Did you know it's actually more common to get a cold in spring and fall than it is in the dead of winter? I didn't, until I started to get a tickle in my throat on the first day of spring, which progressively got worse until I was finding it damn near impossible to even swallow. (Turns out, rhinoviruses and coronavirus, the two main causes of the common cold, replicate better in cool, but not cold, weather).

After a few cups of my trusty Throat Coat tea wouldn't soothe the scratch, I remembered an all-natural throat spray someone had sent me over the summer—a warmer, healthier time when I had zero use for it. So I dug it out of my cupboard and got to spritzing. It was a bee propolis throat spray containing just three ingredients: bee propolis extract, vegetable glycerin, and water. Much to my surprise, there was a subtle but immediate numbing effect that quickly soothed my throat, accompanied by a pleasant sweet honey taste. 

But what exactly is bee propolis and how does it work? I turned to integrative doctor Amy Shah, M.D., for some answers. "Bee propolis is a sticky substance that bees produce to hold together the hive, and it's literally a mixture of resin sap, wax, and the bees' own saliva," she says.

Bees create propolis by gathering the sticky resin from tree buds and bark, which gets combined with enzymes in their mouths to yield a substance that's antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, and an antioxidant. This propolis is then applied as a varnish on the cells of the honeycomb to help seal up cracks and create doorways, all the while helping prevent disease. 

"It contains a whole variety of health benefits," says Dr. Shah. "There are hundreds of natural antibacterial compounds, amino acids, and polyphenols. It's most significantly known in history for its infection-healing abilities, and Egyptians even used it during mummification. It has a subtle numbing quality as well."