In the above video, the honeybee is from our ForestBeehive apiary in Central Maine. She is collecting pollen from common ragweed – a wildflower abundant in North America. Although ragweed pollen  is responsible for human allergies, for honeybees it’s a major source of nutrition here. Our tireless honeybees carry quite a load of bright yellow ragweed pollen to feed their brood with.

When such raw pollen is collected and sold as a separate commercial product by some conventional apiaries, its allergy-causing properties are only enhanced as such pollen gets more concentrated.

 

WEB MD warns of possible severe allergic reactions to raw bee pollen.

 

On the other hand, consuming local honey containing trace amounts of matured, fermented bee pollen can help allergy sufferers. Here’s a recent study: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24188941/