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Does Bee Pollen Help Allergies?

Medically Reviewed by
  • Ronald L. Brown, M.D.

Question

Does bee pollen help reduce allergies?

Answer

There are two reasons that bee pollen would not be expected to help with allergies:

  • The type of pollen that bees carry is not the kind of pollen that causes allergy. It's the wind-transported pollen that causes symptoms. Bee pollen is physically too big to be recognized as an allergen by the body.
  • When the bee-pollen is eaten, its proteins are destroyed by the digestive enzymes. That is why we have to give pollen allergy shots and not pollen pills when we are treating allergy to pollen.

    • There are lots of good medicines (both prescription and over-the-counter) for allergies but bee pollen is probably not one of them.

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