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The effects
and benefits derived from pollen consumption, according to some of the
non-scientific literature on the subject are endless. Many people
report improvement of sometimes chronic problems. Most of the major
ailments reported to improve with pollen preparations are listed in
Table 1. However, one should be aware that the benefits reported are
not usually from scientific studies but are merely personal
experiences without any medical or other scientific investigation of
claims. Sometimes the disappearance of symptoms was witnessed by
physicians, but the reasons for such cures were not confirmed
through further investigations Table 1
Non-scientific claims and reports of
benefits, cures or improvements derived from the use or consumption
of bee-collected pollen.
|
Improvements |
Cures of benefits |
|
Athletic preformance |
Cancer in animals |
|
Digestive assimilation |
Colds |
|
Rejuvenation |
Acne |
|
General vitality |
Male sterility a |
|
Skin vitality |
Anaemia b |
|
Appetite b |
High blood pressure b |
|
Haemoglobin content b |
Nervous and endocrine disorders b |
|
Sexual prowess |
Ulcers |
|
Performances (of a race horse) |
|
a Ridi et al., 1960
b Sharma and Singh, 1980
Scientific evidence
The only long-term observations on the
medicinal effect of pollen are related to prostate problems
and allergies. Several decades of observations in Western
European countries and a few clinical tests have shown pollen to be
effective in treating prostate problems ranging from infections and
swelling to cancer (Denis, 1966 and Ask-Upmark, 1967).
Supplementation of animal diets with
pollen has shown positive weight gain and other beneficial
effects for piglets, calves, broiler chickens and laboratory
cultures of insect.
Certain bacteriostatic effects have
been demonstrated (Chauvin et al, 1952) but this is attributed to
the addition of glucose oxidase (the same enzyme responsible for
most antibacterial action in honey) by the honeybee when it mixes
regurgitated honey or nectar with the pollen (Dustmann and Gunst,
1982). Therefore, this activity varies between pollen pellets and is
much higher in beebread. A very slight antibacterial effect can also
be detected in pollen collected by hand (Lavie, 1968).
There is some evidence that ingested
pollen can protect animals as well as humans against the adverse
effects of x-ray radiation treatments (Wang et al., 1984;
Hernuss et al., 1975, as cited in Schmidt and Buchmann, 1992).
See also:
Uses of
Bee Pollen for Pollution Monitoring
Bee Pollen
Allergies-Hay Fever
Beebread: Pollen
Stored by Honey Bees
Uses of Bee
Pollen In Cosmetics
Uses of
Bee Pollen In Crop Pollination
Bee Pollen Uses in Food
Bee Pollen Uses in
Medicine
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