RHR: The Remarkable Health Benefits of Propolis, Royal Jelly, and Other Bee Products, with Carly Kremer
In this episode, we discuss:
- The many benefits of propolis
- The most effective ways to use propolis
- Methods for testing and standardizing propolis
- The safety and side effects of over the counter medicines
- Using royal jelly for menopause, hormone balance, and fertility
- The issue of pesticides and how you can support bees
Show notes:
- Beekeeper’s Naturals website
- Follow Beekeeper’s Naturals on TikTok and Instagram
- Follow Carly on TikTok and Instagram
- “How Safe is Your Over-the-Counter Medicine?” article by Chris Kresser
- Learn more about the Adapt Naturals Core Plus bundle or take our quiz to see which individual products best suit your needs
- If you’d like to ask a question for Chris to answer in a future episode, submit it here
- Follow Chris on Twitter/X, Instagram, or Facebook
Hey everybody, Chris Kresser here, welcome to another episode of Revolution Health Radio. This week I’m really excited to welcome Carly Kremer as my guest. She is the founder of Beekeeper’s Naturals, which is a really incredible business that is dedicated to bringing bee products [and] hive products to the market and protecting bees in our environment, which is an absolutely crucial mission. They work exclusively with sustainable, small scale apiaries, partnering with leading bee research institutions and [creating] 100 percent pesticide-free products. I’ve had Carly on the show before and we’ve talked about the amazing medicinal properties of hive products and some of the stuff that they were [doing] to protect bees. It’s been several years since I spoke with her, so I wanted to have her come back on the show and talk about some of the innovations and updates that they’re working on now.
I really enjoyed this interview. Hope you will as well. Let’s dive in.
Chris Kresser: Carly, so good to see you again. Welcome back to the show.
Carly Kremer: I’m so happy to be here. Thank you for having me.
Chris Kresser: So we’re going to talk about bees and all things bees. It’s a great subject. I love what you guys have been doing to support apiaries and protect bees, and also provide bee-related medicine, which is potent. I’ve been a big fan of the propolis spray since you guys launched. [When] was that, back in 2017?
Carly Kremer: Yeah.
Chris Kresser: It’s been a minute. And as a trained herbalist myself and someone who’s always been interested in plant and natural medicine, I’m just really fascinated by bees and what they are able to provide, both in terms of food, with honey, and medicinal substances.
So, for people who are newer to the show and weren’t subscribers when we [did the] previous episode, maybe we could just start with a quick recap on the four medicinal ingredients that we get from bees to set the context. Then I’d particularly like to zoom in on propolis, because on a personal level and also with patients, [it] is one of the ones that I’ve had the best results with and I think is the most intriguing.
The Many Benefits of Propolis
Carly Kremer: Amazing. I mean, you know how excited I am about bee products. I love to share this with people, because [with] propolis, royal jelly, honey, [and] pollen, there are so many medicinal benefits. These are things that people can use to solve a lot of the problems and prevent a lot of the problems that are top of mind today. And it’s really interesting. Bees have been alive since prehistoric times, so they have certainly cracked the code on survival. And the tools that they create are amazing longevity tools for people. In other cultures, in parts of Europe [and] parts of Asia, bee products are really well integrated into the medical system. They’re used in hospitals in certain parts of the world, and just really well known. I feel like North America is a little bit behind in terms of how we [utilize] these different tools and ingredients coming from the beehive, and there’s just so much they do for us. So I’d love to start off with a little Hive 101 and maybe start with my favorite and your favorite, propolis.
Chris Kresser: Great. Yeah, it seems like the exception is that some hospitals are using honey for wound healing, which almost sounds unbelievable, given that our system is often well behind when it comes to exploratory therapies like this. Or, I guess, exploratory for conventional Western medicine. Not exploratory if you consider the multi-thousand year history of using honey for wound healing. But we call it exploratory because we’re late to the party. Let’s talk about propolis and some of its unique characteristics.
Carly Kremer: Propolis, by the way, is being used for wound healing and burn healing because of its anti-inflammatory and antiviral benefit. So, topically, when there’s any kind of open wound or wound or inflammation. [It’s] really interesting. I’ll speak about the origins of propolis, but there are so many really exciting studies right now with propolis– everything from looking at its abilities to shrink tumors to its effects on the immune system. So many people really don’t know what it is. When we think of bee products, we think honey. Honey is amazing. There are so many health benefits. But it’s one of many different compounds coming from the beehive. And propolis, in my opinion, is one of the most important ingredients coming from the beehive. What it literally is, the bees are collecting plant and tree resins. So think of sap as the base ingredient, mixing it with their enzymes, and they make this substance called propolis, and they use it to line the entire hive and keep it germ-free. Without propolis, the bees would die. It is their barrier, their sealant. It’s how they protect themselves from pathogens, bacteria, viruses, all kinds of things. And again, bees are great survivors. And if you think about it, they’re collecting the immunoproperties of the plant itself. We’re talking about how long bees have been around, [but] plants have been around billions of years. So this is incredible. It’s natural technology. We’re collecting these immunoproperties of the plants that have understood how to survive stressors, elements, different things, and then the enzymes from the bee to create this substance that has an incredibly protective effect on our health.
So, the bees are using it to line the hive and keep it germ free. For newborn baby bees, they’ll line the inside of the cell to create a sterile environment for newborns. And for humans, you can really think of propolis in the same way. It’s an amazing tool to protect your system. There’s a lot of studies looking at how propolis affects our immune health. It’s an incredible immune booster. For me, it’s what I use in place of antibiotics if I do have something, or I’m coming down with something, or have some kind of exposure. But it’s really more of an everyday tool that I use for immune support, inflammation, prevention. There’s really interesting studies looking at propolis for gut health. There’s actually been studies looking at leaky gut and how propolis helps to strengthen the tinctures in the digestive lining, so it helps to both treat and prevent leaky gut. Propolis has antifungal capabilities, so it’s amazing for things like Candida, and then it’s a prebiotic as well. I came across a really cool study recently that was looking at propolis for metabolic syndrome and it found that, because it’s such a powerful anti-inflammatory agent, it helps to combat oxidative stress, [and] that basically helps to strengthen different organ systems and aids in weight management. So there are so many different benefits to propolis, and it’s my everyday routine.
Chris Kresser: Can we linger on that just for a second, particularly with kids, because I think there’s a thing that happens with kids. I’m a parent, [and] you’re a new parent, I think, right? So it’s scary when kids get sick, and we want to do everything we can to help them. And yet, for things like ear infections, for example, we know that most of them are viral. And if you take your kid to the doctor, you often come away with a prescription for antibiotics, even though they’re not going to help much if it’s a viral ear infection. Same thing with a cold, right? Colds are caused by viruses. So there aren’t that many solutions within conventional medicine that are really going to move the needle much for the kinds of immune challenges that a lot of kids are facing. And in fact, some of those treatments may not only not help, they can potentially cause harm by disrupting the gut microbiota, side effects, etc. So that’s one of the reasons why I really love propolis.
Can you speak to the safety for children and the mechanisms of action that would make it more beneficial in those circumstances than antibiotics or something like that. And to be clear, we always suggest talking to your doctor. We’re not suggesting propolis is replacing any of those treatments. But just clarifying the differences in how they work in the body.
Carly Kremer: Yeah, it’s really important. I think the western approach is a very ‘throw a blanket on everything’ or ‘Band-Aid’ solution. We’ve moved away from specificity, and it’s really important to look at the individual and look at the specific interplay of these different drugs we’re going to put in the body. There’s absolutely a time and place for them, and they’ve helped us a lot in so many ways. But there’s no question that we’re over prescribing antibiotics. We’re seeing all kinds of issues with gut health, starting with young kids. One of my favorite things about propolis is that it has that antiviral, antibacterial, immune boosting, [and] immune supporting capability, but it doesn’t completely disrupt the gut. And that’s the big challenge with antibiotics– they can really, really throw off the microbiome. Whereas propolis acts as a prebiotic, so it’s actually really supportive. There’s over 300 different beneficial compounds inside propolis, so it works with so many different organ systems. To put it simply, propolis has the ability to go in and target the bad stuff, but not kill the good stuff. So it’s much gentler on our system. It’s a really great tool.
For me, I’m autoimmune. Antibiotics are really not an option. I was struggling with chronic tonsillitis, which most people take an antibiotic [for] and can knock that out, but it just wasn’t an option for me. And it wasn’t until I found propolis that I really found resolution. I’m 33, I still have my tonsils, and I haven’t had tonsillitis since 2012. And it was chronic for most of my life. So propolis is a way to really aggressively target germs, bacteria, [and] viruses, but be gentle on the rest of our body. And then it has all of these other benefits. I mean, we know that inflammation is the root cause of so many issues. And one of the big things about propolis, in addition to being incredibly supportive for the immune system, is [that] it is really powerful when it comes to combating oxidative stress, [and] really powerful for inflammation. Holistically, there’s great benefits. Another really cool thing about propolis is, and bee pollen has this effect as well, it’s a hepatoprotective agent. It actually helps to protect our liver. And our liver is the detox organ. We’re exposed to so many things today, from heavy metals to microplastics, and so that’s why I feel really strongly [that] for kids, for adults, having propolis be a part of your routine and leaning on these other bee products, which are ancient tools with thousands and thousands of years of data and coming from bees and plants and organic compounds that are quite simple, can really help to shield you against all the environmental stressors, all of the bacteria, [and] all of the challenging things that we’re facing today.
Most Effective Ways To Use Propolis
Chris Kresser: With a conventional approach, the idea is wait till you get sick, then you take the medicine. Of course, you can use propolis that way. But can you speak to what the research shows on the most effective way to use it?
Carly Kremer: The most effective way to use propolis is daily. It’s something to incorporate into your routine daily. And again, there’s so many different benefits. I mentioned 300 beneficial compounds. I’m not going to list all of them, but it’s full of antioxidants, vitamin C, zinc, iron, polyphenols, flavonoids, [and] coumarins. There are so many different compounds that act as a protective system for your body. I mean, I have my propolis throat spray right here next to me. I do four sprays every single day, and that’s kind of how I cover my bases [and] make sure that I’m protecting my body, fighting inflammation, [and] combating free radical damage. Then if I do feel like I’m coming down with something or I feel like I’ve had an exposure, that’s when I’ll double up. Just a little anecdote, my baby is five months [old] now. When she was, gosh, two or three months old? I don’t know, two or three months, so very, very early, my mom came to visit from Canada. And my mom’s already very COVID cautious, so we were very, very careful. My mom was testing before she got on the plane, after she got on the plane. She was wearing an N95 for her entire flight. She was taking it to an extreme. She arrived on Mother’s Day. We had the most amazing day. She [was] holding the baby [and] kissing the baby all day with me. The next day, she tested positive, and I was like, “There’s no way that my daughter and I do not have COVID.” We’ve literally been snuggling with my mom, my baby was snuggling with her grandma. And we did not get COVID. Then [the] same thing happened [again]. I have an amazing nanny who comes and helps [out] when I’m working, and she had it and we didn’t know, of course. [She] was taking care of my little one, and again, no one in my house got COVID.
Viruses work differently for different people, but I feel that in my family, in my household, propolis is the way we defend ourselves from these different things going around. And when I’ve had an exposure, that’s when I’ll sort of double up. I’ll go from four sprays a day to eight sprays a day. But it’s a really powerful tool, again, to protect yourself. Then, just on the subject of antibiotics, this is an interesting thing to me because [methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus] (MRSA) is pretty serious. There was a study coming out of Sonora University that showed that propolis has the ability to kill antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria. So [in] people with MRSA, which is really hard to treat, propolis was able to really help them. It was interesting because we found that propolis was fighting the infection versus masking it in your body, and its anti-inflammatory properties helped to treat the symptoms. Then its antiviral capabilities helped to actually get rid of the bacteria. So that was just a really cool situation.
We’ve also seen a study coming out of the [United Kingdom] talking about how propolis could help humans counter drug resistant bacteria, and it actually has supportive effects with antibiotics. So [for] somebody who’s got something really serious [and] is on a pretty heavy strain [of antibiotic], taking propolis with that antibiotic strengthens the result and allows the body to fight off that bacteria, and then also provides a little bit of insulation for your gut.
Chris Kresser: Yeah, it’s pretty amazing, along with a lot of the other hive products. One of the things I’ve noted about it, which is very valuable to me as a clinician, [and] this obviously varies from person to person, but I’ve found that side effects are very rare. Most people tolerate it extremely well and don’t really notice any side effects, and that’s pretty unusual, even in the world of natural medicine. Things that have a pretty significant, potent immune effect can sometimes trigger sensitivities in people who have a hyperactive immune response– for example, an autoimmune condition, like you. We know some estimates suggest one in four women and one in six men today have an autoimmune disease. So this is not uncommon, and to have something that really works well but also is well tolerated is fairly rare. So that’s definitely something I appreciate,
Testing and Standardizing Propolis
Carly Kremer: Something I really love about propolis [is that] it’s an immunomodulatory agent. It contains this compound called chrysin, which helps to support immune modulation. The way you can think of it [is], the same way adaptogens will work with the body to insulate the body against stress, propolis, as an immunomodulatory agent, will work with your immune system. So for me, I’ve got an overactive immune system, [and] it works to balance it. For somebody that has an underactive immune system or is exposed to something environmentally that’s creating an issue, it will help them to combat that. And there’s actually something really exciting, Chris, that I haven’t caught you up on. I’m really nerding out on this. How we work at Beekeeper’s Naturals [is] we do regenerative beekeeping, which means we’re working all across the globe with small scale apiaries, and we’re working with beekeepers and apiaries that practice pesticide-free beekeeping. What that means is that, as the company grows, I’m constantly expanding our supply chain [and] connecting with new beekeepers in different geographies. All that to say, I’m constantly testing propolis.
My team and I, we are literally, at any given moment, running tests on propolis from different parts of the world. And we found this new propolis extract, and it is pretty remarkable. I’ve never seen a propolis extract like this. It has the highest flavonoids and polyphenols of any propolis I’ve ever seen. And again, I’ve tested thousands at this point. So when I saw this, when the test results came back, I was like, “Okay, we’re switching 100 percent of our propolis over to this.” I’ve never seen polyphenols like this before. So we have just made that switch. We have a new propolis extract we’re using. And the really cool thing is, as we’re testing propolis, you know how it is with natural things, [and] you can probably speak to this in a really great way, but it’s really hard with natural [products] because there’s not as much industry. There’s not a big pharmaceutical industry. There’s not as much industry willing to standardize and test things, which is problematic, because I think everything should be standardized, test quantified, [and] we should have the ability to know what’s going to help us. So what we’re doing with this propolis is we’re testing for six bioactive polyphenols and we’re using them as markers. The six we’re testing for are chrysin, which I mentioned [is] an immunomodulatory agent, galangin, pinocembrin, apigenin, pinobanksin, and quercetin. We’re testing for these six. This extract that we’re using, there’s over 300 [different beneficial compounds]. There’s so many different positive compounds, but these six have effects ranging from anti-cancerous to anti-inflammatory to immunomodulatory [to] antibacterial. So these six we’re really focused on, and we’re standardizing our propolis. No other propolis even comes close to this level of identification, consistency, or standardization of bioactives. I’m very proud of my team and my company and the beekeepers we work with to be able to do this. Our commitment at Beekeeper’s Naturals is to bring people the most powerful, most effective, cleanest bee products, and we’re staying true to that. So this new extract is in all of our products. You’ll try it. I’ll send you one of our new propolis throat sprays. It really tastes the same. You’ll notice there’s a slight kind of cinnamony, gingery spiciness. When you have a really potent olive oil, and it’s almost like you feel it a little bit in the back of your throat, the really high polyphenols.
Chris Kresser: Yeah, I know [exactly] what you mean.
Carly Kremer: Yeah, our new propolis, just a little bit of that. It’s not super aggressive, but you’ll notice it as someone who eats that kind of food and tries that stuff. But I’m very excited about this new extract.
Chris Kresser: Great, me too. So I want to linger on kids a bit. I wrote an article a few years ago called “How Safe is Your Over-the-Counter Medicine?” And it’s a bit of a rhetorical question, because the answer is not very safe, or not as safe as you might assume, given how ubiquitous those medications are and the fact that you can just walk into any drugstore and buy them at will. It’s a $35 billion industry, over-the-counter meds, so there’s obviously a lot of incentive for companies to sell them. And in particular, when I was doing a deep dive on this [and] researching natural approaches to immunity, this was very early in the COVID pandemic so I was brushing up on my herbalist training and things that could move the needle– both nutrients and plant medicines. But I also then just kind of went down a rabbit hole on how effective the over-the-counter cold and flu medications [are], and how safe are they? And that inspired the article. The short version is, like I said, they have a surprising number of risks, and some of the risks can be very serious. We’re not just talking about temporary side effects. We’re talking about things like liver injury or liver failure, increased risk of testicular dysfunction, and cerebral palsy in the case of aspirin. Acetaminophen use in babies between the ages of 12 and 18 months increases the risk of autism spectrum disorder. It can blunt emotions and empathy, which means it has adverse neurobehavioral effects. You have decongestants that have been linked to undiagnosed hypertension and even hypertensive emergencies.
So it seems to me that it’s really important for us to have these alternatives that are effective but way safer and way better tolerated. I mean, there may be a time and place for these over the counter medications, but I want to empower parents to not just go there right off the bat. Again, I think it can be scary to be a parent. It’s not fun to see your kid suffering. But I think a lot of parents turn to those OTC medications because they don’t know what else to do, or they’ve been convinced by their doctor friend or family member that none of the natural stuff works.
I know this is something we’ve talked about before, but talk a little bit about some of the products in the Beekeeper’s [Naturals] line that can either provide adjunctive support for cold and flu products, or in some cases, for people that are inclined, might be a better choice.
Carly Kremer: This is such an issue today. This is kind of how and why I started my business. I started beekeeping when I was in college, and I solved my own health challenges with propolis and royal jelly and pollen. But I never thought I would start a business. I was working in finance and was a biotech trader, and so I was doing a lot of work in pharmaceutical research. And one of the big parts of my job was to look at patent pending stocks, pharmaceutical stocks that were trying to get a patent for a new drug, and then place a very large financial bet for the bank I was working for. I had to do real deep dives into the likelihood of these drugs getting approved, and I would see these side effects and think, “Oh my gosh, no chance this is getting approved.” And then, lo and behold, they would. That, for me, was really scary. And as someone who hasn’t been able to use conventional medicine my whole life, I already had this very healthy skepticism. But seeing those laid out and seeing the kind of side effects that were overlooked, it was really scary. There’s a huge issue with the medicines that are available and what our modern healthcare system [considers] safe, and [also] what our modern healthcare system doesn’t recognize, because it doesn’t have this huge industry behind us on the more natural side.
So I think it’s never been more important for people to take their health into their own hands and do their own deep dive. That’s really what we’re trying to do at Beekeeper’s Naturals is provide these clean alternatives, and we don’t want people to have to make a sacrifice when it comes to symptoms or health or effect. Because for some period of time, I think some of the natural alternatives maybe were not as powerful, and it was off-putting for people. So our commitment is to create something that’s a true swap, but unlike the chemical stuff or the conventional stuff, we’re not going to have those ingredients that cause those nasty side effects. Our side effects are going to be things like [fighting] inflammation. The positive side effects. That’s what you want. I mean, we’ve talked about this, but there is no reason to ever give yourself or your child conventional cough syrup. We have seen study after study that has shown that [buckwheat honey is just as effective as] dextromethorphan, which is the active ingredient in most conventional cough syrups. There was a big study looking at upper pediatric respiratory infections, and it showed that buckwheat honey was just as effective. So there you go. There’s no reason to give that chemical suppressant. We’ve seen that. We’re seeing a lot of studies come out around Flonase and how damaging that can be to the brain and how it’s habit forming. You see young children taking nasal sprays that have these ingredients that just shouldn’t go in their body. What we have tried to do at Beekeeper’s [Naturals] is look at these ingredients, look at these different drugs that people are leaning on, [like] cough syrup, Robitussin, NyQuil, Flonase, and create clean alternatives. So we have our Beekeeper’s cough syrup, and we’re using a honey base, we do a blend of buckwheat [and] wildflower honey, and then of course we have propolis in there, which is just a superpower when it comes to immune health. [Then] we put in elderberry. There’s a lot of research [on] elderberry [in regards to] flu. I remember when I was pregnant, my doctor kept offering me the flu shot, and I was like, “I’m good. I take elderberry and propolis. We’re okay.” I actually printed out a study and brought it in for her, and she took it home and then sent me an email and was like, “This is interesting.” I always drive my doctors crazy and then I end up being best friends with them. But my [obstetrician] had a fun time during my pregnancy.
So we use chaga, elderberry, propolis, honey, [and] olive leaf extract. We’re using these natural compounds that are coming from plants, from bees, from natural life, but have been validated by science. We’ve seen enough studies that have proved to us that these different compounds can have a very powerful effect on immune health. So there’s really no reason to go down the chemical road. Same thing for our nasal spray. In our original formula, we’re using xylitol and propolis in our nasal spray, it’s xylitol propolis, and then we also have oil of oregano and eucalyptus. These ingredients have really powerful effects when it comes to inflammation in the nasal passage. And your nose is also a microbiome, so you don’t want to be putting all these crazy chemicals in there. So the nasal sprays that we’ve come up with actually support the nasal microbiome, will fight inflammation, [and] help you to breathe clearly. So it’s a really clean alternative. But that’s kind of our whole goal here, to create these clean alternatives that are safe to use on a daily basis, and other ones that are right there to swap out your cough syrup for something more natural. It’s really important that people are aware of these cleaner opportunities and these cleaner options, because I feel like we’re pushed down this road of, Take this. This is fine. Everyone takes it.” And it’s like, well, should everyone be taking it? When did everyone start taking it? What do the side effects look like?
Chris Kresser: Yeah, they’re all really important questions to ask. And like I said, I’m always just trying to empower people with alternatives, because I think a lot of times they just make the choice, like you said, because other people have been doing it, [or] that’s what their parents gave them when they were growing up, or it’s just what’s available when you walk into the drugstore thanks to the $35 billion [pharmaceutical] industry, as we said before. The level of marketing and advertising that goes behind those products, you see them in every magazine, billboard, television, ad, etc. So it’s just what people know. And so hopefully these kinds of podcasts and other material will help spread the word so that people know that there is a viable alternative.
Carly Kremer: We have a really great medical advisory board working with Beekeeper’s Naturals. We have pediatricians working with us, naturopaths, we have practitioners from all different backgrounds. We have Tiffany Lester on our board, who’s Functional Medicine, we have Dr. Mishal, who’s a gastrointestinologist, we have Dr. Joel Warsh, who’s a pediatrician. So we’re bringing it. We have Dr. Danny Clark, who’s a naturopath. We’re bringing together all these different perspectives and saying, “Can we make a product that everyone in the room agrees on and thinks is the best formula?” So we’re working with these really great minds to build things that are really effective. And just on that subject about cough syrup and all of the chemicals in our products for kids, one thing that I’m really excited about is the lollipops. I think it’s really important to get propolis into kids. I think there’s so much we can do by way of prevention when we’re introducing the right nutrients. So we came out with our Beekeeper’s Naturals lollipops, which have propolis, vitamin D, [and] zinc, and we launched with Target and Walmart. They’re super accessible. People can find them in their local stores. But this is a really great way to give kids something where it kind of feels like a treat, but really they’re getting the propolis, the zinc, the vitamin D, and then we use zero refined sugar. There’s only two grams of sugar per lollipop coming from raw honey, brown rice syrup, and a little bit of monk fruit, but primarily raw honey. So it’s coming from these clean sources.
Now that I’m a parent, I’m looking at all these kid products and it’s just really, really important that parents take that extra step to read the label, look at the website, whatever they need to do to feel comfortable. Looking for things that can be used preventatively, that don’t have the refined sugars or the chemicals, and are working with these nutrients that will help to support young systems.
Royal Jelly for Menopause, Hormone Balance, and Fertility
Chris Kresser: Great. I want to switch gears a little and talk about some other applications of propolis and other hive products. I think most people, when they think of propolis and bee-related products, think of immune support, which is correct and definitely one of the best things that they have to offer. But there are also other benefits. You’ve alluded to some of them, like prebiotic effects, which, of course, support [the] microbiome [and] gut health in general, which we’ve talked [about] a lot. There’s a lot of focus right now [on] Ozempic and weight loss. But we also know from research how important gut health is for metabolic health. So we could talk a little bit about that, or also hormone balance, which is important for fertility, of course, and pre- and post-natal health, but also really important as [the] population ages and [experiences] menopause and menopause-related symptoms. I mean, that’s a huge focus right now.
Carly Kremer: Yeah, it’s really interesting. I have a lot of thoughts on and a lot of really cool studies to share around fertility [and] weight management. There’s so many different applications of bee products. There was a really interesting study with royal jelly. Royal jelly, for anyone who doesn’t know, is a secretion the nurse bees make. It’s given to all newborn baby bees for the first three to five days of life.You can kind of compare it to breast milk or colostrum. Royal jelly is essentially the colostrum of the beehive. So newborn baby bees will eat royal jelly, and then the bee who’s to become the queen bee eats an exclusive royal jelly diet for her entire life. And it’s really interesting to see in the beehive, developmentally, the queen bee is totally different. The queen bee will have over a thousand babies a day, versus a regular honeybee who does not have reproductive organs. The queen bee will live three to five years, versus a regular bee during foraging season who lives six to eight weeks. So royal jelly, obviously, in the hive has crazy effects on longevity and crazy effects on fertility. But for humans, there was this really cool study on royal jelly, looking at menopause symptoms. [It was] placebo controlled [and] there were tons of participants. It [had] a population of, I think, over 200 post-menopausal women. They were given 1000 milligrams of royal jelly every day for eight weeks, and they were measured across all different parameters for menopause– everything from hot flashes to mood stability, all kinds of stuff. And it showed across the board [that] in eight weeks, people had resolution of many different symptoms. So it’s really exciting thinking about royal jelly and how it can help women in that menopause phase.
Royal jelly also has really cool hormone balancing effects. We’ve seen quite a few studies showing that royal jelly helps to balance the hormones. A friend of mine who is on a journey of trying to get pregnant, I just gave her a bunch of our superfood honey, which has quite a bit of royal jelly in it. She’s just starting. I just sent it to her the other day. And there was a really cool study that I sent over to her looking at royal jelly and how it promotes ovarian follicle growth. It was a study done in rats, but basically, royal jelly helps to promote the ovarian follicle growth, which is a really key part of getting pregnant. And for males too. I love seeing fertility studies with males, because you just don’t see that very often. Sperm counts have gone down and we’re seeing all kinds of issues, but royal jelly, when males take it, affects sperm across a bunch of different parameters, from DNA to maturation. It’s really powerful. It’s supporting the creation of healthy sperm. Royal jelly is a really, really great tool when it comes to hormone stability, fertility, and then there’s a lot of studies looking at how royal jelly affects brain health. So I used it when my husband and I were trying to get pregnant. I’m using it now just to help to balance my hormones. But I use it on a daily basis for focused memory concentration as well, and I’ve noticed a lot of effects with brain health.
Chris Kresser: Yeah, it’s so cool. I mean, this has been my experience with a lot of different natural medicines, plant medicines, whether you’re talking about the cannabis plant or colostrum or bee products. They tend to be pleiotropic in their effects, which is a nerdy way of saying they have multiple effects and multiple benefits. It’s the opposite, in many ways, of conventional medications, which have usually a very narrow effect and then many unwanted or adverse side effects that are associated with that. In a lot of cases, these products tend to have a broader range of beneficial effects with lots of positive entourage [effects]. Side effects is not even the right way of putting it. Entourage effects are add-on effects.
Pesticides and Supporting Bees
Chris Kresser: Carly, can you talk a little bit about your approach to supporting bees and what the current status of bees [is] in the world today? What are you guys doing to support that?
Carly Kremer: Yeah. Bees pollinate 1/3 of our food supply, so they are critical for our food chain, our entire ecosystem, and they’ve been under threat for a number of years. And the big issue here is pesticides. In 2006, when [dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane] (DDT) was taken out of the game, it was largely replaced by a substance called neonicotinoids, and neonics are used across the [United States]. It’s why with Beekeeper’s Naturals, unfortunately, I’d love to do more work locally, but we don’t do a lot of beekeeping [and] we actually are not sourcing any bee products right now from the [United States] because of how widely used neonicotinoids are. Neonics [are] a neuroactive substance and it’s really harmful to the bees. Different parts of the world, parts of the [European Union], [and] parts of Canada have banned or reduced neonicotinoid use. But it’s in our food, and it’s really gross because it’s water soluble, so it’s in our soil [and] it’s in our water. We don’t know the long-term effects for us, but we know that it’s killing the bees. So it’s really important to support regenerative beekeepers. And, for me, what that means is pesticide-free beekeepers. Beekeepers that are working in geographies that have different pesticide regulations. So that’s why we do so much work in Europe. We do some work in Canada, but a lot of what we do is in Europe. We work in super rural parts of South America. And something to keep in mind is that the bees can forage for a five mile radius.
So I’ve talked to a lot of people about local bee products, and I’d love to be able to buy more local bee products, because beekeeping generally is really important. But because the bees will fly for a long distance to forage, even if your hive sits on certified organic land, if your neighbors are spraying or doing something dirty, or they’re spraying on the sides of roads as they do in a lot of the [United States], those pesticides could get into your end product. So we’re working in places where there’s different pesticide regulations and/or super remote, like super, super remote, middle of nowhere, where we can ensure that there’s a five mile radius that’s pesticide free. And in doing that, eliminating the pesticides and creating more biodiversity and making sure that our bees aren’t exposed to monocrops, and if there is a monocrop that our beekeepers and the farmers around have to do 30 percent margin planting, which is planting wildflowers so the bees have a varied diet, just controlling for those different things, we’ve seen our bees thrive and grow, and hives increase year over year. So it’s really cool, because as the company grows, we grow our supply chain. And as we grow our supply chain, we’re literally building out the supply chain of sustainable beekeepers. We’re creating more demand for regenerative practices when it comes to working with bees, and that makes a huge difference. So it’s really, really important to support the bees. And on an individual level, supporting growers who are doing it right. Pesticide free. Organic. Paying close attention to that, to the extent you can. Planting wildflowers and different local plants around your home. Even when I was in New York, on my balcony, it was a bit of a fire hazard maybe, but my fire escape was covered in local plants for the bees. And not using pesticides on your lawn. It’s really not good for your kids [and] your pets. We shouldn’t really be using these things at all, but to the extent you can get away from pesticides, it makes a huge difference for the bees.
Chris Kresser: Amazing. Thank you so much. Carly. It’s been a pleasure to have you on the show. Where can people learn more?
Carly Kremer: All of our products are available [on] BeekeepersNaturals.com. We are on Instagram and Tiktok [at] Beekeepers_Naturals. Our products are available at Target, Walmart, and Whole Foods. And if you want to hear more from me, I’m on Tiktok at CarlytheBeekeeper, or Instagram at Carly.Kremer.
Chris Kresser: All right, thanks again. Great to speak with you. And, everyone, thanks for listening. Keep sending your questions to ChrisKresser.com/podcastquestion.
