[Effect of bee pollen on maternal nutrition and fetal growth]

Plant pollen collected by the honeybee is called bee pollen, which is a natural nutrient. We studied the effects of the bee pollen of Brassia campestres L. on maternal nutrition and fetal growth. Pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats at O-d were divided randomly into three groups. The control group (C) was fed with a diet. The other two groups (A) and (B) were fed with the diet plus bee pollen 20 g/kg.d-1 and 10 g/kg.d-1, respectively. All the dams in each group took a diet and drank water and libitm. Pollen-fed dams in both groups (A) and (B) had greater body weight and higher levels of haemoglobin, total protein, serum iron and albumin (P < 0.01, P < 0.05). Fetuses of pollen-fed dams had greater body weight (P < 0.01) and lower death rate (P < 0.005). No gross external, visceral and skeletal malformations were observed in the fetuses. These results suggested that bee pollen could improve maternal nutrition without affecting normal fetal development. It is a practical and effective nutrient during pregnancy.