Bee Pollen - The Best Way to Absorb Multivitamins
What is bee pollen?
Foraging honey bees collect pollen from plants and transport it to the beehive, where it’s stored and used as food for the colony.
Bee Pollen consists of simple sugars, protein, minerals and vitamins, fatty acids, and a small percentage of other components.
Bee pollen is a mixture of flower pollen, nectar, enzymes, honey, wax and bee secretions.
How is bee pollen a SUPERFOOD?
Bee pollen boasts an impressive nutritional profile. The nutritional status of bee pollen varies significantly depending on the flowers from which the pollens were obtained.
Bee pollen contains over 250 biological substances, including protein, carbs, fats, vitamins, minerals, enzymes and antioxidants. It's high in B2, B3 and B5 vitamins and contains other chemicals which bind B vitamins, which is great for vegetarians. Bee pollen helps your cells make energy more reliable.
Unlike multivitamins in capsules, bee pollen is a complete food and therefore the body can fully absorb it's vitamins and minerals.
How do I take bee pollen?
Bee pollen granules can be added to or sprinkled on your favorite foods such as fresh fruits, ice cream, yogurt, granola, cereal, pudding, salad, soup, cookies and smoothies.
Bee Pollen - Improves health and prevents disease
Bee pollen has been used for a long time as a dietary supplement and research backs some of its claims on positive health effects. Bee pollen has anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antimicrobial properties.
It could assist in the treatment of diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular diseases, toxicity, liver injuries, osteoporosis, anemia, cancer, neurological diseases, prostatitis, and menopausal symptoms. It improves immunity, brain health, and reproductive health.
It could be used as a dietary supplement to assist in health improvement and prevention of diseases.
It is important to take this supplement with utmost care and upon medical consultation. It may cause allergic reactions in some people, but otherwise, it is safe for consumption by women, children and elderly.
17 Health Benefits of Bee Pollen
1. Reduces pain and inflammation
Inflammation causes many pathological conditions including arthritis, psoriasis, inflammatory bowel disease, neurological disorders, skin conditions, and others.
Studies have shown that bee pollen has anti-inflammatory properties due to the presence of phospholipids and unsaturated fatty acids.
2. Excellent antioxidant
Bee pollen contains excellent antioxidants which protect the body from toxins and helps in treating diseases caused by oxidative stress.
3. Used to treat microbial infections
Many microbes including bacteria, fungi, and virus are responsible for causing infections and other pathological conditions in humans.
Bee pollen is bactericidal against several strains of bacteria including Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella sp., E. coli, Salmonella enterica and Listeria monocytogenes. and could be used for treating infections caused by these microbes.
4. Aids in the management of diabetes
Bee pollen helps in managing diabetes by having a hypoglycemic (sugar-lowering) effect. Polysaccharides from bee pollen have been shown to alleviate insulin resistance.
Insulin resistance and high blood glucose in patients with diabetes can be treated with the help of bee pollen.
5. Helps in weight loss and prevention of obesity
Obesity is caused by disrupted metabolic profile leading to deposition lipids and sugars in the body as fats. Bee pollen restricts fat deposition and weight gain which is useful for prevention of obesity.
Polysaccharides in bee pollen helps in improving insulin function and lipid metabolism which results in efficient utilization of glucose and triglycerides, preventing their storage as fats.
This aids in regularizing metabolism in diabetes patients and treatment of diabetes. Consumption of bee pollen and honey has shown to decrease lipid levels and assist in losing body weight.
6. Beneficial for the heart
Bee pollen reduces cholesterol levels and decreases the risk of many cardiovascular diseases.
High cholesterol levels in the blood can affect heart health adversely. It leads to the formation of plaque in the arteries which increases the risk of cardiovascular ailments, like atherosclerosis, stroke and heart failure.
Bee pollen has protective effects on heart health due to its cholesterol-lowering properties. Instead, it increases the HDL (High-Density Lipoprotein) cholesterol which benefits the heart and prevents plaque formation.
Due to its ability to prevent atherosclerosis, oxidative stress and high blood pressure, bee pollen can be taken as health supplements for patients with cardiovascular diseases.
7. Helps prevent osteoporosis
Bee pollen increases bone mass and strength which benefits the people with osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is characterized by weak bones that become brittle and tend to break easily. This occurs as a result of decreased bone mass and bone formation. Elderly persons and women are at a higher risk of developing osteoporosis.
Bee pollen increases the bone calcium and phosphate levels which make the bones stronger and decreases bone loss. Factors present in bee pollen stimulate bone formation and the concentration of bone components which help in increasing bone mass.
8. Benefits for anemia
Bee pollen ensures efficient metabolism of iron and other minerals and assists in the treatment of anemia.
Anemia occurs due to decreased numbers of red blood cells and hemoglobin. This is often caused by deficiencies of nutrients like iron and vitamin B12. It can also happen as a result of the body’s inability to utilize the nutrients properly.
Bee pollen can be useful for persons with anemia as it can increase the absorption and utilization of digested iron and increase hemoglobin levels.
It also increases the metabolism of other minerals like phosphorous, calcium and magnesium. Thus, they help in preventing and managing the adverse effects of iron-deficiency in the body.
9. Assist in cancer prevention and treatment
Cancer is caused by the uncontrolled division of certain cells which increases their number and causes the formation of a cell mass called Tumor. This may happen in any tissue or organ of the body.
Bee pollen prevents growth and proliferation of tumor cells and combats oxidative stress which aids in cancer prevention. It also prevents mutations in the DNA. It reverses the toxic effects of cancer drugs and restricts nutrient supply to cancer cells.
10. Improves immunity
Bee pollen stimulates the body’s immune response and prevents immunological disorders.
The immune system protects our body from diseases and infections. It helps in tackling any harmful foreign substance or organism that might enter the body.
Polysaccharides from bee pollen assist in stimulating the immune system. They promote phagocytosis (engulfing and killing) of antigens and microbes by macrophages (immune cells).
They increase the proliferation of immune organ cells which enhances their functional capacity. They also activate the NK (Natural Killer) cells which help in the killing of microbes, cancer cells, and other harmful substances.
11. Helps in the prevention of allergies
Bee pollen inhibits the immune cells which cause allergic reactions.
Allergies occur in certain people due to hypersensitivity towards the immune system, which is caused by exposure to certain foods, medications, insect stings, and some other substances.
The symptoms may include fever, rashes, inflammation, swelling, redness, sneezing and breathing problems.
Bee pollen contains phenols which also have anti-inflammatory nature and help in reducing swelling. They also inhibit the migration of immune cells and the production of immunoglobulins which trigger an allergic reaction. Mast cells, a type of white blood cells (WBCs) also play a vital role in allergic reactions and anaphylaxis. Studies have shown that bee pollen inhibits the activation of these mast cells. Flavonoids in bee pollen have anti-allergic potential and could be used for the treatment of allergic disorders.
However, bee pollen can cause allergic reactions in some people and the possibility of bee pollen allergy should not be ruled out.
12. Enhances brain health and prevents neurological diseases
Bee pollen reduces toxicity in the brain, improves memory and assists in the treatment of depression, syringomyelia, and multiple sclerosis.
Excessive stimulation of some neurotransmitters like glutamate in the brain causes excitotoxicity which damages and kills the nerve cells.
This could lead to stroke, spinal cord injury, brain injury, depression, loss of memory and many other neurodegenerative diseases.
Bee pollen is capable of reversing the effects of glutamate excitotoxicity and impairing glutamate functioning, which could prevent the occurrence of many brain disorders.
Bee pollen is beneficial for mental health and promotes the well-being of the nervous system. It improves blood supply to the nervous system and strengthens the nerve cells which get weakened by stress and toxins.
Bee Pollen could prevent autism, treat depression, improve memory and it’s good for people with multiple sclerosis and Syringomyelia.
13. Improves nutrition levels in the elderly
Older individuals usually suffer from malnutrition due to decreased absorption. This leads to weakness, loss of body weight and muscle mass.
Bee pollen, when included in the diet of elder persons, may help in improving the metabolism which will result in increased absorption of nutrients. This, in turn, increases nutrition levels, protein synthesis, and muscle mass.
14. Aids combating toxicity and promotes liver health
Bee pollen aids in the removal of toxins and promotes liver health. The liver helps in the detoxification of the body by removing chemicals, toxins, and drugs that would otherwise harm the body.
Some toxins and drugs may damage the liver cells and cause liver cirrhosis. Also, excess fat deposition in the liver leads to the occurrence of Fatty Liver disease.
Bee pollen assists in removing toxins and thus helps the liver in detoxifying the body.
Carbon tetrachloride is another chemical present in pesticides, cleaning agents and refrigerants. It is the cause of hepatitis (liver damage) and liver cancer. Bee pollen has been found to promote the healing of liver cells damaged by carbon tetrachloride toxicity.
15. Good for persons with prostatitis
Prostatitis refers to the swelling and inflammation of the prostate gland in men. This causes painful urination and pain in the pelvic area. It may be caused by a bacterial infection or pelvic injury.
Phytotherapy or use of herbal medicines has been found to be effective in the treatment of prostatitis.
This includes cernilton and quercetin, which are extracts from bee pollen.
Thus, bee pollen can be used as complementary medicine to assist in prostatitis treatment especially when allopathic medicines are unable to provide positive results.
16. Contributes to better reproductive health
Bee pollen improves the health of both mother and fetus and enhances fertility.
A study reports the beneficial effects of bee pollen as it increases the body weight of the females (animal models), conception rate, milk production, biochemical profile of blood, infant growth and survival rate.
In another study, bee pollen assisted in increasing the hemoglobin, protein, iron and albumin levels of the mother.
In fetuses, it increased the body weight and decreased the death rate, without affecting fetal development and causing any malformations.
17. Helps in the treatment of menopausal symptoms
Bee pollen alleviates menopausal symptoms in women.
Menopause occurs at a stage in woman’s life, usually after 40 years of age, when the reproductive capacity decreases due to the lowering of levels of certain hormones. This has other physiological and psychological effects on the body like hot flashes, urinogenital problems, urinary tract infections, depression, sleep disorders, mood swings and other changes in skin and hair.
Melbrosia, a herbal supplement containing bee pollen has been found to be beneficial in the treatment of several menopausal symptoms and could be used as an alternative to hormone therapy. Similarly, in another study conducted on 46 breast cancer patients, 71% patients reported positive results while consuming bee pollen.