Supplements

Here's a random inquiry - has anyone here used Bee Pollen? I've posted this in the food forum as well, but have only heard from one person. The Eat Clean cookbook author loves the stuff and seems to put it in just about everything. I bought some today, but am wondering how you all use it, if you use it. I've also heard some say that if you have a allergy to bees not to use bee pollen. but that doesn't get mentioned consistently. I've never been stung and I don't know if I'm allergic...does anyone know more about this? I'm thinking I should call my doctor and ask before I try it - which seems odd.

My husband uses it, he puts it in his oatmeal in the morning.  (He glops all kinds of stuff in that bowl.)  He thinks that supposedly it helps prevent allergies/hay fever and so on, also it evidently has a lot of vitamins, minerals and amino acids.  But I think that if you are already allergic to whatever the bees were collecting (the plants) that you would also be allergic to the bee pollen.  I've never heard anything about not using it if you're allergic to the bees themselves. 

I'm not drawn to use it myself, but it certainly hasn't harmed my husband, except maybe in the wallet. 

You're so right on the spendy! I paid nine buckaroos to try it because it's in several recipes I wanted to try and the description of it's health benefits were so intense...we'll see. This time I'm willing to chalk it up to an experiment. If I like it flavor wise, and notice any other health benefit I may buy some more.

Bill's oatmeal sounds like the oatmeal that the author of my cookbook: 1/2 cup oats, tbsp of wheat germ, tbsp of bee pollen, tbsp of ground flax seed, and a scoop of protein powder. A WHOLE SCOOP! I can only stand to add a half scoop of the powder, otherwise it doesn't mix in as well.

Thanks for the feedback Megan - I really am just wanting to be sure not to do something really stupid, meaning more stupid than $pending real money on something called bee-pollen, to myself :)

My oatmeal is totally flaxed and protein powdered out. I do a whole scoop. No bee powder for me though!

I heard that it is not good to heat protein powder, something having to do with changing the structure of the protein.   Anyway, let us know how the bee pollen tastes!

Original Post by yogagirl6853:

I heard that it is not good to heat protein powder, something having to do with changing the structure of the protein.   Anyway, let us know how the bee pollen tastes!

I've seen someone mention this in the Fitness forum, but I doubt it's true. Protein structure matters when the protein is working (in the body). For example, a human dies if his body temperature goes over 40-something degrees C (>44? I don't remember exactly) because hemoglobin denaturates and is no longer capable of transporting oxygen. But I don't think it applies to protein that we digest. It doesn't matter what shape the molecule takes, it will be broken down into amino acids anyway, and amino acids are then absorbed. The whole molecule is too large anyway.

It's actually one of the arguments against enzyme supplements. They won't work as enzymes because by the time they get to the intestine, they will be denaturated by HCl in the stomach, and will not be an enzyme anymore - just a bunch of aminoacids.

On the other hand, there are also indigestible proteins (keratin - our hair, nails, etc)...  But I seriously doubt that whey protein denaturation introduces these extra bonds that cannot be broken.

Oh, and I'm sure there would have been some kind of warning printed on protein powder tubs. And we would probably see no recipes using whey protein if heating rendered it indigestible (remember ricotta cheesecake recipe from NROLFW book? it's actually quite good. Not really a cheesecake, but a tasty dessert nonetheless).

Good to know.  I like a scoop of whey in my coffee now and then when I need to up my protein for the day.  I had been avoiding doing that after reading heating the whey protein renders it ineffective.

Oatmeal seems to be about the warmest i can add my protein too without it globbing up in a quite disgusting manner. I use Biotest - although for a 100% whey product, it seems odd that mine would perform so differently than others. How do you introduce the protein to the hot liquid?

By the way, I loaded up my oatmeal this morning! Small amounts of everything to help introduce it to my system, a few pellets of bee pollen, and about a teaspoon and a half each of wheat germ and ground flax seeds. And then I bit right into Beano so I don't embarrass myself too much in front of my students :)

I used to add protein powder to oatmeal, but I hated how it turned my sticky firm-ish porridge into a watery mess, so I gave up on it. It was like magic - all of the sudden the soluble fiber that gives it the glue-ish texture seemed to lose its gluing function.

But as for the powder, you need to stir it in completely, and make sure you sprinkle it slowly while stirring as opposed to dumping the whole scoop at once.

P.S. I make my warm protein shake by mixing chocolate flavoured powder into cold milk. I shake it very well to form a foam, then pour into a mug and microwave for 50-60 seconds. Voila - hot chocolate!

Original Post by laura42:

Good to know.  I like a scoop of whey in my coffee now and then when I need to up my protein for the day.  I had been avoiding doing that after reading heating the whey protein renders it ineffective.

There's no reason at all that heating any protein powder should make it ineffective.  First off, the protein in protein powder is likely already denatured by virtue of dehydrating it.  Second, as maha-kisa noted, even if it wasn't, the acidic environment in your stomach would denature it.  Third, as she also noted, it's all irrelevant because your body's going to break the protein down into amino acids anyway.

All denaturation is is changing the way the protein's folded up.  That shape is only important if you want the protein to do the specific function it was designed to do.  So, denaturing an enzyme would prevent it from doing its job because it would be the wrong shape (which is a pain in the butt when you're in a lab trying to study that enzyme, but not really a problem if you're just going to eat it...  :-) ). 

re: warm liquids.  I make "hot chocolate" by heating milk in the microwave then slowly stirring in a small scoop of chocolate protein powder.  It dissolves even better than in cold milk.