Honey, pollen and propolis in therapeutic treatments for COVID-19

Abstract

The study aimed to characterize the therapeutic benefits of honey and other beehive products to determine the feasibility of rural beekeeping production; The research was carried out in 30 apiaries of peasant communities in 7 cantons of the province of Manabí, namely: Portoviejo, Rocafuerte, Bolívar, Santa Ana, Montecristi, Chone and Pichincha; an intentional sampling was applied, the qualitative-quantitative approach, a non-experimental descriptive design; For data collection, the survey technique was applied to beekeepers, the analytical method to perform the analysis of the results of the applied survey. As a result of the bibliographic review, multiple therapeutic benefits of honey, pollen, propolis, apitoxin, royal jelly were obtained, among which their immunomodulatory, antiviral, antimicrobial, antitumor, anti-inflammatory, healing properties, among others specific to each product, stand out. The feasibility of the rural beekeeping activity was determined through the cost-benefit analysis whose indicator of 1.95 showed that it is profitable. It was concluded that honey and other products from the hive contribute to preventing, strengthening, and improving the ability to respond to various diseases that afflict human beings, and as a productive activity, it is feasible to implement it to generate income for families.