A product made by bees and distributed in tablet form by a Scarborough company is being used to treat Alzheimer's Disease patients.

Propolis, distributed by Bee Health, based in East Ayton, near Scarborough, has been used as an anti-bacterial agent for several years but now a nun working in nursing homes has found it effective in the treatment of Alzheimer's Disease.

Managing director Steve Ryan said the nun, Sister Carole, had contacted him after using the tablets to treat ten patients in a London nursing home, run by the Order of the Little Sisters of the Poor, and now in a Newcastle nursing home.

Sister Carole said: "It is not a cure but I have definitely noticed a difference in the patients and so have their families.

"Even in people who were a bit depressed I felt were a little more joyful after taking the tablets.

"It definitely merits some research."

Since Steve set up the business purifying and distributing the propolis, a natural product made by bees, his company has also initiated research into its use, particularly to treat arthritis.

He said his director of research, Professor Arnold Beckett, now hoped to persuade a research establishment to look at its use in treating Alzheimer's Disease.

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