be diluted, filtered and finally freeze-dried. Some of the active ingredients of the venom are also affected or removed by the purification method, because the preparation process washes up fully or partially a lot of precious components. Thus, this preparation process may lessen the therapeutic value of the venom.

10.    What is the future of bee venom in the fight against Covid-19?

Very exciting news spread in the World News that bee venom kills Covid-19. It has been reported that none of the people who were treated with apitherapy and systematically injected with bee venom solution became ill with Covid-19. Their number is quite large and therefore a credible and strong basis to start a serious scientific study to scientifically prove this amazing fact. However, until this fact is scientifically proven, apitherapeutic treatment should be given only to people who need it for the treatment of another disease and not for prophylaxis. Let’s wait for what the scientists will say.

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Apitherapy is the medicinal use of all products of Apis Mellifera bee, (honey bee), such as: honey, royal jelly, bee bread, beeswax, pollen, propolis, and venom.  Many experimental and clinical reports have shown that Bee venom exhibits anti-inflammatory, antiviral, anti-apoptotic, antifungal, anti-fibrotic, antibacterial, anti-radiation and anticancer effects.

The medicinal use of bee venom dates back to ancient Egypt and is reported in the history of Europe and Asia. Hippocrates used bee venom to treat joint pain and arthritis and called it Arcanum–a very mysterious remedy. Galan (131-201 AD) and Charlemagne (742-814 AD) also mentioned bee venom and its effective medicinal property. In more modern times, interest in the effects of bee venom was renewed in the 1888 with the publication of a clinical study conducted in Europe on its effect on rheumatism.

USES OF BEE VENOM

While not all of the purported benefits of bee venom are backed by science, research has shown that it has several powerful medicinal properties. The following are some of the uses of Honey Bee Venom:

TREATMENT OF RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS AND OTHER JOINT PROBLEMS

The anti-inflammatory effect of bee venom has been shown to be especially beneficial to the patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a painful inflammatory condition that affects your joints.  Melittin has been found to block the production of superoxide and hydrogen peroxide in human neutrophils .Bee venom is most successfully used to treat arthritis and other joint problems. For the first time as a medicine of injectable solution,  bee venom was registered as a drug in the South Korean FDA. Recently, injectable BV is widely used by many institutes to not only treat arthritis but also many other joint related disorders.

VENOM IMMUNOTHERAPY

Bee venom has been shown to have beneficial effects on immune cells that mediate allergic and inflammatory responses. Several animal studies provide evidence that bee venom therapy might help reduce symptoms of autoimmune conditions, such as lupus, encephalomyelitis, and rheumatoid arthritis, by decreasing inflammation and bolstering your immune response. Some other animal studies suggest that bee venom therapy may also help treat allergic conditions like asthma.

Anaphylaxis caused by insect stings is an uncommon problem. Venom immunotherapy, in which bee venom is administered by a healthcare professional by injection, is used to treat people with severe allergies to bee stings. Research proves that this treatment is safe and effective and can reduce the future risk of serious reactions to bee stings. In fact, it’s the first-line treatment for those who are allergic to the venom. Hypersensitivity to BV is mediated by a number of antibodies and immune-modulators, the most important of which is found to be IgE. Venom immunotherapy (VIT) reduces the possibility of systemic response in patients with systemic allergic reactions to insect venom.

TOPICAL USE OF BEE VENOM FOR IMPRUVING HEALTH AND SKIN CONDITION

Multiple skincare companies have started adding bee venom powder to products like serums and moisturizers. This ingredient may promote skin health in several ways like reducing inflammation, providing antibacterial effects, and reducing wrinkles.

Bee venom (BV) is considered to be one of the main substances for preparing ointment. We review the therapeutic applications of Bee venom in skin diseases, including acne, melanoma, alopecia, atopic dermatitis, morphea, photo aging, psoriasis, wounds, wrinkles, and vitiligo. Moreover, we explore the therapeutic mechanisms of BV in the treatment of skin diseases and killing effects of BV on skin disease-causing pathogens, including bacteria, fungi and viruses.

Topical application of bee venom ointment provides excellent therapeutic effects: it reduces muscular tonus and muscle pain intensity and gives better relief to the patient. Hence, it can be used as an effective treatment modality for conditions caused due to excessive muscle contraction. Ointment can be cure for Arthritis, Muscle Pain, Nerve Pain, Sports Injuries, Sciatica, Immune system difficulties.  The mechanisms of understanding of the anti-inflammatory properties of bee venom, and its components in the treatment of skin disease have been found. Topical application of bee venom ointment provides excellent therapeutic effects: it reduces muscular tonus and muscle pain intensity and gives better relief to the patient. Some studies proved that Bee venom Ointment may be considered as a complementary therapy for managing chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN). Bee venom treatment demonstrated the potential to become an effective treatment for post herpetic neuralgia. Further large-sample clinical trials conducted efficacy of this treatment. Peptides in the venom, mainly melittin and peptide-401, inhibit the inflammatory response by a combination of actions. They stimulate the production of cortisol, as well as stabilizing mast cells.

BEE VENOM IN COSMETOLODY (BEE VENOM FACE CREAM, FACE MASK)

For the last several years bee venom intensively and successfully has been used in cosmetology. Number of studies assessed the beneficial effects of bee venom serum on the clinical signs of aging skin. Results of research showed that bee venom serum treatment clinically improved facial wrinkles by decreasing total wrinkle area, total wrinkle count, and average wrinkle depth. Therefore, bee venom serum may be effective for the improvement of skin wrinkles. Many ingredients have been added to these cosmeceuticals, and honeybee venom is one of them. Bee venom is one of the best skin care ingredients. It is said to be natural Botox and best whitening cosmetic remedy. Clinical trials have found that it increases collagen protein synthesis – the process that creates collagen fibers – by encouraging the growth of new skin cells. It also speeds up the recovery of damaged skin cells, generating even more skin cells. These often hydrate, moisturize, plump, and help to improve overall skin texture. There are a lot of skin care products in the world market.

STUDIES OF POTENTIAL BENEFITS AND GREAT FUTURE OF BEE VENOM IN MEDICINE OF 21^ST CENTURY

Bee venom contains at least 18 pharmacologically active components including various enzymes, proteins, peptides, amines and mineral. Bee venom is safe for human treatments, the median lethal dose (LD50) for an adult human is 2.8 mg of venom per kg of body weight, i.e. a human being weighing 60 kg has a 50% chance of surviving injections totaling 168 mg of bee venom. Assuming each bee injects all its venom and no stings are quickly removed at a maximum of 0.3 mg venom per sting. 560 stings could well be lethal for such a person. For a child weighing 10 kg, as little as 93.33 stings could be fatal. However, most human deaths result from one or few bee stings due to allergic reactions, heart failure or suffocation from swelling around the neck or the mouth. As compared with other human diseases, accidents and other unusual cases, the bee venom is very safe for human treatments.

Dried venom is mostly light yellow color and it also can be of brown color, due to oxidation of some of the venom proteins. Bee venom contains a number of very volatile compounds which are easily lost during collection; it is considered a rich source of enzymes, peptides and biogenic amines.

The main component of bee venom is melittin. Besides, there are other components such as apamin, adolapin and Mast-Cell-Degranulating (MCD) peptide), enzymes: phospholipase A2, hyaluronidase and biologically active amine-histamine and epinephrine. A large number of studies have been carried out on the composition of honeybee venom. Much of the basic identification of compounds, their isolation and the study of their pharmacological effects of bee venom was done in the 1950’s and 1960’s. More than 2500 science research have been conducted up to now and potential of pharmacological use of bee venom and its components is increasing dramatically.

Bee venom components were reported to have a wide variety of pharmaceutical properties. Due to its anticoagulant and anti-inflammatory properties in apitherapy bee venom was mainly used to treat many inflammatory disorders such as arthritis, bursitis, tendinitis, dissolving scar tissue, herpes, joint disease,     rheumatoid arthritis, Lyme disease, Multiple Sclerosis and osteoarthritis. Furthermore, research in various animal experimental models with inflammatory diseases demonstrated that Bee venom administration was successfully effective in suppressing the inflammation. Several studies prove that bee venom PLA2 and melittin may be a new therapeutic approach to treatment of Alzheimer Parkinson diseases.

Here is the list of diseases and health problems improved or healed according to various reports: Arthritis, many types, Multiple scleroses, migraine, some types of cancer, neuralgia, malaria, skin problems, such as acne, psoriasis, liver fibrosis, and atherosclerosis. At present, In vitro study of Parkinson’s disease is being conducted as well as multiple sclerosis, psoriasis treatment Developed PLA2 as a therapeutic agent for autoimmune diseases as a new natural drug isolated from natural bee venom.

The most important research of last years was studies about bee venom melittin as a potential key in HIV treatment. Toxin melittin can potentially destroy HIV and last year corona virus pandemic news is, using bee venom in treatment of Covid-19 and information about its effect in vitro and in vivo.

Most of the notable and exciting news have spread on September 2, 2020 that bee venom can kill severe form of breast cancer!  Honeybee venom and melittin suppress the activation of EGFR and HER2 by interfering with the phosphorylation of these receptors in the plasma membrane of breast carcinoma cells. The honeybee extracts were found to be “extremely potent”, said Ciara Duffy, a 25-year-old PhD researcher who led the study in the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research in Western Australia.

SIDE EFFECTS AND SAFE USAGE OF BEE VENOM THERAPY

Approximately 2% of the world population have allergy to bee venom. Most common side effects of BV therapy include pain, swelling, and redness. However, BV therapy may also cause serious side effects or even death in highly allergic individuals by causing anaphylaxis, a potentially life-threatening allergic reaction that can make it hard to breathe. Also, there are several diseases when treatment by bee venom is not allowed. Every single Apitherapists know about the list of those diseases.

Most human deaths resulting from bee stings are due to hypersensitivity reactions, heart failure, or suffocation caused by swelling around the neck or the mouth. Thus, as compared with other human diseases, accidents and other unusual cases, deaths dues to bee stings are rare, indicating that BV is very safe for treating diseases in humans.

Bee venom is not fully considered safe when given by live bee stings. One must always remember about allergy, that there are cases when people might be allergic to bee venom, without knowing it.

Pregnancy and breast-feeding: Bee venom is found to be safe when injected under the skin by a trained medical professional at recommended doses. Even though harmful effects at usual doses have not been reported, some healthcare providers decrease the maintenance dose by half during pregnancy. High doses of bee venom may be unsafe during pregnancy because they can increase release of chemical called histamine, which can cause the uterus to contract. This may increase the risk of miscarriage. Thus, It is advised to avoid high doses in pregnancy.

CONSIDERATION BEFORE OPTING FOR BEE VENOM THERAPY

If you are considering bee venom therapy, you must recognize that such therapy is a natural treatment, for which there is no rigorous scientific evidence proving its medicinal effectiveness. Before trying this therapy, talk to your doctor, and remember that this therapy should be used in addition to, not instead of, other treatments prescribed by your doctor. And never have bee venom injections without knowing if you have a bee sting allergy.

Bee venom is a natural product that has raised in popularity due to its variety of potential health benefits. At Bee Venom Lab LLC, we combine our 18 years of experience and highly qualified specialists with the most advanced equipment and devices to provide a high quality product. We aim to provide a quality product for a reasonable price so as to satisfy our customers all over the world.

If you still have more questions regarding the BEE VENOM, please feel free to call us at (+995) 599 10 11 77 or send us an email.

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