International Journal of Pharmacy & Bio-Sciences IJPBS 14|Volume 3|Issue 1|2016 1 Review Article THERAPEUTIC USES OF MOM ZARD (BEESWAX) IN UNANI SYSTEM OF MEDICINE - A REVIEW Shamim Khan 1 , Qamrul Hasan Lari 2 , Mahmood Ahmad Khan 3 1 Medical Officer, Govt. Unani Dispensary, Kota, Rajasthan, India 2 Lecturer, Department of Kulliyat, State Takmeel-ut-Tib College,Lucknow, India 3 Unani Expert, TKDL, Unit Neeri, CSIR, New Delhi, India Correspondence should be addressed to Shamim Khan Received June 08, 2016; Accepted August 14, 2016; Published September 02, 2016; Copyright: © 2016 Shamim Khan et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Cite This Article: Khan, S., Lari, Q., Khan, M.(2016). Therapeutic Uses of Mom Zard (Beeswax) in Unani System of Medicine - A Review. International Journal of Pharmacy & Bio-Sciences, 3(1).1-4 ABSTRACT Mom Zard (beeswax) is an animal source of origin medicine which is secreted by wax glands of honey bees. Since ancient periods Unani physicians have been using it as medicinal purpose orally as well as topically as a base of Qairooti (oil+beeswax), Zamad (paste) and Marham (ointment). Ibn-e-Sina (Avicenna) stated that Mom Zard has mainly talyeen (aperient), tahleel-e-auram (resolution of inflammations) and indemal (healing) properties. The effects of mom zard can be attributed to the presence of palmitate, palmitoleate and oleate esters and triacontanyl palmitateto cerotic acid. The aim of this paper is to highlight the pharmacological actions and therapeutic applications of the Mom Zard as per descriptions in Unani literatures. KEYWORDS: Mom Zard, Anti-inflammatory activity, Healing activity, Anti-hemorrhoid Activity INTRODUCTION Mom Zard (beeswax) is an animal source of origin medicine which is secreted by wax glands of honey bees. The ancient Persians used wax to embalm the dead, while the ancient Romans modeled death masks and life-size effigies from beeswax. The world mummy derives from a Persian word meaning wax. In ancient times beeswax was used as an adhesive to join two surfaces together [1]. The great Greek physician Discorides wrote of rolling beeswax into sheets which was then used to make artificial flowers [1]. The Greek-Roman doctor Galen (2 nd AD) used beeswax in a cooling ointment. The famous Iranian physician Avicenna (10 th AD) recommended beeswax for medicine [1, 2]. The Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote between 344 and 342 B.C. that beeswax originates in the flowers. This theory, which was supported by the Roman apiculturists and writers Varro (116 to 27 B.C.) and Pliny, the Elder (23 to 79 A.D.), predominated until the Renaissance. Swammmerdam wrote in 1673 that wax was prepared by bees from pollen. In 1684 Martin John observed for the first time wax scales. In 1744 the German scientist Hornbostel reported that bees themselves produce the wax [3]. This report was not considered by the scientific community until the publications by Hunter in 1792 and in 1814 by Huber [4-5]. Hunter noted that bees secrete wax and build combs, and also, that newly built combs are white [4]. He observed that bees do not need pollen to make wax [4]. The views of Hunter were expanded by Huber, who proposed that sugar is needed to produce wax [5]. In 1903 the process of wax synthesis was described in detail by Dreyling [6]. Bees wax is used for cosmetics 25-30%, pharmacy 25-30 %, candles: 20 % and other purposes: 10-20 % [7].Cosmetic applications are found in cold creams, moisturizing cream, depilatories (hair removers cream), hair creams, hair conditioners, lip balm, natural lip gloss, www.advancejournals.org Open Access Scientific Publisher