This excerpt taken in entirety from Bee Pollen, by Dr. Kurt Dansbach
Tel. # 619-475-9951, with permission.

Bee Pollen

Dr. Kurt Dansbach

When Professor Nicolai Vasilievich Tsitsin, a biologist and experimental botanist associated with the Longevity Institute of the U.S.S.R., did a study of centenarians in the Caucasus mountains of the Russian province of Georgia, he was looking for the common bond that had many Georgians living past 100 years and some reaching as high as 150 years old. Dr. Tsitsin discovered that these oldsters were mostly beekeepers with products from the beehive being their principal food. They kept the raw, unprocessed honey for themselves, and sold off the clear, so-called "pure" honey.

Knowingly or not, they were incorporating one of nature's richest and most nutritionally packed foods into their own diet. It's a food Russia routinely includes as nourishment for that country's competitive international athletes.

After the 1972 Olympics at Munich, it was revealed that Finland's Lasse Viren, winner of the 5,000 meter and 10,000 meter track event, had been eating honeybee pollen regularly for years. Between training and competition, every day he swallows four to ten capsules containing the pollen. Now, all of the Finnish team take honeybee pollen regularly. They sprinkle it on their morning cereal, slip it into tall glasses of freshly squeezed fruit juice, pop it into their mouths as bee pollen pellets, spread it as a honey paste on whole grain bread, or take it in tablet form along with their daily quota of vitamins and minerals.

Many American athletes and Olympic stars depend on honeybee pollen. Muhammed Ali, former heavyweight boxing champion of the world, popped down the pellets during all the years he was actively defending his title. Steve Riddick, U.S. Gold Medalist in the 1976 Olympics, drank the bee pollen in milkshakes and vegetable juice.

Honeybee pollen has the potential to contribute as a major food source for humans. It is a most nutritionally complete food with literally no ill side effects. Honeybee pollen possesses 185 known nutritional ingredients, including twenty-two amino acids (and more of all the eight essential ones by weight than the traditional high protein foods), twenty-seven mineral salts, the full range of known vitamins, plus hormones, enzymes, carbohydrates, and fats. TABLE I provides an analysis of the average bee pollen content. Some of the greatest values of this product from the beehive may stem from elements which are still unknown to science at this time. Also, benefits are derived from the synergistic action of all the known elements working together.

TABLE I shows you the trace ingredients of honeybee pollen, but in some instances there is no National Nutritional Council recommended daily allowance (RDA) or established need for many of these ingredients simply because nutritional science has found no way to measure that need.

European doctors began to experiment with pollen as a medicinal agent, following the Second World War. They found that it is a strong biological stimulant containing highly therapeutic properties. It has regenerative properties for the human cell. Used in experiments with aging people, pollen seems to restore morale, and return a sense of physical well-being, and bring back physical health, all of which were measurable by laboratory examinations.

Dr. Naum Joirisch, author of Bees in the Service of Humanity, credits bee pollen with improving healing in chronic colitis, disturbances of the endocrine system, and certain nervous disorders. Bee pollen is low in sodium and calories - two very important considerations. Initially pollen contains small quantities of natural sugars, which increase ultimately to 10-15 percent, mainly fructose and glucose, when the bees add nectar to the grains to give them sufficient adherence to form pellets.

Pollen extracts, studied on laboratory animals and later on humans suffering from various diseases, brought about their recovery. (1) The extracts caused rapid weight and energy increases for convalescents. (2) Pollen demonstrated a regulatory action on intestinal functions; both on constipation as well as in cases of diarrhea. (3) Pollen extracts illustrated a calming, tranquilizing, and sedating effect without any side effects. (4) They provided a rapid increase in hemoglobin, especially in cases of anemia. (5) They helped to flush out the impurities and toxins that constantly pile up in capillaries from stress, the taking of drugs, and the various pollutants of modern times. (6) And the pollen extracts allowed more oxygen to reach the body and brain cells by acting almost as an atherosclerotic flushing agent (a chelator). Stamina increased for the individual. Vitality was enhanced for those patients using the extracts on a regular basis.