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The Benefits of Bee Pollen

By Ben Mester

Republish: EasyPublish™
Published: 11Nov2010
Word count: 565
Viewed: 234 time(s)

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In doing research on the benefits of honey, I began to stumble across the many benefits of bee pollen as well. Prior to my research, I had no idea that people consumed bee pollen as a nutritional supplement, nor that it was so nutritious. But before we get into all that, let's first take a look at what exactly pollen is.

Pollen is the male reproductive germ seed that fertilizes and pollinates the female counterpart. It's very abundant in flowers and each pollen seed is very very small, microscopic in fact. The outer casing of each seed is nearly impenetrable, and definitely indigestible to humans. It needs to be processed in some way before the nutrients inside can be unlocked. Bees bring pollens back to their hive and use a special enzyme in order to unlock the nutrients buried inside and use them for honey, royal jelly, and other nutritional substances. The benefits of bee pollen are many, but there are also a lot of disputes as to the effectiveness of the different brands out there which we will discuss in detail later.

**If you are allergic to bees, consult a physician before taking pollen supplements

What are some of the benefits of bee pollen? Bee pollen is said to contain all of the nutrients vital to life. Some proponents claim that a person could live almost entirely off the nutrients in bee pollen and not suffer malnutrition. It has been called the perfect food and producers of bee pollen claim that it:

Boosts vitality and energy, boosts the metabolism, contains all the major antioxidants, contains all the vital amino acids, and contains many different vitamins

The real question is how do we unlock these nutrients from the tough outer shell? Because of the fact that each grain is so microscopic and has a very strong casing, many persons are skeptical that the benefits of bee pollen can even be utilized by the body. Bees need a special enzyme in order to break down the pollen's outer shell in order to get to the nutrients inside, but what about humans. Are the digestive enzymes and acids in the stomach strong enough to break down the tough outer casing of the bee pollen? Studies have shown that the stomach has some effectiveness on the shell, though many of the nutrients are not able to be absorbed and utilized. That's why many people prefer getting their bee pollen through other methods.

One such method is by harvesting directly from the flower. Flower pollen is a different substance from bee pollen in that it's gathered directly from the field and is processed chemically in order to break down the outer casing. The most popular brand is Swedish flower pollen which claims to use a kind of special fermentation to break down the outer shell and deliver the inner nutrients unharmed. The benefit of this process is that it doesn't use harsh chemicals in order to extract the nutrients of the flower pollen.

Another method of absorbing and utilizing bee pollen is to get it in raw organic honey. Rich, raw honey contains some of the bee pollen that the bees used in order to produce the honey itself. Raw honey is very nutritious and healthy, and is a great substitute for processed sugar. Plus, honey has many healthy benefits itself, and is even used medically to treat wounds.

Thanks for checking out this article about the benefits of bee pollen. For more information about bee pollen, check out my other article about a specific type of flower pollen.

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