Bee sting may treat Parkinson’s
Boxing legend and Parkinson’s disease sufferer, Muhammad Ali, once said: “Float like a butterfly; sting like a bee” – and he couldn’t have been more right. New research has revealed that the toxin from bees when they sting may hold the key to managing neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s.
Boxing legend and Parkinson’s disease sufferer, Muhammad Ali, once said: “Float like a butterfly; sting like a bee” – and he couldn’t have been more right.
New research has revealed that the toxin from bees when they sting may hold the key to managing neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s.
The use of honey and other bee products was recently praised for its renowned healing properties.
Traditional Korean doctors have even incorporated bee venom-based drugs in herbal acupuncture treatments to relieve rheumatoid arthritis and painful muscle stiffness.
Researchers claimed that before the bee venom therapy, mice’s walking speed was slow. After using the bee venom therapy, the mice’s walking speed became faster.
They added ultimately this wasn’t a cure, but a treatment to improve the patient’s quality of life.
Parkinson’s disease is a degenerative brain disorder that results in the death of dopamine-generating cells in the brain which are crucial to the body’s motor controls.
This decay of the nervous system leaves patients with hand tremors, muscle rigidity and speech problems.
Bae Hyun-soo, Oriental Medicine Professor at Kyung Hee University in Korea, said: “If it can be proven that certain components of bee venom have such effects, especially in regard to Parkinson’s disease, I think that development of treatments for similar diseases could be possible.”
The oriental school of medicine is optimistic that further studies into bee venom will yield pharmaceutical drugs to treat eczema and even depression.
