Beekeepers Have Low Incidence of Cancer ?

[Tommyt]

Found this on another Page thought a few may like the read

http://apitherapy.blogspot.com/2012/01/beekeepers-have-low-incidence-of-cancer.html

Honeybees Health Benefits and Cancer
Inform Africa, December 25, 2011

…Beekeepers have the lowest incidence of cancer of all the occupations worldwide. This fact was acknowledged in the annual report of the New York Cancer Research Institute in 1965. Almost half a century ago, the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Vol. 9(2), Oct., 1948, published a report by William Robinson, M.D., et al., in which it was claimed that bee pollen added to food (in the ratio of 1 part to 10,000) prevented or delayed the appearance of malignant mammary tumour.

L.J. Hayes, M.D had the courage to announce, “Bees sterilise pollen by means of a glandular secretion antagonistic to tumours.” Other doctors, including Sigmund Schmidt, M.D., and Ernesto Contreras, M.D., seem to agree that something in pollen works against cancer.

Dr W. Schweisheimer also said that scientists at the Berlin Cancer Institute in Germany had never encountered a beekeeper with cancer. A French study concerning the cause of death of 1,000 beekeepers included only case of a beekeeper that died of cancer. The incidence of cancer-caused deaths in a group of French farmers was 100 times higher than the group of beekeepers.

Till date, no study has faulted the fact that beekeepers have very low, almost negligible incidence of cancer worldwide. Due to the weight of this fact and coupled with his experience, John Anderson, Professor of beekeeping, University of Aberdeen, unequivocally declared: “Keep bees and eat honey if you want to live long. Beekeepers live longer than anyone else”.

But why and how do bee stings prevent or heal cancer? First, the major component of bee sting venom is mellitin, which has powerful bacterial and cytotoxic properties. The mellitin in bee venom activates two main glands – adrenal cortex and the hypophysis, which in turn begin to secrete hormones that have strong anti-inflammatory effect. Cancer and many other degenerative diseases are often preceded by inflammation. Bee venom also stimulates the immune system and cancer is less likely to gain a foothold in those with strong immune system.

Nothing promotes blood circulation better than the bee venom, which dissolves plaque in blood vessels and flush it out to ensure free flow of blood. Bee venom contains proteins and amino acids (18 of the 20 obligatory amino acids). When small doses of bee venom gets into the blood they compensate for the deficit of amino acids, make active hormones and vitamins, lower the level of cholesterol and have a positive effect on fat metabolism....

[JackM]

Wow, awesome material.  Especially the part about increasing blood flow.  I wonder if that could be beneficial to the heart patient?  Wonder if it has even been studied.  How many stings a year did the subjects average?  Much information still needs to be found.  

I wonder if it would have a positive effect on atherosclerosis?  Only fatty plaque buildup or calcific?  Oh so many questions come to mind.

EDIT: 

Even more questions.....any data out there on pain control and bee stings?  In particular non specific neuralgia, fibromyalgia, and osteoarthritis??????? 

[sterling]

Very intresting, but I wonder if the bee stings makes one alittle mean. :? The reason I wonder that is because some of the ones on this forum that have been beekeeping for many years are a little grouchy. :-D

[caticind]

Very exciting claims...where's the data?  The first commenter quotes a more recent study which finds only a decrease in lung cancer, attributable to fewer beekeepers being cigarette smokers (apparently we get enough smoke on the job!).

The listing of components of venom with breathless description of their chemical traits does not explain how the minuscule amounts of those compounds one takes in from stings (a few grams a year each, if your bees are particularly hot) would have any impact on the body.  Also, any time an author cites the old amino acid deficit myth it doesn't bode well for the rest of their claims.

My understanding is that there are many basic science studies but zero reputable clinical trials examining the effects of administration of larger targeted doses of venom in apitherapy, with the single exception of desensitization treatment for allergies.  Anecdotes detail improvement and cures of a wide variety of autoimmune and inflammatory disorders, but do not control for other factors and seldom report negative results.  Beekeepers (unless they are quite unlucky) take in venom doses that are smaller and more widely spaced in time than those used in apitherapy.

As with many natural products, the possibilities are interesting, but there is no science here yet.

[AliciaH]

Maybe its because working with bees can be so zen?

[T Beek]

Could it also be all that 'living in the moment' that is required in beekeeping? 8-)

There's actually been a lot of apitherapy research related to arthritis and there are many around the world who 'regularly' have live bees shipped to their door so they can 'self medicate' for pain control. 

If I remember right, some of the earliest studies led to the development of cortisone injections.

thomas

[gailmo]

I put on my Facebook page that I am selling stings for $1 each.  So far....no takers! 

[caticind]

Could it also be all that 'living in the moment' that is required in beekeeping? 8-)

There's actually been a lot of apitherapy research related to arthritis and there are many around the world who 'regularly' have live bees shipped to their door so they can 'self medicate' for pain control. 

If I remember right, some of the earliest studies led to the development of cortisone injections.

thomas

I couldn't find any when I searched, but I'd love a link, TBeek. That would be a great contribution to medicine by bees, right up there with using honey as a topical antiseptic!

Although I'm skeptical of most the claims made for apitherapy, esp re: systemic issues like MS, cancer, or asthma, arthritis does seem the most likely condition to benefit.  I do know folks who have experienced some relief of arthritis from self-inflicted stings, but it's not clear whether it is the venom itself, placebo, or secondary effects like "re-recruitment" of the inflammatory response away from the joints that are hurting, or even an effect based on how the brain registers multiple sources of pain, that does the trick.  And I haven't seen a controlled study.  It may be I've got the wrong keywords.  If you can locate a study on apitherapy & arthritis, will you do me the favor of linking?

[T Beek]

I guess you could start w/ www.apitherapy.org/

That's the site for the American Apitherapy Society.  There's hundreds.

thomas

[caticind]

I have looked there, and unfortunately they include only research on components of bee products and testimonials.  There are no controlled studies published in their journal.

[caticind]

A little more summary, after some more time with a search engine and the AAS site TBeek linked.  Just a note, none of what follows applies to desensitization immunotherapy, the one medical use of venom which has been widely studied and well-understood.  I'm talking about studies investigating the medical use of venom as a treatment for illness in humans.

No double-blind clinical trial has ever been conducted on bee venom treatment, that I can find.  In most, participants as well as researchers know whether they are assigned to be given venom or not.  Most trials lack any control.   All controlled trials I can find have been venom vs. another medication, and do not include placebo.  These are not invalid but they cannot be used to exclude placebo effect as the mode of action.

Reputable clinical trials to prove the safety of venom treatment are very common.  In the absence of allergic reaction, bee venom is clearly harmless when administered at doses used in apitherapy.  

But all of the clinical studies those examining effectiveness of bee venom as a medical treatment are either single case studies or very small (<100 participants total) and very short (less than 6 weeks of treatment) studies, and most are performed in countries without robust academic review systems.  The most reputable academic institution to publish on the topic in the last 10 years was a department of acupuncture and moxibustation at a medical college in South Korea....and that paper, pretty well-written, was a literature review which found only one controlled trial, and none which were double-blind.  Not a single one is published in a peer-reviewed journal in the US or Europe.  The AAS journal lacks a peer-review system, and regularly publishes non-academic testimonials.

The best designed studies on venom were not medical trials but scientific basic research.  Good animal studies have found that injected venom has anti-pain and anti-inflammatory effects and compounds which, when isolated, display a variety of positive effects.

It is not unreasonable that osteoarthritis, at least, and potentially many other inflammatory and chronic pain disorders would respond well to bee venom.

However, at present there appears to be exactly zero legitimate medical research on the topic.  Its unfortunate that the large apitherapy societies persist in publishing air castles and sprang-from-my-deathbed testimonials instead of gathering their resources to conduct large, well-designed clinical trials.

[splitrock]

"However, at present there appears to be exactly zero legitimate medical research on the topic. "

Why would they want to find something good for you that they can't patent, to replace the crap they have patented and make fortunes off of.....????

Looking at alternative medicines and or therapies, one may find they (the alternatives) have been looking into bee stings for a while.

  

[caticind]

Looking at alternative medicines and or therapies, one may find they (the alternatives) have been looking into bee stings for a while.

Unfortunately they haven't been applying scientific method to their inquiries.  I'm not asking for big pharma to do a study - I'm well aware they have incentives to ignore alternatives where profitable drugs already exist.  And big studies take money.

But "I recruited 10 people with x symptoms and told them I'd inject them with bee venom, and then I injected them with bee venom, and they all got better." is just not good experimental design.  Some of the studies I read while writing the above post probably could have yielded the same results if they had injected saline.

If several practitioners could pool resources to do a small study with solid methods - for instance, recruit 100 people with x symptoms, blindly inject half with bee venom and half with saline - and then found that 45 of the venom group improved, and only 15 of the saline group did, that would be a step in the right direction.  And it would not take big money to run this kind of study if the will could be found.

I understand that many alt medicine practitioners feel they don't need the research to know it works, as they are relying on their own training and experience.  But just as in conventional medicine, some people will always go into alternative medicine purely as a business scam to extract money from sick people, with no regard for the results.  Without research, even if apitherapy is the best thing since penicillin it is impossible for the average sufferer to distinguish between the practices of the honorable believer and the charlatan and both will continue to attract plenty of business.

[Richard M]

It's rubbish. A proper study (by real scientists) back in 1979 demonstrated no net effect one way or the other - less lung cancer but more Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/536856

[GSF]

caticind, sometimes it takes modern science decades to catch up with what we already know. Interesting pro's and con's.

[deknow]

Oh please...vague, unsubstantiated, and clearly false claims.

These kinds of things are truly offensive.  I remember hearing one speaker at our local bee club telling the group that 'beekeepers don't get cancer'....to an audience that included two beekeepers (that I knew about at the time) who were dying of cancer.

[iddee]

This reminds me of a popular headline back in the seventies.

""Scientists have learned what grandma has known for a thousand years""

The articles went on to explain how the chemicals in chicken soup had been found to help with colds.
Scientists had finally proven what and how.

After personally knowing two severe cases, one MS and the other cancer, which had drastic improvement after bee sting treatments, I have to believe the venom at least had something to do with it. It may not work for all anatomies, nor in all cases, but I will always believe it is well worth trying, if no allergic reactions are present.

[BeeMaster2]

I have a good friend that about 13 years ago learned that she had cancer, her husband could not handle it and left, she lost her job and then her house and the doctors gave up on saving her. She was in deep depression and new that as a child she had had a severe reaction to bees. She bought a hive knowing that the stings would end her life. After numerous stings the cancer started to subside and she is still with us today. She gets a bee sting every day to stay healthy.
Jim

[Acebird]

She bought a hive knowing that the stings would end her life. After numerous stings the cancer started to subside and she is still with us today. She gets a bee sting every day to stay healthy.
Jim

Well Jim if it is not a sanctioned scientific study with lots of charts and figures your story has no merit.

I will tell my wife who is a cancer survivor and has a bad reaction to stings.  It may be an ace in the hole if she relapses.  Thanks.

[splitrock]

Very few organizations have the funds to hire the qualified people to properly test and document well enough to play in the league big pharma does.

By design!

[Michael Bush]

""Scientists have learned what grandma has known for a thousand years""
The articles went on to explain how the chemicals in chicken soup had been found to help with colds.
Scientists had finally proven what and how.

I've met the guy who did the study.  He's here in Omaha.

[BeeMaster2]

She bought a hive knowing that the stings would end her life. After numerous stings the cancer started to subside and she is still with us today. She gets a bee sting every day to stay healthy.
Jim

Well Jim if it is not a sanctioned scientific study with lots of charts and figures your story has no merit.

I will tell my wife who is a cancer survivor and has a bad reaction to stings.  It may be an ace in the hole if she relapses.  Thanks.

Thanks for the put down Acebird.
There is a reason we keep our elders around.
I think you will find that most scientist are working on projects to prove or disprove something someone is paying them to do.
Grandmom based her ideas on what she experienced and saw with her 2 eyes.
There is a lot of good information out there that has never been proven by the "experts".
Jim

[flyboy]

A little more summary, after some more time with a search engine and the AAS site TBeek linked.  Just a note, none of what follows applies to desensitization immunotherapy, the one medical use of venom which has been widely studied and well-understood.  I'm talking about studies investigating the medical use of venom as a treatment for illness in humans.

No double-blind clinical trial has ever been conducted on bee venom treatment, that I can find.  In most, participants as well as researchers know whether they are assigned to be given venom or not.  Most trials lack any control.   All controlled trials I can find have been venom vs. another medication, and do not include placebo.  These are not invalid but they cannot be used to exclude placebo effect as the mode of action.

Reputable clinical trials to prove the safety of venom treatment are very common.  In the absence of allergic reaction, bee venom is clearly harmless when administered at doses used in apitherapy. 

But all of the clinical studies those examining effectiveness of bee venom as a medical treatment are either single case studies or very small (<100 participants total) and very short (less than 6 weeks of treatment) studies, and most are performed in countries without robust academic review systems.  The most reputable academic institution to publish on the topic in the last 10 years was a department of acupuncture and moxibustation at a medical college in South Korea....and that paper, pretty well-written, was a literature review which found only one controlled trial, and none which were double-blind.  Not a single one is published in a peer-reviewed journal in the US or Europe.  The AAS journal lacks a peer-review system, and regularly publishes non-academic testimonials.

The best designed studies on venom were not medical trials but scientific basic research.  Good animal studies have found that injected venom has anti-pain and anti-inflammatory effects and compounds which, when isolated, display a variety of positive effects.

It is not unreasonable that osteoarthritis, at least, and potentially many other inflammatory and chronic pain disorders would respond well to bee venom.

However, at present there appears to be exactly zero legitimate medical research on the topic.  Its unfortunate that the large apitherapy societies persist in publishing air castles and sprang-from-my-deathbed testimonials instead of gathering their resources to conduct large, well-designed clinical trials.

That is quite humorous. I know your heart is in the right place but.....

"Ok folks... we are going to do a double blind experiment on you. One person will receive the actual sting from a bee and the others person will receive a placebo which is a needle with a load of crap that feels like a bee sting, maybe a vaccination. Great idea, make some more money off of that."

That nonsense is what the drug companies want you to believe. That you have to have something completely unnatural and patentable, that a medical professional has to inject into the patient and renew the prescription periodically. Win/win for the Drug Co's and the Docs.

Of course the Drug Cos and the Doctors look at the aspect of 'no more business' as everyone knows that with something like MS there is lots of repeat business, "try this, try that, go to Europe for the operation", etc. etc.

Otherwise they will tell all Doctors and what the Docs all love to hear, is that "sorry but it is not scientifically validated," as we all know that Doctors are too lazy to read any science except what the drug co's (via their reps) filter out for them. That is just common knowledge.

Naturally not all Docs are of this mindset, but most are cowed by their associations and by fear of lawsuits. Exceptions are the notable ones like Mercola. http://www.mercola.com/ He is certainly not the only one.

My friend who gave a talk to our bee club about a year ago, uses bee stings to keep him fit as a fiddle. He previously lost the use of half of his body to MS. To bee clear it was his Doctor who turned him on to apiatherapy.

This guy travels the world to the extreme places like Antarctica and simply gets bees mailed to him. He always explains to the post office what he is up to so they do not get a shock when they hear noises from the package. After a treatment he does not need it for awhile, so travel is not interrupted. His wife is the applicator. He also has a hive at home.

What happened is that his Doc was a bicycle racer and he happened to attend a race in a distant city. As he was cruising around the start line he saw this guy that had been a patient of his, for a long time. The last time he saw him he was in a wheelchair with MS. He was blown away, figured he must be seeing things so he went over and low and behold it was his old patient who had moved away to that distant city and stumbled onto apiatherapy.

The way I see it is there are some folks who want to truly do something about their illness and so are willing to look outside the Government/drug co. approved box and so they get the solution and the others are left to drift on the ocean of 'a life of medication'.

You will never hear about apiatherapy from the media as the media is owned by the drug co's.

That is my rant for the day. Whew 

[D Coates]

Thanks for the put down Acebird.
There is a reason we keep our elders around.
I think you will find that most scientist are working on projects to prove or disprove something someone is paying them to do.
Grandmom based her ideas on what she experienced and saw with her 2 eyes.
There is a lot of good information out there that has never been proven by the "experts".
Jim

He simply can't help it.  Brian was finally kicked off another site after making an utter "donkey" of himself to lots of folks.  The tension and tumult created by those toxic posts have vanished with the departure.  Fortunately narcissists are incapable of introspection and it'll eventually get him kicked off here too, ...again. 

[Acebird]

She bought a hive knowing that the stings would end her life. After numerous stings the cancer started to subside and she is still with us today. She gets a bee sting every day to stay healthy.
Jim

Well Jim if it is not a sanctioned scientific study with lots of charts and figures your story has no merit.

I will tell my wife who is a cancer survivor and has a bad reaction to stings.  It may be an ace in the hole if she relapses.  Thanks.

Thanks for the put down Acebird.

Jim where is the put down?  Did you miss the sarcasm.  Maybe the icons don't work so well here.  I am agreeing with you.  Do not be strayed by D Coates he has a mission of confusing post.  He is pretty good at it.

[BeeMaster2]

Acebird,
Sorry, it did not look like sarcasm.  Most of the new emocons do not work for me. I guess  means sarcasm. I now see it says role eyes.
Thanks
Jim

[deknow]

The difference between anecdote and data is huge.  It is the difference between being in an accident where not having your seat belt on saved you some injury, and deciding that you will generally be safer not wearing your seatbelt.

[mtnb]

This is so interesting! Hi guys! :) I've been reading up a bit on apitherapy. This is the first I've heard it connected with cancer. I even experimented on myself a little bit but that's another story. lol I've been following a fb page where they use bee venom for lyme disease. There seems to be much success. I do believe the mind is a powerful thing and if you go in with the intension of knowing that this will work, it actually will. I prefer alternative medicine. Haven't been to the Dr.s since my youngest son was born 17 years ago. lol I think that's why I don't have cancer. lol interesting discussion

[deknow]

There is plenty of good data for bee stings and inflammation (arthritus), and lots of good results with MS.  There is also good data for topical use of honey.

...all of this is different than the issues with cancer.  Cancer is in many cases curable, and in many cases remission happens for no aparant reason.  To look at the subset that got stung, refused std treatment, and got better.....you have to compare it to other approaches and factors.

In the case if arthritus, anyone with arthritus can predict that a sting will reduce inflamation..and test it.  I know that for myslef it is a reliable short term effect...it is testable with only risking a bit of pain from the sting, and a bit of pain for not taking a pain jiller.  MS is 100% progressive (you won't be cured or go into remission like you might with cancer) amd for many, the results of stings are predictable and very significant...again just risking the discomfort of not taking some of the traditional drugs for a short term.

Cancer could kill you...slowly or quicky....or you could just get better, or you could get better from treatment.  There is no data to suggest that bee stings have any effect on any actual cancer (when many things do).  To go down a road of stings thinking it will cure your cancer is folly...no one had presented any data that shows that to be a wise course.

The lottery is similarly alluring. ....almost everyone looses in the long term, but everyone spends money (often that they can't afford) in hopes of winning.  Michael Bush, when he saw a lottery sign in the store window said, "look, it's a voluntary tax on people that can't do math.".

[Colobee]

Perhaps we could run a very non-scientific poll with the beeks here?

Do you have cancer? Yes or no...
 
The OP sites a "low incidence" of cancer for beekeepers. There is no suggestion that all beeks are immune to cancer, just less inclined to get it.  There are too many variables to identify the "why". There are so many outside variables - exposure to X,Y&Z carcinogens? What & for how long? This might be nearly impossible to "prove".
 
And beekeeping benefits - frequency of stings, ingestion of X amount of honey/pollen/other hive products per day. It would be quite difficult, if not impossible to account for the many variables. Starting when, & for how long & how much, and in what combination? Also - nearly impossible to "prove".
 
On the other hand, a simple "yes or no" seems to have already been established. This is interesting, regardless of the degree of difficulty of substantiating the claims.
 

[BeeMaster2]

Colobee,
I created a pole as you stated.
See:
Do Beekeepers Have Low Incidence of Cancer Poll
Jim

[deknow]

Without doing hous of reaearch, I can't tell you what the numbers in the OP are referring to.  I would be suprised if the percentage of beekeepers vs the population as a whole was significant enough to draw any statistical conclusions.

I would be very, very, very suprised if they count the skilled and semi skilled labor that does a lot of the work as 'beekeepers"....on the whole that group makes up a reasonable percentage of 'commercial beekeeping work", and that group is very unlikely to have a low incidence of cancer.

[Acebird]

and that group is very unlikely to have a low incidence of cancer.

Do you think cancer is work related?  My son got cancer at the age of 8.  Unless you are working in a coal mine or removing asbestos I don't think cancer is work related.

[splitrock]

Everyone has cancerous cells in them,  good immune systems keep them in check.

Keep your natural your immune system healthy.

 Nuff said.

[deknow]

and that group is very unlikely to have a low incidence of cancer.

Do you think cancer is work related?  My son got cancer at the age of 8.  Unless you are working in a coal mine or removing asbestos I don't think cancer is work related.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19437276
"Studies of cancer among farm workers are difficult to conduct and interpret given the unique nature of this occupational group. The transitory nature of the work, high levels of poverty, and lack of legal documentation make epidemiologic studies difficult to accomplish. Nevertheless, this workforce in the United States, which numbers as much as 3 million persons, is a high risk population due to exposures to numerous toxic substances, including excessive sunlight, heat, dangerous machinery, fumes, fertilizers, dust, and pesticides. We summarize characteristics of farm workers (i.e., demographics, health care) from the National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS) and the California Agricultural Workers Survey (CAWS) and present findings from a series of studies conducted among farm workers in California. The epidemiology literature was reviewed and methods for a unique farm worker union-based epidemiologic study are presented. Farm workers in California and the rest of the United States, many of whom are seasonal and migrant workers are at elevated risk for numerous forms of cancer compared to the general population and specific pesticides may be associated with this altered risk. Elevated risks have been found for lymphomas and prostate, brain, leukemia, cervix, and stomach cancers."

[Colobee]

Colobee,
I created a pole as you stated.
See:
Do Beekeepers Have Low Incidence of Cancer Poll
Jim

Thanks Jim!
 
& I went & screwed it up - voting the wrong way . I guess every poll has a degree of error