Subject: Bee pollen (fwd)

From: [email-masked] (Larry London)
Date: 5 Dec 1994 04:58:33 GMT

>From  [email-masked] Sun Dec  4 21:04:32 EST 1994
Article: 7029 of alt.folklore.herbs
From: [email-masked] (Paul Magnuson) 
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.herbs
Subject: Bee Pollen question  
Date: 3 Dec 94 06:16:00 GMT
Organization: Digitec Online - South Africa
Reply-To: [email-masked] (Paul Magnuson) 

Jennifer) writes:
>I know it's not exactly an herb, but can someone please explain to me 
>just what "bee pollen" is? [text deleted]

Hi Jennifer

I apologise if this is the last in a bunch of replies, but I don't clear
my mailbox that often.  Bee pollen is pollen produced by flowers, and
collected by bees.  That's the simple part.  Thereafter, it may be one
of two rather different entities.

Worker honeybees' thoraxes are covered with fine, plumose hairs, which
trap pollen when they forage in flowers for either/both nectar and/or
pollen.  In flight, this pollen is combed from the hairs, moistened with
regurgitated nectar (which also serves to cool the flight muscles in hot
weather), and collected in the pollen baskets (corbiculae) on the
hindmost pair of legs.  In this form, it is transported home.

In the hive, these pollen loads are removed from the legs, and packed
into wax cells.  It is then eaten by young workers (nurse bees) who
synthesise from it the specialised high protein `brood foods' (bee milk
and royal jelly) to be fed to the developing larvae.  Adult bees have
very limited requirements for protein foods, and thus live virtually
entirely on nectar and honey (a carbohydrate food source).  The larvae
need a high protein food -- this is what pollen is used for by the bees.

In the event that the pollen is not immediately consumed, it must be
preserved in some way.  The bees accomplish this by covering the pollen
mass in each cell with nectar or dilute honey.  A special fermentation
process takes place in the cell, the by-products of which prevent
further decomposition of the pollen.  Livestock farmers do this too --
ask any farmer how he/she makes silage.  The fermented pollen is
referred to as `bee bread' by beekeepers.

Now, there are two ways in which a beekeeper may get pollen from a hive.
A pollen trap may be installed at the entrance of the hive to collect
the pollen loads carried on the foragers' legs.  Simplistically, a
screen is erected across the entrance, with apertures large enough for a
bee, but too small for a bee with large pollen loads.  When a
returning forager passes through the screen, the loads are knocked off
the bees' legs into a collecting tray. That's the easy way.  The product
may be referred to as `pollen pellets'.  Pollen pellets in a jar are
very attractive -- roughly 2-3 mm diameter oval beads, ranging in colour
>from  creamy white to deep red (and occasionally green, or dark brown).
The other way is simple, but highly labour-intensive.  As part of the
normal brood-chamber maintenance regime, warped or otherwise undesirable
brood combs are culled from the brood nest to give the queen new white
comb in which to lay her eggs (there is a long story here, but I will
end up on someone's twit list if I digress to much).  These combs are
then chilled (or frozen) to make the wax brittle.  With a fine knife
blade, the wax cell walls are broken, and the bee bread lozenges
removed.  I believe that mechanical extraction is possible, but I live
in the developing world.  Bee bread retains the hexagonal cross-section
shape of the honey comb cells.  At least with the African bee (the only
one I know and love!!!!!!!) * lozenges of bee bread are roughly 5 mm in
diameter, and slightly longer. The colour is usually more uniform, and
individual lozenges may exhibit layers of differently-coloured pollens.

* Americans beekeepers are just complacent sissies who are so used
to placid ligustica bees that they haven't bothered to learn how
to handle REAL bees that can actually be bothered to defend their
nests :-)  -- if any beekeepers take umbrage at my `windgatheid' I
would love a return airfare to the USA to come over to show you
all how to keep scutellata (yes, Africanized bees are just African
bees) without hassling the bees, and therefore without getting
stung (well OK then, almost never).  Failing that, you are welcome
to come to visit the apiary from which at least some of the
original queens were taken to Brazil -- by definition then, the
home of the stroppiest bee in the world!  Please leave your kit at
home.

Assuming that I haven't bored you too much so far, I would like to
introduce you to an interesting beekeeping/biochemical/nutritional
debate.  The literature is very divided on the relative nutritional
benefits of the two pollen forms.  The debate hinges not on the amounts
of nutritional substances picked up in biochemical assays, but ON THE
AMOUNTS OF NUTRITIONAL SUBSTANCES AVAILABLE FOR ABSORPTION BY THE HUMAN
GUT AFTER DIGESTION.  Everyone agrees that both forms of pollen are
potentially highly nourishing, and MIGHT even be considered a perfect
food for people, were in not for the fact that the vitamins A, D and K
(I think this is correct, but I am 50 km from my reference books) are
virtually absent. Pollen has one of the highest per dry mass protein
levels of all foods known. However, it might be that the coating
surrounding each individual pollen grain is indigestible (this is the
nub of the issue). If this is so, all of the valuable food in pollen is
simply carried right through the gut, and voided.  However, most studies
to my knowledge support the idea that the fermentation process undergone
by bee bread partially breaks down and fractures this pollen coat, thus
liberating the nourishing interior for absorption.

OK, the educated consumer then has a choice -- relatively inexpensive
pollen pellets which might be of absolutely no nutritional significance
for humans, or the prohibitively expensive bee bread.  A related issue
is the relative shelf-lives of the two products.  The unfermented pollen
pellets are most likely far less stable.

Whether pollen is palatable, is a matter of personal decision.  I rather
like it.  Perhaps you could visit a local beekeeper and ask to taste
bee bread as soon as it comes out of a hive.  Unless he/she is a pollen
producer, this might even be thrown away when the combs are rendered for
wax.  It is possible that what you bought has gone off.  Without
knowledge of your local beekeeping conditions, it is also possible that
it is a particularly unpalatable pollen from a specific group of plants.
Honey tastes (and especially smells) very different depending on the
floral source, and it would be reasonable to assume that the same goes
for pollen.  At least in SA most pollen is blended with either liquid or
creamed honey (and marketed as a super-duper health food to athletes and
other superhumans who require more potent fuels than mere mortals).  Try
pouring pollen into liquid honey and blending with a spatula.  If the
honey starts to crystalise, and you stir it a bit every morning at the
breakfast table, you will produce creamed honey -- at probably 1/10 the
price of creamed honey in the shops.

A word of warning -- although pollen is often used (apparently with
great success, at least by those who report anecdotal evidence) in
treating pollen hypersensitivities (allergies), there are records of it
triggering off severe allergic reactions.  I would have to recommend
that you exercise a measure of caution when trying out different
pollens.  The presumed mode of action of pollen in treating
hypersensitivities is similar to that for some homeopathic treatments.
You might consult a trusted homeopath or experienced herbalist for
advice and possibly monitoring when trying pollens from different
batches.  Be aware that even if the pollen comes from the same
distributer, it is almost certainly going to be totally different pollen
each time you buy, since it will have been collected from flowers in
bloom at different times of the year.  It is also likely that the
distributer buys in pollen from various beekeepers from different parts
of the country to ensure a constant supply.

By the way, I am thrilled that you know what propolis is.  Ask your
herbalist or homeopath about its properties.  If they don't know, look
for herbalists/homeopaths trained in Eastern Europe.  If they don't
know, ask me.  In short, it is an almost miraculous natural
antimicrobial substance, which makes a wonderful ointment for external
application to cuts and scrapes.  I am sure that I would be in
contravention of some very serious law if I suggested anything but
external use, so talk to your homeopath).

I wish you well

Paul

Paul Magnuson, Honeybee Research Unit, Plant Protection Research
Institute, Agricultural Research Council, Pretoria, South Africa.
My work e-mail address is [email-masked]
---
. SLMR 2.1a . "I drank WHAT!?" -- Socrates.

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