About Bee Pollen

Used for its health benefits since 2735 B.C., Hippocrates believed in the healing powers of bee pollen. Bee pollen is an aggregate mixture of pollen from different flowers. Flower pollen comes from the male part of the blossom, called the stamen. It is a powder-like substance that transports DNA from plant to plant to enable reproduction.

Creation

As bees go about their day collecting flower nectar to make honey, they pick up pollen granules. The bees carry granules of pollen in pollen sacs attached to their hind legs. To collect the bee pollen, beekeepers cover the opening of the hive with a screen featuring holes just big enough for the bees to enter. When the bees crawl through, the screen squeezes their pollen from the pollen sacs, and it sticks to the screen. The beekeeper then collects it.

FDA

Despite claims that bee pollen has therapeutic properties, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regards bee pollen as a food and does not endorse it as a remedy for any health condition. The FDA sent U.S. marshalls to seize bottles of bee pollen that made misleading and illegal health claims from a Wisconsin manufacturer on March 31, 2010.

Nutritional Information

The Vanderbilt University Health Psychology program provides a list of nutrients contained in bee pollen. According to Vanderbilt, vitamins contained in bee pollen include thiamine, riboflavin, niacin and folic acid, along with vitamins C, D, E and K. The list of minerals includes boron, calcium, copper, magnesium, potassium, sodium and sulfur. A number of amino acids are also present, including lysine, cystine and tryptophan.

Hay Fever

Bee pollen is commonly touted as a natural hay fever preventative, but no scientific evidence backs this claim. The string of logic here is your body will build immunity to the pollen if you eat it. The New York University Langone Medical Center suggests ingesting local bee pollen for this purpose but warns that those with pollen allergies are susceptible to allergic reactions.

Allergic Reaction

Bee pollen, when used as a food supplement, can cause a severe and potentially fatal allergic reaction known as anaphylaxis, according to an article published by "Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology." Patients with unknown sensitization to pollen of certain plants, including but not limited to ragweed and rye grass, can experience an allergic reaction after eating only a small amount of bee pollen.