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Bee Pollen Uses in Food:
The major use of pollen today is as a
food or, more correctly, as a food supplement. As stated earlier its
likely value as a food for humans is frequently overstated and has
never been proven in controlled experiments. That it is not a
perfect food, as stated on many advertisements, food packages and
even in various non-scientific publications should be obvious. Its
low content or absence of the fat soluble vitamins should be
sufficient scientific evidence. This does not mean that its
consumption may not be beneficial, as has been shown scientifically
with various animal diets.
Pollen has been added to diets for
domestic animals and laboratory insects resulting in improvements of
health, growth and food conversion rates (Crane, 1990;
Schmidt and Buchmann, 1992). Chickens exhibited improved food
conversion efficiency with the addition of only 2.5% pollen to a
balanced diet (Costantini & Ricciardelli d'Albore, 1971) as did
piglets (Salajan, 1970). Beekeepers too, feed their colonies with
pure pollen, pollen supplements or pollen substitutes, during
periods with limited natural pollen sources. The relatively high
cost of pollen suggests the need for a detailed feasibility analysis
of pollen as food additive or supplement.
Only a good mixture of different
species of pollen can provide the average values mentioned in the
tables describing the composition of pollen. The real value of
diversity of pollen content, however, lies in the balance of these
nutrients and the synergistic effect of the diversity as well as
more subtle effects or characteristics related to their origin
rather than their quantitative presence. Those very subtle
characteristics and sensitive compounds are easily lost with
improper storage and processing, something to carefully watch when
making or buying quality products containing "bee" pollen.
 The
stimulative effect of pollen and its possible improvement of food
conversion in humans as well as animals, should be of particular
interest to those who have an unbalanced or deficient diet. There
are no hard scientific data to back
up this information, but a detailed study might show tremendous
potential benefit to a very large portion of human society. The only
serious problem with incorporating pollen in foods like candy bars,
sweets, desserts, breakfast cereals, tablets and even honey is the
widespread allergic susceptibility of people to pollen from a wide
variety of species.
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