Bee Pollen And Menopause - Can It Really Help?

Can bee pollen help with the menopause?  That is a question a lot of women ask. Let us look at what is in bee pollen and see how this can help with many of the troubling symptoms that women have to put up with when they approach this critical period.

We all know that bee pollen is a super food and has been touted as such, since ancient times. The reason is that it has no less than 96 nutrients which range from vitamins, minerals, enzymes, amino acids and so on. Sounds great and in fact all ancient religious manuscripts (the Torah, Bible and Koran) mention honey and bee pollen.

It is no accident that the bee symbol was used on ancient Egyptian documents signed by the Pharaohs. In Hindu traditions, it is widely believed that if you eat honey and bee pollen, you are on the fast track to happiness and wisdom.

So, bee pollen is nature’s perfect food but how can it help with menopause? Can it really have a beneficial effect on the hormonal turmoil in a woman’s body which is causing many troublesome symptoms such as hot flashes. Then to add to the misery there is a problem of weight gain, poor quality of sleep due partially to night sweats. It is estimated that many women in the post menopause period may put on an average of one pound of weight very year.

The problem with hot flashes

What happens with all the hormonal storms going on is that the hypothalamus, which is a sort of a built in regulator, goes a bit haywire. In many ways, it resembles a thermostat. It also does many other things such as controlling metabolism which is one reason why putting on weight is another problem.  There is also increased fatigue and exhaustion.

Is hormone therapy the solution?

Many women think that taking supplements with hormones such oestrogen replacement hormone therapy (HT) can actually help. This may only be short term relief for hot flashes. Results form The Women’s Health Initiative showed that there was significant risk of a having a heart attack so many women stopped taking these. That was about ten years ago when that study was released and women stopped talking the HT in droves.

But now, hormone therapy is regarded with less suspicion but many precautions still have to be taken:-

• it is only effective just before the menopause. If taken much later it may be useless
• in fact , if taken much later, there may be a risk of cardiac complications.
• it is not suitable for smokers, those who suffer from uterine bleeding and those who have had breast cancer
• there is still the risk (however small) of blood clots.

So, a pretty mixed picture for HT. So why would  bee pollen be a much safer alternative and are there are any studies to show that it can actually help?

Bee Pollen has many advantages for menopausal women.

As I mentioned above we have a powerhouse of  vitamins, minerals and so on. First, many women find  that they have greater energy because bee pollen has a much higher percentage of Vitamin B in the form of protein and amino acids. Some estimates put that at 35% and that is why it can lead to greater energy and vitality and can help combat fatigue.

As regards the hot flashes, the fact that we have so many vitamins and minerals may mean that hormone levels are better regulated and there is a decrease in hot flashes and general discomfort.

More benefits for women taking bee pollen :-

• all major vitamin groups such as E, C and A are in it
• lots of zinc and iron
• it contains phytoestrogens and bioflavonoids
• it has essential fatty acids such as Omega 3 and Omega 6
• its complete range of  nutrients can help to reduce food cravings and help combat weight loss
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While there are few scientific studies which show that bee pollen can help with menopause, anecdotal accounts and evidence suggest that it can be a real help in that it can combat fatigue, help with weight controls and reduce discomfort associated with night sweats and hot flashes.

One trial conducted at the Sofia Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, in Bulgaria was conducted on 55 women who reported improvement in menopausal symptoms. But this study was much criticised in that it was an open, uncontrolled one.

Apart from some allergic reactions (people with asthma and allergies) bee pollen is generally a much safer supplement to take as it is nature’s super food. There are no other health risks associated with it, unlike many the conventional drugs we are given.

If you want to try bee pollen …..

Make sure you are getting the purest there is on this planet. The best areas in the world which are free from toxins, radiation, GM microbes and other pollutants are some areas of Canada and New Zealand  It pays to do your homework here!

Have you ever tried bee pollen and what were the benefits?  Did you notice any difference and would you recommend it?  Leave your comments below.

Why A Honey Bee Haven?

Did you know that there is a honey bee haven in Bee Biology Road at the UC Davis in California?  Well, it has been there for a few years now and is just one of many all over the country. Why should we bother about a honey bee haven? We need to provide a variety of plants, flowers and trees which are a source of food for the bees.

Here are some of the answers:

 1. I helps the bees to survive in a hostile environment where bees are disappearing at an alarming rate and especially as they can account for up to 90% of pollination of food crops. That is a value of almost $15 billion!  This phenomenon is known as CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder.)  This is not the first time this has happened and there have been cases going as far back as 1869.

2. The causes are many and varied and no one is quite sure whether there is one main one. Some of the most common causes cited are:-

 * mites,
*  parasites
*  overuse of pesticides
*  too many insecticides
*  malnutrition

We know that up to 33% of the honey bee population has disappeared over the last year. The usual symptoms are where the bee simply abandons the hive and seems to be disorientated.

3.  Just take California as an example where the almond crop needs to have about a million active hives. These hives are not there and have to be transported from other States and this just adds to the stress of the bees.

4. The climatic havoc of the recent years has hot helped the situation at all.  Too much heat and drought can be extremely damaging. The drought of 2006 was felt in the bee population where California for example, had a drop of 30% in honey production.

5. Did you know that honey bees also suffer from diseases just like us?  They are subject to viruses too and they may be decimated by a type of virus called the Kashmir bee virus or the Israeli acute paralysis virus (IAPV) which may remain latent and become evident in later life. This is rather similar to the chicken pox virus in adults when it appears  later as shingles.

Apart from organising a bee haven in your garden or on your farm, there are reserach projects which should be funded so that we can understand better what is going on and how the bees' lives are being affected. As some one has remarked, if a few thousand cows were found dead in a pasture, people wold be more than concerned. If a few thousand bees die, nobody seems to care!

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Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/07/14/4622372/to-bee-or-not-to-bee-theres-no.html#storylink=cpy

Health Canada Alert On ZXT Gold Bee Pollen Capsules

I  have just read a health alert issued by Health Canada about a brand of bee pollen capsules called ZXT Gold which is produced by Floyd Nutrition. This is usually sold as a weight loss product

The problem here, it seems, is that the capsules contain some hidden pharmaceutical ingredients and these may be   a health risk for some people. Until further tests have been carried out, the product will be withdrawn from the Canadian market. In any case they have not been authorized  or evaluated by Health Canada.

They have found that there are two drugs in the mix. The first one is known as phenolphthalein which is a mere laxataive but this has long been banned in Canada because it was implicated as a possible cancer risk.  There are other less alarming side effects such as constipation, and lower blood pressure.

The second drug they have found in the mix is sibutramine which was used to treat weight loss and obesity. This was also previously on sale in Canada but then withdrawn as there were risks of having a heart attack or a stroke. This drug also has a tendency to raise blood pressure and causes insomnia in some patients. 

This is the first time that actual pharamaceutical drugs have been found in a bee pollen mix although there is a tendency among some companies to add in a whole range of herbs and vegetable fibers.  The most common ones are those such as yams, wolfberry and senna which are all basically laxatives. 

The other thing in these concoctions is that there is very little indication of both the provenance and the actual quantity of the bee epollen. That is why their claim as bee pollen capsules is often false becasue there is very little actual bee poollen in them. 

This news points up the absolute necessity to order bee pollen capsules from a company which are following GMP practices and have built in checks along the way such as a Certificate of Analysis for every batch. They will also source only the best and purest bee pollen which is found in New Zealand.

You really have to do your homework to make sure that what you are taking is perfectly safe and healthy. The company I have actually used spends more money on research than on publicity. Enough said!

Benefits Of Bee Pollen Make The News

Did you know that the White House Garden and the Chicago City Hall have beehives? This is part of a growing urban beehive movement to help the bees survive in a cleaner and safer environment. That is passed on to the consumer because the benefits of bee pollen and raw honey will be so much greater when they are produced in a cleaner ambience.

Now, you may not think that Washington and Chicago are the cleanest cities in the USA but they are much healthier than many of the countryside areas which are full of pesticides, GMOs, industrial pollutants and contamination from a whole range of toxins.

So, the benefits of bee pollen and bee products in general are now gaining more exposure as people become more knowledgeable.  Actually beekeeping in an urban setting is strictly illegal but local authorities are now relaxing their laws and already in New York and Denver it is legal while Los Angeles is campaigning hard to get the ban lifted there.

But the benefits of honey itself may well be exaggerated by the fact that a lot of honey is actually pasteurized and once it is heated, it loses a lot of its nutritional value. Actually this happens in the USA much more than in Europe.

The problem is that, as with many pasteurization techniques, there is a downside and here it is that the enzymes which are so important for the antibacterial function, get destroyed and the honey is practically useless for healing. Raw honey has always been the best option in healing wounds.

The Food Safety News also found that they honey now sold in supermarkets (up to 70% of the samples tested) does not contain any pollen, thereby making it just a highly processed syrup. This is why the bee pollen is far superior but you still have to be careful about what you are buying.

The benefits of bee pollen are now well known and also there is some research to show that they are indeed beneficial for the whole human organism. Theses benefits range from:

·        boosting  libido in both men and women

·        assisting with weight loss because it contains the full range of nutrients

·        helping to relieve prostate disorders in men

·        relieving symptoms of the menopause in women

·        providing great boost in energy (due to Vitamin B enhancement)

·        relieving some of the side effects of chemotherapy

Now if you really want to get the benefits of bee pollen, a much better option is to choose the bee pollen capsules because if the pollen is sourced from a safe area and properly processed, then you are well on the way to taking your wellbeing to a whole new level.

Bee Pollen Benefits –Learn About How Food Production Is At Risk

Did you know that 13% of the income from UK farm crops depends on pollination?  Bees play a vital role in this process and they also help the wider ecosystems to flourish. Bee pollen benefits are not just limited to providing us with a complete superfood but are vital to keep the whole pollination and food production chain going. That is why everybody is worried. These figures were released by the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology in the UK.

The fact that many bee colonies have been decimated over the last fifteen years and have not yet managed to recover is a constant worry and even the UN has sat up and taken notice. The phenomenon is known as the CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder) and nobody is quite sure what exactly the causes are.  Pesticides, GMO farming, industrial pollution, diseases and other climatic factors are all implicated in one way or another. If this goes on,  food as we know it will be just a folk memory!

The idea in the UK is now to encourage farmers to grow more arable crops such as OSR, oilseed rape. Its potential for providing a wider variety of human food should be investigated. The fact that it flowers in June when the bees have fewer sources of nectar and pollen could be one way of building up the bee colonies again. There is also a suggestion that the planting period could be staggered which would lengthen the flowering window.

OILSEED RAPE PLANT IN FLOWER

  When you think that about 33% of the human diet is organically sourced from plants that must have pollination we realize how serious the problem is. We only need to think what we would do without apples, almonds, sunflowers, watermelons, zucchini, cherries, blueberries and avocados, just to name a few! 

If we think of what are the most important elements in the ecosystem, bees are pretty near the top of the list. Scientists are in no doubt at all that the survival of the bee population is absolutely crucial for the survival of the human race. Albert Einstein said that human life would disappear in four years! There is some doubt that he ever said that as he was no entomologist or ecologist, but any sensible person will realize the urgency of the situation.

So, bee pollen benefits are not just about a super food which you could live on indefinitely. It is much, much more and while we all deserve to have some bee pollen benefits, we must make sure that we are doing nothing to destroy the honey bee. Some people take a more proactive stance and actually take up backyard beekeeping and there are many public institutions now encouraging people to do the same. 

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