Bee pollen, collected from the stamen of flowers, is often used for energy enhancement. Pollen is a "strong biological stimulant," says Naum Petrovitsch Joirisch, author of Bees in the Service of Humanity. Petrovitsch, associated with the former Soviet Union's Far East Institute of the Soviet Academy of Science in Vladivostok, notes that bee pollen has regenerative properties for the entire human organism. Among the aged it seems to help restore morale, a sense of spiritual well-being and actual physical health.

Pollen consists of the male seeds of flowers which fertilize plants. As pollen is capable of reproduction, it's extremely nutrient dense and contains the full range of nutrients essential for life. Called one of nature's most perfectly balanced foods, pollen contains carbohydrates, fatty acids and proteins including all 22 amino acids, 27 minerals, and virtually all of the B-complex vitamins.

Bee pollen is an even richer source of amino acids than beef, eggs and cheese. A source of glutamic acid, pollen is an especially important energy food, as this amino acid is one of the primary brain fuels, besides glucose.

Pollen is also rich in natural electrical energy, says Eric H. Erickson, Ph.D., an entomologist at the University of Wisconsin, where volunteers who consumed pollen samples were monitored with electronic devices that noted an increase in their bioelectricity or body energy.