Each month, the Grafter Award takes a look at an individual in the natural health industry. This issue is the turn of Dr Alexander Goroshit, an expert in apitherapy who developed the LifeMel range.
Each month, the Grafter Award takes a look at an individual in the natural health industry. This issue is the turn of Dr Alexander Goroshit, an expert in apitherapy who developed the LifeMel range.Most newly qualified doctors come out of their training and find themselves deciding which area of conventional medicine they want to specialise in. For Dr Alexander Goroshit, the path was quite different, as he found himself fascinated by what natural health – specifically honey products, or apitherapy to give it its official name – could do for our health.
Instead of focusing on a conventional area of medicine, he spent years researching the benefits of apitherapy, which resulted in the creation of LifeMel.
“One of the tasks I was faced with after university was to find a solution to patients getting infections after they had undergone kidney transfusions,” he explained. “I found honey to be more affective then antibiotics, which amazed me! This inspired me to research natural remedies and in particular apitherapy in more detail.”
And so he decided to further investigate the power of honey products.
“Long and detailed research brought me to the conclusion that when honey is specifically engineered it can be the best replacement to antibiotics,” he said.
The research took place in Israel with five other scientists, with the aim being to come up with a product that was more active than antibiotics within four months.
“This research was successful and the product used in the study was GastroMel, which is honey produced from a range of anti-spasmodic and soothing herbs such as bay and sage with 10 per cent propolis then added,” he said.
What the research showed was that GastroMel successfully killed helicobacter pylori bacteria in several cases more successfully than the relevant antibiotic.
“The LifeMel range is the only range of specifically engineered honey available on the market. A lot of our research time was spent on engineering the special herbal feed in order that the bees process it into honey,” Dr Alexander explained.
“We also researched the herbs to find which parts of the plants held the most active ingredients – sometimes the stalk, sometimes the stem or the root and it is this part of the herb that we specifically select in order to ensure that the feed the bees are given is potently strong in active properties in the correct ratio to result in a honey product with targeted health benefits.”
The success of the research was pivotal in allowing Dr Alexander continue his studies.
“It was this proof that the head scientist required to give me funding to conduct another eight years’ worth of research into developing a range of engineered honey products,” he explained.
LifeMel was born five years ago. Most recently, the portfolio has expanded to include other products, such as EnergyMel, RelaxMel, and LadyMel.
The products are made only in the summer months in Israel, when the land is barren and dry, which means there are no other blooms around for the bees to feed on. This ensures quality.
“So, although our bees are outside and roam freely the only feed around for them to process into honey is our specially prepared herbal nectar, which is pumped into the hive and as the bees are given feed so readily without having to collect it they process it into honey at a faster rate,” he said.
“The products from the beehive are the best carrier to all natural herbs that Nature can bring. Propolis is one of the best natural by products from the beehive, it is the strongest antiseptic found in nature and offers many benefits.”
Once harvested, the company ensures quality by testing each batch using laboratories in both Israel and Germany, and there are certificates from both laboratories on each batch of product. Furthermore, one beekeeper works only with one product so all the products are produced separately.