Quarter of Chinese adults are overweight, obese: US study (AFP)

AFP - Declining physical activity and a shift towards a Western diet are driving up obesity rates in China, with more than 25 percent of adults now considered overweight or obese, a study warned Tuesday.

There are a lot of consumable products we get from the bees which include fresh honey, propolis, bee bread, bee pollen or royal jelly. All of these bee products have their own unique set of properties that are very beneficial to human health. That is one reason why you can see a lot of bee supplement products in the grocery and in your local health food shops.

Sometimes you get to think which of the bee products to choose that will give you the best health benefits. Perhaps the top ranking products on the list of the most effective and most proven bee product are bee pollen and royal jelly.

Which is better, bee pollen or royal jelly?

Let us look at their nutritional composition in order to find out. Royal jelly contains citrulline dl-malate bulk nutritional powder B-complex vitamins, vitamin C, some traces of amino acids, simple sugars, fatty acids, minerals, enzymes, as well as some antibacterial and antibiotic components. There is a component in royal jelly that brings about longer life span. This fact is observable in the queen bee's life span which lasts about five to six long years while the worker bees' lives only last about 35 to 40 days. Queen bees are only fed with royal jelly and nothing else their whole lives.

The pollen from the bee, on the other hand, contains a rich source of vitamins, minerals, proteins and amino acids, hormones, enzymes and fats, as well as significant quantities of natural antibiotics. Some of the vitamins included in pollens are carotenoids which are later converted inside the body as vitamin A, the B-Complex vitamins like thiamine (vitamin B1), riboflavin (vitamin B2), pyridoxine (vitamin B6), Nicotinic acid, Pantothenic acid, and Folic acid, vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin K, rutin, and other various vitamins like B5, B12, D, biotin, inositol and PABA.

These pollens also have been found to have traces of various minerals like calcium, chlorine, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, silicon, and sulfur. The proteins and amino acids content found are also vast which includes peptones, gloculins, Arginine, Histidine, Isoleusine, Leusine, Lysine, Methionine, Phenylalamine, Threonine, Tryptophane, and Valine. These amino acids and proteins mentioned are the most crucial in a man's daily diet. They cannot be manufactured or synthesized inside our body but they can be derived from natural sources, like pollens collected from bees, in a consumable form.

In addition, pollens collected from bees also contains lecithin, amines, nuclein, guanine, xanthine, hypoxanthine, vernine, hydrocarbons, sterols, polypetides, ribose, desoxyribose, hexuronic acid, vegetable oils, and other various factors.

Certain enzymes that act as essential biological catalysts during the digestive process in our body are also found in pollens. They include amylase, catalase, cozymase, cytochrome, dehydrogenase, diaphorase, diastase, lactic acids, pectase and phosphatase.

Which can bring about many health benefits, bee pollen or royal jelly?

Royal jelly contains the important acetylcholine, a compound needed to transmit nerve messages from cell to cell. Too little of this compound makes individuals prone to Alzheimer's disease. The growth of glial cells and neural stem cells in the brain are stimulated by royal jelly. This positive attribute proves to be very beneficial for cases of Parkinson's disease. Royal jelly is also known for prolonging youthfulness, improving the skin beauty, increasing energy, alleviating anxiety, sleeplessness, moodiness, memory loss, and bolstering the immune system.

There are a lot of benefits from the pollen from the bee. Some of them include lowering bad cholesterol levels in the blood, increasing red and white blood cells, increasing sexual functions in men and women as well as improving their reproductive system, rejuvenating various glands and organs for work efficiency, aiding in cell regeneration, normalizing chemical imbalances of the body for proper metabolism, increases protection from various diseases including cancer and tumor through its rich antioxidant properties, treating allergies through its antihistamine properties, and so much more.

So which one is the best?

Actually, both are very effective in providing you with all the things you need to survive, enabling you to experience longer life. Why not take both bee pollen and royal jelly together. There is a special bee supplement from New Zealand that included royal jelly in its composition to booster more health benefits than any other bee supplements can.

Micheal Thomas is an editor for a series of health related websites. Learn about the best bee pollen supplement that we ourselves use daily after extensive product comparisons and research over at http://www.bee-pollen-supplement-guide.com