Don't give the honey for your baby

Feeding honey to your baby could be harmful if he or she is younger than 12 months of age. Honey could be the cause of a rare type of food poisoning called infant botulism--a serious, even deadly, illness. Honey is the food most commonly found to contain the bacteria causing botulism. The American Academy of Pediatrics advises that honey should not be added to the food, water, or formula that is fed to infants younger than 12 months of age. This recommendation includes foods processed with honey.

Honey is a known source of bacterial spores called Clostridium botulinum that produce a toxin which can cause infant botulism. These spores can also be found in soil, water, uncooked food, and even household dust. Infant botulism can occur from breathing in vacuum cleaner dust, but eating honey is the number one preventable cause. While honey is safe for infants over 12 months of age, infants under 12 months of age have not yet developed beneficial bacteria in their digestive tracts that can control botulism spores. Therefore, do not add honey to baby food, water, formula, or medicine. Do not dip a baby's pacifier in honey. Even the honey in some processed foods can cause this problem. After an infant eats the spores of this bacteria, the disease can occur within a few hours or up to a week after the exposure.
Symptoms of infant botulism include weakness in the neck, arms, or legs; inability to suck or cry normally; inability to feed or swallow; and persistent constipation. The first symptom is constipation, which can appear three to 30 days following ingestion of honey. The next symptoms observed are listlessness, decreased appetite, and a weakened cry over the next several days. Gagging and sucking reflexes diminish and the child moves less and less. Infant botulism frequently causes an infant to have an unusual breathing pattern, which often requires putting the infant on a ventilator to help with breathing.
Most infants recover from botulism with hospital care. However, if infant botulism is not treated immediately, it could result in death. Hospital care is necessary. Identifying the botulism toxin in the stool is needed for proper diagnosis. This toxin can cause nerve damage for weeks or even months. Neither antibiotics nor antitoxin have proven beneficial in treating infant botulism and may even make the illness worse. There is also a link between infant botulism and SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome), because breathing is affected in the most severe stages of the illness. It is believed to be the cause of death in 10% of SIDS cases. As children get older, the stomach acid, bacteria, and the intestinal tract mature to make them less susceptible to the toxins that botulism spores produce. The single most effective way to prevent infant botulism is to avoid giving honey to infants younger than 12 months of age.

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Killer bees

"Killer bees" is usually a colloquial reference to the africanized bee, and it also may refer to:
* Killer bees (business), firms or individuals employed by a target company to fend off a takeover bid

Killer Bees may refer to:
* Killer Bees!, a video game for the Magnavox Odyssey
* The Killer Bees (SNL), a recurring sketch on the American comedy program Saturday Night Live
* The Killer Bees (professional wrestling), a professional wrestling tag team
* Killer Bees (film), a 1974 television movie featuring Gloria Swanson
* Killer Bees! (film), a 2002 television movie featuring Fiona Loewi
* Killer Bees (Texas Senate), a group of Texas senators, including Glenn Kothmann, who in 1979 went into hiding to prevent a quorum
* The Killer Bees (band), an American funk/soul/rock band co-founded by Papa Mali
* Killer Bee codename for Cammy White, a Street Fighter character.
See also:
* The Killer B's, a collective nickname for Derek Bell, Craig Biggio, and Jeff Bagwell for the Houston Astros in the 1990s whose last names started with B
* The Killer B's, a collective nickname for several starters for the Miami Dolphins defense in the 1980s whose last names started with B
* Killa Bees, a collective nickname for affiliates of the Wu-Tang Clan
* Attack of the Killer B's, a compilation album by Anthrax

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Propolis Anti-Cancer

Brazilian bee propolis has significant and varied anti-cancer benefits, some of which will surprise many orthodox experts. Overall, research has indicated benefits in each of the following areas of the cancer process:

• Anti-inflammatory
• Anti-viral; anti-yeast (candida albicans)
• Wound Healing
• Immune stimulant
• Free radical scavenging
• DNA protection
• Anti-tumour effect
• Cancer cell death
• Anti-metastatic activity.
  

Furthermore, it has been shown to enhance the benefits of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, having a protective effect on healthy cells and an enhancing effect on chemotherapy action.

(i) Anti-inflammatory action

Inflammation is a usual precursor to cancer and may be caused by a number of factors such as eicosanoids (e.g. Prostaglandins), cytokines (e.g. leukotrines), quinines, free radicals histamines and serotonin. Propolis has been shown to inhibit prostaglandin, leucotrine and histamine release. (Khayyal et al 1993; Mirzoeva and Calder 1996; Hepsen et al 1999. Indeed all these inflammatory conditions have been suppressed in clinical studies - and in each case the response was as good as the recommended prescription drug (Menezes et al 1999). Propolis was even found to overcome formaldehyde induced arthritis. Typical active ingredients were the flavenoid hesperidins (Hata and Beyer 2004).

(ii) Anti-viral; anti-yeast

Various research studies have confirmed bee propolis effectiveness against all the principle strains of Staphylococcus, Escherichia coli, salmonella, E coli, candida albicans and even HIV. A number of flavenoids seem particularly important, especially kaempferol, pinocembrin and galangine. Again controls were taken using prescription drugs such as AZT the anti-AIDS drug. Moronic acid in propolis had significant anti-HIV effect, out-scoring the AZT drug.

(iii) Wound Healing

Propolis has been found to have antiseptic, anaesthetic and healing powers. It has been shown to have a healing effect in the tissue repair of oral mucosa (Bretz et al 1998) - hence the use of Menuka by Christie Hospital. It is also effective as a 5 per cent mouthwash after dental surgery (Carvahlo 1994). Post operative wounds - for example after cancer surgery - in subcutaneous tissues were more quickly healed with a compress of propolis, honey and comfrey ointment (Magro-Filho 1987).

(iv) Immune Stimulant

The ester of caffeic acid (CAPE) is one of the main active compounds of propolis, along with the flavenoid ingredients Quercitin and Hesperidine. They seem to have two actions. Firstly, they seem to inhibit cellular growth and secondly, they can increase the presence of certain white immune cells like T-lymphocytes, increasing hydrogen peroxide production without any simultaneous and damaging nitrite production, which usually occurs with macrophage activity. (Than et al 2003; Ansorge et al 2003)

(v) Free Radical Scavenging

Flavenoids are known to have powerful antioxidant benefits. Matsushige et al 1996 isolated a compound from propolis to show that it had a stronger antioxidant benefit that vitamins C and E. The Brazilian propolis seems to have stronger antioxidant powers than those of China, Peru and Holland. The antioxidant capacity can prevent the free radicals acting on the cell lipids, proteins and even the DNA.

(vi) DNA Protection
CAPE - even when used in low doses - can prevent cellular mistakes in healthy cells and induce apoptosis (cell death) in cancer cells. Thus it seems to have a double benefit of protecting healthy cells whilst killing cancer cells. (Chen et al 2003)
Fitzpatrick et al (2001) also showed that propolis could protect healthy DNA and restrict macrophage activity. This selective effect was also shown by Su et al 1995.
(vii) Anti-tumour effect
The ability to protect healthy DNA was confirmed by Banskota et al 2001, and by Suzuki et al, in 2002. They both also noted that propolis had anti-tumour activity. The ability to kill cancer cells has been shown both in vitro and in animal in vivo studies. The particular ingredient responsible is Artepillin C, which leads to cancer cells’ DNA fragmentation (Kimoto et al 1998). Kimoto has also shown that intra-tumoural injections of 500 mgs of Artepillin C produced apoptosis and an increase in immune defenses.
CAPE and another 20 ingredients of propolis were tested by Nagaoka et al 2002. 4 were found to cause cancer cell death. Where CAPE was taken orally by mice with lung tumours, a reduction of tumour size of 50 per cent was noted. Researchers similarly tested another group of mice using the drug cisplatine. No difference in effectiveness was noted, but the mice taking the drug had significant weight loss, a side-effect not noted with propolis (Nagaoka et al 2003). It was concluded that CAPE had a cytoxic effect, and could also block the invasive, metastasis noted with these tumours.
(viii) Enhancement of orthodox chemotherapy approaches
Propolis has biological effects that act in synergy with chemotherapy drugs such as 5-fluorouracil (Suzuki et al 2002).Importantly Santos and Cruz 2001 showed that the antioxidant properties of propolis could reduce the side effects caused by chemotherapy drugs without any detriment to the therapeutic effects.
Suzuki researched two drugs in experiments with mice and cancer (mitomicine C and 5- fluoresce) and showed that the combination of drug plus propolis had by far the greatest regression effects especially in advanced stages, over the drugs used on their own. The propolis usage resulted in higher levels of white and red cells and less side effects. The conclusion of the research was that propolis increased the bio-availability of the drugs. The desired effect could therefore logically be achieved on smaller doses and with even less side effects.
Orsolic and Basic (2005) used mice with breast tumours to show antioxidants can enhance the performance of both radiotherapy and chemotherapy, by using water soluble bee propolis. This supports the work of Chan noted above, that CAPE has a cytoxic effect and can cause cell death, whilst protecting the DNA of healthy cells. ‘Chemotherapy agents used in anti-metastatic activity have their benefits enhanced’. was again the conclusion. The authors recommended clinical trials should take place as all the indications were for greater effect in radio and chemotherapy, whilst minimising blood cell declines and other side effects.
Padmavathi et al (2005) studied the drug paclitaxel with propolis, in DMBA-induced mice breast cancer and concluded that the two combined suppressed breast cancer, decreased lipid peroxidation, and increased the activities of antioxidant enhanced super oxide dismutase and vitamin C. They concluded that the combination of paclitaxel and propolis offers maximum effect in DMBA-induced breast cancer

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Therapy of the bee sting

This is hard on the bee, but very good for some patients who are willing to try it!

What is bee venom therapy?

If you've ever been stung by a bee, you already have firsthand experience of the basics of bee-venom therapy (also called apitherapy). The only technical difference between the sting you got and the therapeutic kind is that yours was probably accidental.

People who use bee venom for medicinal purposes don't wait around for random insect attacks. Using long tweezers, they pick up live honey bees (which they've usually raised themselves), put the insects next to their skin, and let them do what comes naturally. You might have thought that your single encounter with a bee was enough, but people undergoing apitherapy may get stung 80 times a day or more.

Why would anyone subject himself to such pain? Because bee stings are thought to help ease the symptoms of a wide variety of diseases, including arthritis, multiple sclerosis, tendonitis, and fibromyalgia; they're also thought to promote desensitization to bee stings. These claims don't come from beekeepers looking for a profit; they're made by patients whose experience with bee venom has turned them into believers. One woman says that 80 stings every other day helped reverse her rheumatoid arthritis. A woman with multiple sclerosis found that the leg spasms she'd been having calmed down after she started using bees to sting herself a few times each day.

Some doctors, particularly in Eastern Europe, have reported using injections of bee venom to successfully treat rheumatoid arthritis.

Does bee-venom therapy really work?
Personal testimonials are one thing, but careful scientific studies are the real test. And so far, studies conducted on animals and in test tubes suggest that bee venom may have some ability to lessen the pain and inflammation of arthritis. In 1988, researchers at the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki in Greece reported that bee stings greatly slowed the progress of an arthritis-like disease in rats. The Greek scientists, along with researchers at Montreal General Hospital, have also reported that venom slows the production of interleukin-1, a compound that helps fuel arthritic pain and inflammation. More recent studies in South Korea have revealed how melittin – an important compound in bee venom – blocks inflammation. Their study showed significant anti-arthritic effects in mice.
But although some research suggests that bee venom given by injection may be effective in treating tendonitis, fibromyositis, and rheumatoid arthritis, among other conditions, the results are not conclusive. Human trials on bee venom and arthritis, for example, have been few and far between, and the results haven't been encouraging. Back in 1941 (did we mention the investigations were few and far between?), a study published in the American Journal of Medical Sciences found that arthritis patients who got infections of bee venom didn't improve any faster than other patients. The lead researcher called the results "very discouraging," and no human trial since has led to a different conclusion. With the recent arrival of several effective drugs for both osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, research on bee venom as an arthritis remedy has slowed to a trickle, and we may never be sure whether many stings are better than no stings at all.
When it comes to multiple sclerosis, the picture is still hazier. Nobody knows how bee venom affects the disease in humans, and studies on laboratory animals have only just begun. One very small human study was published in 2005 in the journal Neurology, but scientists concluded that bee sting therapy “did not reduce disease activity, disability, or fatigue and did not improve quality of life.” Researchers at M.C.P. Hahnemann University in Philadelphia recently started giving bee venom to mice with a disease similar to MS. The preliminary results suggest that the venom doesn't diminish any MS symptoms in mice; in fact, some of the mice treated with bee venom displayed symptoms more severe than those of mice that got no treatment at all.
Claims that bee venom can ameliorate other diseases, including fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, and depression, are based entirely on personal observation and not on science.
Is bee-venom therapy dangerous?
The benefits of this therapy are still uncertain, but the dangers are clear. Approximately 2 percent of people have allergic reactions to stings from bees and wasps. A severe reaction after just only three or four bee stings is extremely rare, but the danger grows with the number of stings. (Beekeepers and their families in particular are likely to be highly sensitive to bee venom). A person who's having a severe reaction to a bee sting may develop hives on the skin and swelling around the eyes, lips, throat, and tongue. He or she may vomit, slur spoken words, show signs of mental confusion, and even struggle to breathe. Soon the person may lose consciousness. These are signs of anaphylactic shock, a condition that can be fatal if not treated quickly. If you notice these signs, call 911 right away.
Anyone undergoing bee-venom therapy should have a bee sting kit handy. The kit includes a syringe and a dose of epinephrine (also known as adrenaline), a drug that can save your life if you go into anaphylactic shock. It's also a good idea for a beginner get a single "test sting" on the knee or forearm before undergoing a full bee barrage. But remember, the fact that your body tolerated the first 49 stings doesn't automatically mean it can handle the 50th.
-- Chris Woolston, M.S., is a health and medical writer with a master's degree in biology. He is a contributing editor at Consumer Health Interactive, and was the staff writer at Hippocrates, a magazine for physicians. He has also covered science issues for Time Inc. Health, WebMD, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. His reporting on occupational health earned him an award from the northern California Society of Professional Journalists.


A health care practitioner in Taiwan has used 6,000 honey bees delivering 200 stings a week to a woman with multiple sclerosis (MS), an inflammation of the central nervous system that short circuits signals.
Not surprisingly, her red blood cell count increased and the woman, who had been bedridden, is seen in a video walking slowly to her car. The practitioner was a disbelieving executive in the textile industry until his arthritic wife turned to bee sting therapy to treat her arthritis. Used in a similar way to acupuncture, bee venom appears to deliver a specific anti-inflammatory agent, melittin, which has been used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) as well as to treat lyme disease. Both are destructive, inflammatory diseases affecting the joints with pain, stiffness and swelling. Melittin appears to reduce inflammation in a way similar to COX-2 inhibitors.
Apitherapy is the use of honeybee products such as honey, bee glue and royal jelly to cure illnesses, including shrinking tumors. However, these gentle giants may be in trouble. A large number of disappearing honeybees are experiencing colony collapse disorder around the world. A German study has found the bacteria in the guts of young bees mirrored the same genetic traits of genetically modified crops.

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Pleasure chemical controls bee dance

The dance bees use to communicate flower locations is controlled by a relative of the brain chemical that makes humans feel happy, researchers say.
After worker bees find a location rich with flowers, they fly back to their hive and report the find to other bees using a series of gyrations. Their dance tells other bees the direction and distance to the flowers and the quality of the patch. But until now, the brain chemistry underlying the dance remained a mystery.
A joint U.S. and Australian study published today in the U.S. journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that a brain chemical called optopamine, closely related to the human reward and pleasure regulator dopamine, controls the bees' judgment and expression of the patches' quality.
"[This study] is the first step in exploring the neural basis of dance behaviour," said lead author Andrew Barron from the Australian National University in Canberra. "It sets the stage for mining deeper into the neural mechanisms."
The 'waggle dance' that the bee performs is a small figure-of-eight pattern. First, the bee runs forward, while shaking its wings and thorax. This is known as the 'waggle phase'. The bee then turns left and runs back to the starting point. Again the bee goes through the waggle phase, this time turning right to return to its starting point.
The bee's speed and vigour during the dance, as well as the number of times the figure-of-eight is performed, conveys the quality and location of the flower patch.
In the study, optopamine was given to North American and Australian bees either orally or by painting it directly onto their thoraxes. To analyse the effect on their dances, the researchers filmed the bees from the time they returned to their hive and played the footage back frame by frame.

Returning from the same patch, bees that had been given optopamine waggled more vigorously (indicating better patch quality) than bees who had not received the chemical, reported the paper.
As a result of the findings, Barron and his colleagues now believe that a reward system similar to the system found in mammalian brains must exist in honey bees.
In all mammals, including humans, when a reward stimulus such as food, safety or sexual gratification is experienced, the nerve cells in the middle of the brain release the chemical dopamine. The release of dopamine acts to reinforce the behaviour that led to the reward stimulus, helping the brain learn which actions are beneficial.
Some narcotics produce a pleasurable sensation by artificially stimulating the release of dopamine. The cravings associated with drug abuse can be caused by the brain learning to seek out this artificial dopamine release and the high that goes with it.
According to Barron's theory, optopamine controls learning of reward in honey bees in the same way. If he's right, honey bees may one day become test subjects for studies on drugs with the potential for abuse. The source

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