Bee acids. Apitherapy is a branch of alternative medicine that uses honey bee products, including raw honey, royal jelly, pollen, propolis, beeswax and apitoxin (Bee venom). The claim that apitherapy treats cancer, which some proponents of apitherapy make, remains unsupported by evidence-based medicine. The painful stings of bees are mostly associated with the poison gland and the Dufour's gland which are abdominal exocrine glands containing various chemicals. In "Lasioglossum leucozonium", the Dufour's Gland mostly contains octadecanolide as well as some eicosanolide. There is also evidence of n-triscosane, n-heptacosane, and 22-docosanolide. However, the secretions of these glands could also be used for
Venom optimization hypothesis Venom optimization hypothesis Venom optimization hypothesis, also known as venom metering, is a biological hypothesis which postulates that venomous animals have physiological control over their production and use of venoms. It explains the economic use of venom because venom is a metabolically expensive product, and that there is a biological mechanism for controlling their specific use. The hypothetical concept was proposed by Esther Wigger, Lucia Kuhn-Nentwig, and Wolfgang Nentwig of the Zoological Institute at the University of Bern, Switzerland, in 2002. A number of venomous animals have been experimentally found to regulate the amount of venom they use during predation