Hi everyone this is Monica Reinagle the nutrition diva and this week's show is the second in a two-part series on bee pollen

a spoonful of honey makes the medicine go down as we learned from Mary Poppins, but could a spoonful of bee pollen be the secret to a long and healthy

life? The grainy yellow powder be the secret to a long and healthy life.

The grainy yellow powder made up of plant pollen and bee secretions

is an ancient remedy that still enjoys a reputation as a superfood today. Is there really something to it or is it just another fad?

Lots of people use bee pollen as a general nutrition supplement and in part one of this two-part series

I talked about the nutrients it contains.

But bee pollen is also promoted as a way to improve athletic performance, reduce symptoms of PMS and menopause, treat allergies and asthma, and even fight cancer.

People swear that it increases their energy,

boosts their immune system, helps them lose weight or sleep better, and so on.

Unfortunately, most of these benefits have never been evaluated in scientific trials.

And without controlled experiments, it's really hard to say how much of these perceived

benefits are due to the power of suggestion or the placebo effect.

But let's take a look at what research does exist.

First, does bee pollen enhance athletic performance?

Bee pollen's modern reputation for boosting strength and endurance got a big boost in the 70s

when the coach for the Finnish Olympic track and field team boasted that

bee pollen was the team's secret weapon. Muhammad Ali jumped on the bandwagon too.

Maybe that was the inspiration for his famous,

float like a butterfly, sting like a bee line.

And then around the same time, a Russian Olympic coach

named Remy Kerechimi also claimed

...