The following article about some of the various effects of pollen over sportsmen who consume it is actually the second part and the continuation of the previous article.
As mentioned in the first part that is based on an article that was published in 1977 in the Chicago Tribune (which is a daily newspaper printed in Chicago), at that time there were many athletes that took honeybee pollen supplements on a daily basis (do you remember “Bee Power” Steve Reddick?). And on the other hand, there were also many people that criticized the consumption of this substance from different reasons.
One of the reasons for the criticism, according to these people, is that sportsmen such as John Williamson and Steve Reddick that took bees pollen tablets and managed to improve their athletic achievements – the reason for such an improvement is the psychological factor. What these critics mean is that it’s not this compound that made athletes achieve better results on the field, but the same sportsmen had the psychological advantage of believing that they were given supplements that would greatly improve their athletic performance. One way or another, these athletes did significantly well in their respected fields.
Actually, the use of these honeybee supplements became a common practice at Europe in the early 70s. One of the first Olympic teams at that time that decided to use such supplement/pills to their advantage was the Finnish team, including a 10,000 and 5,000 meter gold medal athlete – which is Lasse Viren, as well as the coach of the British team at that time: Tom McNab. One thing to note is that the Finnish Olympic team didn’t use supplements that were created from organic pollen, the Finnish team actually used Swedish tablets of the honeybees substance that were made from pollen that was harvested mechanically.
It wasn’t a long time before the American athletes also began to use this honeybees material for reasons of improving their athletic performance. And it’s not just Olympic athletes like Steve Reddick (who was runner) but, according to Dr. Kurt Dansbach, the famous American boxer Muhammad Ali, which many people consider as one of the greatest heavyweight championship boxers ever existed, this boxer also used to take the same natural bees substance!
Whether these products really can improve the athletic performance of those who take these supplements (or tablets), athletes that believed the natural substance did help them achieve better results were many, and on the other hand it’s not illogical to accept the claim of the critics that think that the said compound don’t have significant effects over the physical performance (but, according to them, the reason is that the sportsmen who consumed it get a mental advantage and not a physical one).
Regardless of how positive you think that the effects of these products are going to be, it’s important to mention that there may be side effects associated with the consumption of any product that contains such honeybees materials. If you happened to have a history of allergies, or you are allergic to bees/insects, then you should avoid taking the bees pollen altogether, at least without consulting a physician first.
The image of the professional athletes that you are able to notice above is taken from the Howstuffworks Science site that features easy to comprehend explanations for scientific stuff as well as beautiful illustrations for a wide range of subjects related to science. And they are not related in any way to the said substance, or other supplements made from the same compound. Athletes‘ pictures can be found all over the internet and this was just a simple example to illustrate the subject that is dealt with in this article.
For additional information about the benefits or side effects of these natural honeybee substances you can read other articles on this website.