Bee Pollen – Why on Earth do People Eat it?
Bee Pollen Defined What we call “bee pollen” is not quite the same thing as the pollen spores in flowers. Bees collect pollen from flowers, but they mix that pollen with minute amounts of honey and nectar, basically to bind it together into sticky granules of bee pollen. If you have ever seen a bee with tiny orange or yellow lumps on its back legs, those lumps are the bee pollen granules we are talking about. Small though they are, each granule contains between 100,000 and five million pollen spores. Bees use pollen as a basic food for their young. It is high in protein and very nutritious. These are the main ingredients although they vary widely depending on the basket of flower types in the catchment area of the beehive: • carbohydrate 30% – 55% • protein 20% – 40% • water 7% – 15% • lipids (fats) 6% • ash 2% • minerals: mainly potassium; phosphorus; sodium; calcium; sulfur; magnesium. • vitamins: C, E, B2 (riboflavin); B3 (niacin); B7 (biotin); B2 (riboflavin); B6 (pyridoxine); B5 •
