Bee Pollen - The Perfect Food?

Natural organic bee pollen is said to contain every single nutrient needed to sustain human life. Bee pollen contains over 100 recognized beneficial nutrients and provides numerous health benefits. Bee pollen is widely available as a health supplement but can also be bought and eaten as bee pollen granules making it ideal for a raw food diet.

What Is Bee Pollen?

Bee pollen is the primary food source for honey bees. It is flower pollen that bees collect for food. It is a natural food product collected by honeybees from a wide variety of plants as it goes about gathering nectar.

Bee pollen granules are small and light, roughly 2-3mm in diameter. Mainly golden in colour, true organic bee pollen ranges from pale yellow through to brown, purple, to almost black grains, reflecting the true variety of plants visited by the bees. They have a slightly sweet, earthy taste.

Bee pollen is not to be confused with natural flower pollen which doesn't contain the enzymes secreted by the bees to make it digestible to humans.

How is Bee Pollen Harvested?

When the bees arrive at the flowers they select the best pollen from the millions of grain available. The individual pollen grains (the male reproductive part of the flower) are tiny, roughly 2.5 billion grains can fit into a teaspoon! They scrape the pollen from the stamen of the flower, collecting the grains into pollen sacs on their legs.

The pollen grains are held together with a sticky enzyme secreted from the bee's stomach. When the bees pollen 'baskets' are full, they return to the hive. At the entrance of the hive a 'pollen trap' is constructed which the bee must pass through. As it brushes past, some of the granules are collected and late they can can be harvested for human consumption.

This method does not harm the bees in any way and only a small proportion of the bee pollen is collected, leaving plenty for the bees to feast on. It is estimated that it takes one bee working 8 hours a day, a whole month to collect a teaspoon of bee pollen granules.

Bee Pollen Health Benefits

Natural bee pollen is often referred to as nature's perfect food. It's complex blend of protein, amino acids and minerals provide virtually all of the body's nutritional needs in a highly bio-available form. Athletes have used fresh organic bee pollen for improving strength, endurance, mental clarity and stamina.

Although the chemical breakdown of pollen has been studied thousands of times, there still remain some unidentifiable trace elements that modern scientists have yet to understand. The beneficial components of organic bee pollen that have been identified so far include:

18 amino acids (these cannot be manufactured by the body),
27 vitamins
28 minerals
11 enzymes and co-enzymes
24 beneficial fatty acids and
11 healthy carbohydrates

In addition to these superfood qualtilties , bee pollen is higher in edible protein than beef, eggs and cheese, low in calories and is an iron-rich food.

Shopping For Bee Pollen

Bee pollen products are not all equal in nutritional value. It is still considered a speciality food and you are unlikely to find it in your local supermarket. It is important that you source the highest quality organic fresh bee pollen either from a health food supplier or an online merchant as the nutrient value can be greatly affected by improper harvesting, shipping and storage methods.

Make sure you don't buy flower pollen. This is a completely different product which has none of the superior benefits that are added by the honeybee. Bee pollen can be bought frozen but must be kept dry if it is for human consumption. Under no circumstances must bee pollen be heat treated as this will 'kill' many of the nutrient benefits.

Bee Pollen Allergy

It is estimated that up to 5% of Americans suffer from some kind of pollen allergy. The reactions differ according to the individual but people have developed conditions such as hives, asthma and even anaphylactic shock after ingesting bee pollen products.

Ironically, bee pollen tablets are sometimes marketed as a cure for other types of allergy. If you are concerned about your allergy status regarding bee pollen, try ingesting just a single bee pollen granule to measure any possible side effects. If there are no adverse reactions, you can gradually build up your daily intake.

Bee Pollen For Weight Loss

Many claims have been made about the 'magical' properties of bee pollen. Using bee pollen for weight loss is such an idea. The complex blend of nutrients are said to have a stabilizing effect on the body's metabolic rate. This has the effect of regulating your weight control, achieving weight loss for the overweight and weight gain for the underweight.