Api Regina is the first company in the world to provide bee therapy outside of hives. In addition to bees as very important pollinators, bee therapy has been confirmed to have many positive effects on human health. Spending a few hours in the apiary inhaling aerosols from hives strengthens the immune system, positively affects the respiratory organs, reduces stress and improves general well-being. However, apitherapy can only be carried out in the spring and summer months, when bees are the most active and aerosol concentrations in the hives are high. The company in question has developed a method to store apiary air at low pressure in aerosol cans. This actually gives access to bee therapy regardless of season, weather and location!
Apitherapy has been known and used since Greek times, the company turned to the NANO-REGION laboratory network for support in developing methods for primary aerosol analysis and identification of organic compounds. As part of the NANO-REGION project, funded by the Interreg V-A Italy-Slovenia Programme 2014-2020, canned air was analysed and new methods developed. In the first phase, pressurised hive air from the cans was transferred onto membranes for further analysis. The air was expected to contain aliphatic and aromatic aldehydes, alcohols, esters and terpenes. Elemental mapping confirmed that the particles are rich in carbon and oxygen, presumably of organic origin. The aim of the next phase of the investigation will be to identify and recognise the organic compounds. Unfortunately, this will have to be done in the experiments following the NANO-REGION project, as the amount of organic molecules attaching to the substrate was too low, below the detection limit of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy.
Operation co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund
