Yet, athletes have long been prime targets of entrepreneurs who say that they will. And there are even two studies that seem to support their claim. In these studies, conducted in Poland in the early and mid 1970's, weight lifters who were fed pollen-extract tablets showed improvements in various fitness factors when compared to weight lifters who did not receive the tablets. These results, however, have yet to be reproduced by other investigators. In addition, there is a potential down-side to taking bee pollen.
Some people have severe allergic reactions to certain pollens.
Since bees gather pollen from many plant species, there is no way of knowing the kind and amount of pollen in a product.