Bee pollen, sometimes called bee bread, is a combination of plant and flower pollens (collected by worker bees), plant nectar and bee saliva. It is a concentrated, nourishing food and is the main food source for the hive. Cultures throughout the world use bee pollen in a variety of applications and the Chinese traditionally considered it to be an energy and nutritive tonic.

The nutritional composition of bee pollen varies depending on the diverse types of plants the pollens are gathered from. Generally, bee pollen consists of simple sugars (fructose and glucose), amino acids, fatty acids, vitamins, minerals and enzymes.*