## 4 Discussion
In this sense, not only specialists should get involved but also beekeepers who are directly interested in their promotion. Apart from honey, the most consumed bee products were propolis (44.2% of the respondents) and bee pollen (29.2% of the respondents). Regarding the consumption of honey and bee products, 34.2% of the respondents stated that they intended to increase it, 32.4% indicated that it was possible, and 20.2% did not know. As regards the quality of honey as a sweetener, 81.7% of the respondents considered it one of the healthiest sweeteners, and 95.7% trusted its therapeutic properties. The most important sources of information regarding the therapeutic properties of honey were the Internet (53.7% of the respondents used it), producers (38.6%), and health specialists (37.2%). As for the consumption of supplements with honey or bee products, only 13.4% of the respondents frequently used them, and 56.8% sometimes used them; the most consumed products were lozenges (55.8%) and syrups (36%). Among the dermato-cosmetic preparations with bee products, the most used, according to the answers received, were creams, soaps, and cosmetic masks. In the sample of those questioned, 19.8% frequently used honey or bee products for therapeutic purposes, while 62.1% sometimes used them, mainly for strengthening the immune system and respiratory diseases but very little for healing wounds. However, it is known that honey is an excellent healing agent. From these data, we find that it is necessary to promote information related to other therapeutic effects of honey and bee products, especially since 57.8% of the respondents claimed to know that the constant consumption of quality honey and bee products would have a beneficial effect on their health, and 51.6% believed that administering these products together with traditional medication would help in better and faster recovery. The main reasons that restricted the consumption of honey and beekeeping products among the respondents were the diet, the lack of confidence in the quality of the products, and the high price. Although, in general, there are no restrictions imposed by the state of health, 90.5% of the respondents declared that they had no health problems that would prevent them from consuming honey. The participants in the questionnaire were aware of the fact that honey and beekeeping products can be affected by pollution (69.2%), and the main contaminants were considered to be pesticides. That is why when buying beekeeping products, they put more emphasis on quality (87.4%) and less on price or promotional offers. The quality of the container was also considered, as 62.3% of the respondents believed that the packaging can affect the quality of beekeeping products, and 77.3% chose beekeeping products packaged in glass containers. There are studies that evaluate the consumption of honey and bee products in the specialized literature. In a study from Turkey, published in 2019, a poor adherence of consumers was found for beekeeping products other than honey due to the lack of information related to the therapeutic potential of these products and also a lack of consumer confidence in the purchase of honey from certain distribution units due to the increased risk of falsification, data that are consistent with the results of our study [52]. Another study carried out based on the dissemination of a questionnaire, published in 2020, analyzed the reasons that restricted the use of honey for therapeutic purposes among the female population in Germany and highlighted a close correlation between the quality of honey and the degree of its use in therapy so that, in general, among the sorts certified, the organic ones were the most used for therapeutic purposes [53]. In 2021, a study was also published based on a questionnaire among the population in Indonesia that aimed to identify the frequency of consumption and the reasons that restrict the consumption of honey among the population of the West Java region.