I get wind a lot about bee pollen lately as asuperfoodingredient and a wellness supplement , but what exactly is it ? And what does it do ? Bee pollen has a whole host of amazing wellness benefits . The Benevolent Beeherself , Stephanie Bruneau , is here today to instruct us all about how bee pollen is made and why it matters .
For more heavy selective information on bees and bee products , you ’ve got to check out Stephanie ’s fabulous bookThe Benevolent Bee : Capture the Bounty of the Hive through Science , History , Home Remedies , and Craft .
What is Pollen?
By Stephanie Bruneau
Pollen is a flush ’s way of life of progress to more peak . cereal of pollen are a industrial plant ’s manlike sex cells , and wind or insects carry the grain from one prime to another , control hereditary diversity . sure inflorescence industrial plant have produce in a way that ’s attractive and beneficial to bees in a process of coevolution . The flora bring home the bacon nutrient - robust pollen and fresh nectar , and in go , the bees ’ haired bodies and behaviors efficiently transfer pollen from bloom to bloom .
When forager bees leave the beehive to collect pollen , they are very close to one type of bloom on each visit , never visiting dissimilar inflorescence plants on the same head trip . This evolutionary adaptation means that bee will bring apple blossom pollen to another apple peak , where it is take for pollenation , and not a rose , where it will do no goodness . It also have in mind that each pollen granule that bee get back to the hive is uniform in color . Looking at a collecting of pollen granules reminds me of wait closely at Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin . From a distance , the varied colors and textures of the grains blend together , but shut up it ’s gentle to see a wide range of a function of colors .
Pollen is important for plants , but it ’s also crucial for bees . Pollen is the source of all protein , productive , vitamins , and delineate elements in the Apis mellifera ’s diet , and it is feed to both the grownup bee in the beehive as well as the modernize larvae . Because the queen can lay up to 1,500 eggs a day in the early summer , there can be as many as 30,000 ( ! ) originate larvae require protein to grow into bees . In one twelvemonth , a hive of bee take about 75 pounds ( 34 kg ) of pollen . It takes roughly one million collection trips out of the hive to gather this one-year provision .
Bees collect pollen on separate trips from nectar - collecting excursions , bring down flowers that have the most alimentary and easiest to collect pollen , which can be different from the best flowers for collecting nectar . On each tripper from the hive , a forager bee roll up pollen will visit between ten and one hundred flowers , and will make up to twenty trips per sidereal day . With forelegs dampen with saliva , she disentangle the pollen that collects on her fuzzy consistency and labor it into a diminutive cavity on the outside of each hind leg . The spit and a bit of nectar moisten the pollen grains and facilitate them keep together , and the tiny hairs on the bee ’s pegleg help hold the granule in shoes .
Back in the hive , house bees serve the foragers discharge the pollen into cell of honeycomb . These household bees further mix the pollen with more spittle ( incorporate enzymes from the bee ’s stomach ) and ambrosia . These tally ingredients pop breaking down and work the pollen , making it digestible for the bee . At this stage , the pollen has been turned into the super alimentary , probiotic staple fiber of the honeybee ’s diet , “ bee loot . ”
Pollen for Nutrition, Health, and Wellness
C. Leigh Broadhurst , an expert in environmental remedy and trace element in the environment and food supply , said , “ All of the health benefits you ’ve ever heard assign to plant foods — from blueberries to Brassica oleracea italica to garlic — can be contained in a single pollen basket . ” Indeed , Broadhurst is correct . It is a bit of an understatement to merely say that pollen is highly alimentary . Pollen is full of an alphabet of vitamin and every trace factor know to be essential for mammals ( although some are present in very small measure ) . Pollen also incorporate eleven enzymes and coenzyme ; fourteen fatty dose ; and several strong phytochemicals ( plant - derived chemical ) , specifically carotenoids and phenolics such as flavonoids and phytosterols , valued for their antioxidant properties .
Pollen contains 12 to 40 percent protein by system of weights ( depending on the pollen source ) , and unlike most plant - based protein , it has a full spectrum of amino Elvis , make its protein balanced and unadulterated .
Chock - full of these nourishing and wellness - encourage elements , pollen has been found to be helpful in so many ways :
Athletes ( and old-hat parents ) can expend pollen to boost energy and stamina . The flavonoids in pollen can aid lower cholesterin and boil down inflammation , helping prevent marrow disease . powerfully antioxidant , pollen can help neutralize the free radical that damage the cells in our bodies .
The wide grasp of nutrient and suggestion constituent found in pollen helps advance overall health and exemption . Pollen contains the phytochemical rutin , which strengthen stock vessels and capillaries . This can avail with varicose vein , haemorrhoid , and hypertension .
Several scientific subject area have shown pollen to be utilitarian in deal continuing prostatitis ( ignition of the prostate gland gland ) .
Pollen contains lecithin , which is used medically for cover high cholesterin , anxiety , and memory disorder such as dementia and Alzheimer ’s disease . Lecithin is also used to help see to it body system of weights . Eaten before a meal , pollen can help boost metabolism and minimize food cravings .
Printed with license fromThe Benevolent Bee : catch the Bounty of the Hive through Science , account , Home Remedies , and Craftby Stephanie Bruneau © 2017 . Published by Quarry Books . Photography courtesy of Quarry Books .
Stephanie Bruneau is a beekeeper , environmental educator , amateur herbalist , artist , lady of the house , and mama to two junior beekeepers in training . She is passionate about bee , natural life , and call down healthy , originative , and well-chosen tike . Together with her husband , Emile , Stephanie runsThe Benevolent Bee , a small business selling honey , beeswax standard candle , herbal physical structure care products , and other handcraft and beehive - derive items . At the Benevolent Bee “ Teaching Apiary ” Stephanie respect , learns , and teach about bees and bee conduct to students of all age .
Love Pollinators? So Do We!
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