5 Health Benefits From Bees, and 5 That Call for Caution

The jury's still out if...

You have multiple sclerosis. Boosters have long maintained that bee venom can help temper the ravages of multiple sclerosis, but evidence has always been in short supply. In 2005, researchers from the Netherlands attempted to get to the bottom of the issue by running a small placebo-controlled study of 26 patients. Their conclusion: Bee venom did not reduce disease activity, disability, or fatigue and did not improve quality of life. Other researchers from Georgetown University have found that taking bee venom is safe for people with multiple sclerosis but say that larger studies are needed to know whether it offers any health benefit.

You have arthritis pain. Even for stoic types, the pain from this inflammatory disease can be excruciating. And since the widely used arthritis drug Vioxx tumbled off the market in 2004, many people have been forced to find new ways to control arthritic pain. How about rolling up your sleeves and having scores of bees sting away, putting a surge of bee venom into your body? Some people actually do this, but you won't find many medical associations touting bee venom therapy just yet.

You have chronic sinusitis. Some 30 million to 40 million Americans have chronic sinusitis, an exasperating condition that leaves people with near-constant headaches, endlessly sniveling noses, and yellowish discharge in the back of the throat. In September, word emerged at the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation's annual meeting that honey is better at destroying the biofilms produced by the offending bacteria than traditional antibiotics. The next step: making sure these Petri dish findings apply inside the human body.

You want to live longer. When worker bee larvae are fed only royal jelly—a clear, nutrient-laden type of bee food—they grow and morph into long-lived queens. Might it also make humans bigger, stronger, and longer living? Many people believe so, and royal jelly has become a pricy supplement that's a regular offering at natural health stores. Few medical researchers, however, are convinced it does much more than the jelly we slap on our toast in the morning.