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Bee Pollen Benefits
Bee pollen benefits have been used for improving health and wellness since ancient times and were well known to the Egyptians, Romans, and Greeks! For centuries bee pollen has been consumed by many cultures not only for its numerous therapeutic properties in treating disease but as a significant source of nourishment. It’s highly nutritious whole-food nature has earned it a ‘super-food’ status along with titles like “Food of the gods”. Bee pollen is one of the most nutritious foods on the planet! It is a highly concentrated package of all the essential nutritional components that you need to live! Hippocrates (460 – 377 B.C.), the first physician to concentrate on preventing disease as well as treating it, wrote of the benefits of bee pollen. Western trained doctors in Europe have, over the last century, prescribed bee pollen to treat bacterial and viral infections, along with colds and flues (due to its antibiotic properties). More recently, physicians and scientist’s world wide have begun taking a much closer look at bee pollen benefits in treating a wide range of medical conditions.
Bee pollen is created by bees from the pollen of the male stamen of flowers. Worker bees collect and transport the pollen granules back to their nest within specially arranged hairs on their hind legs called ‘pollen baskets’. Since bee pollen derives from plant origin its chemical composition will vary somewhat depending on plant source, season and geographic location. Approximately 50% of its structure comprises polysaccharides (carbohydrates), followed by 35% amino acids and proteins, 2% fatty acids and 3% minerals and vitamins. Pollen contains over 5,000 enzymes and co-enzymes, far more than is naturally present in any other food! Bee pollen is denser in protein than any source from animals. This can provide a much safer source of protein without the worry of high intakes of saturated fats (not to mention the numerous established links between animal proteins and cancer). Bee pollen is a concentrated source of the B vitamin complex – this provides energy. This is why bee pollen products are usually marketed as energy supplements or ‘energizers’. The vitamin B complex, along with vitamins A, C, D, E, selenium, lecithin and powerful phytochemicals (carotenoids and bioflavonoids) make bee pollen a potent source of antioxidants. The various therapeutic health benefits of bee pollen are believed to largely stem from the antioxidant and disease preventing/curing properties of bioflavonoids and carotenoids.
Bee pollen is similar to a number of unique medicinal herbs and herbal extracts in that it offers multiple health benefits which have been thoroughly documented over many years. The most common of these benefits are:
Apitherapy, a recognized form of complementary and alternative medicine, involves the use of bee products to prevent or heal medical conditions. Apitherapy recognizes all bee pollen benefits and is used in the treatment and cure of over 500 diseases and illnesses! Chinese medicine has also recognized bee pollen benefits for thousands of years. Practitioners, especially those in Europe, also prescribe bee pollen for hay fever or allergic rhinitis as well as mouth sores, rheumatism, painful urination, prostate conditions and radiation sickness. Besides being most well known as a natural energy booster, bee pollen supplements are also popular as weight loss products. The pollen acts on the hypothalamus in the brain which controls dietary drive and this leads to a feeling of fullness. Appetite is naturally suppressed! Additionally, bee pollen contains lecithin which both stimulates and normalizes poor metabolism, and aids in dissolution of body fats. Bee pollen is popular with athletes because it is believed to positively impact on endurance, strength, and speed. A common belief is that bee pollen enhances recovery from a training load and improves endurance for repeat exertion. Unfortunately there has been little clinical research to support this. Study at Louisiana State University revealed no significant improvement in either training or performance. Despite the lack of scientific back-up to support bee pollen benefits for enhanced sporting performance, it is nonetheless in widespread use by many high performance athletes and those interested in sustaining and enhancing performance. And so the list of bee pollen benefits goes on. Bee pollen has been shown to be effective in lowering cholesterol levels in many people! Since a large percentage of the adult population have dangerously high cholesterol levels, this bee pollen benefit is appealing to many. Consumer reports from satisfied users most commonly refer to bee pollen benefits such as improved night vision, relief from chronic fatigue syndrome, better immune function, improved memory and alertness, reduction of chronic symptoms and allergies, relief of certain skin disorders, improved skin appearance, and of course more vitality and energy. It seems fair to say that for many people bee pollen benefits extend into virtually every area of their health and well being. From a preventative health care perspective there is an ever increasing upward trend in the use of bee pollen for nourishment and the enhancement of overall wellness. Since bee pollen contains all the nutrients needed to sustain life, health conscious consumers have readily adopted its use as a functional and complete food. Note: Bee pollen benefits, although substantial, should not be relied upon predominantly as a replacement for good dietary and health practices!
Like the disease curing benefits of many legendary herbs, bee pollen benefits are based mostly on anecdotal evidence and user experiences over many years. Most major clinical studies to date have been unable to offer a scientific basis for the numerous recorded health benefits of bee pollen. The absence of conclusive scientific evidence in respective of bee pollen benefits should not however be seen to negate centuries of documented health improvement from the use of bee pollen and other bee products. Certainly the highly nutritious composition of bee pollen is not in dispute. Researchers at the Russian Institute of Apiculture state: “Honeybee pollen is the richest source of vitamins found in nature in a single food. Even if bee pollen had none of its other vital ingredients, its content of rutin alone would justify taking at least a teaspoon daily, if for no other reason than strengthening the capillaries. Pollen is extremely rich in rutin and may have the highest content of any source, plus it provides a high content of the nucleics RNA [ribonucleic acid] and DNA [deoxyribonucleic acid]."
Two minor side effects which can occur in people taking bee pollen are nausea or stomach upsets. On a more serious note you should be aware that pollen from some plants may be responsible for severe allergic reactions. (1-4) If you are considering taking bee pollen for the first time you need to establish whether you are allergic to bees or any specific pollens. Of equal concern is the worry about potential contamination in bee pollen from heavy metals or pesticides. It is well known that many of the commercially available bee pollens have high levels of contaminants from insecticides or from general air pollution. Most bee pollen granules in supplements are sourced from the USA and/or China. Independent laboratories frequently find traces of heavy metals present in these bee pollens as a direct result of air pollution. So when purchasing a bee pollen supplement you need to consider the source of the pollen! Mountainous areas, national parks etc are the pollution-free sources you want.
The supplement marketplace is saturated with bee pollen products promising the strongest of bee pollen benefits. One of the problems with ‘normal’ bee pollen is that most of the raw bee pollen granules pass through the digestive system intact with only a very small percentage of their active ingredients becoming bioavailable. It is estimated that on average only around five percent of the active ingredients in bee pollen supplements are absorbed by your body! This means that to receive the health advantage of all bee pollen benefits, users have had to take large quantities of bee pollen supplements. This is costly and offers poor value for money!
There is one product I’d like to recommend to you that contains bee pollen which is quite different from that found in most products. It’s called Natural Energy and it comes from the Xtend-Life company in New Zealand. If you’ve read through a lot of the other pages in this site you’ll already know a bit about Xtend-Life and why they’re the leader in the nutritional supplement industry. Their flagship product
Total Balance
won my review battle of the best multi ingredient health supplements.
Xtend-Life's Natural Energy is a supplement that I recommend to you with the utmost confidence. This is a state of the art supplement for those looking for a pure, professional grade supplement formulated by a bio-scientist. The bee pollen benefits you’ve just read about are not negated by contaminants but are enhanced by the addition of compatible ingredients. Please follow this link if you would like more details about this .
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