Pine pollen is such an intimate part of my existence right at this moment in ways that are not entirely pleasant, and it felt like the perfect time to take a deep dive into this literal force of nature. Both to remind myself and to share about this incredible plant in a deeper way than ever before.
Right now, a fine yellow dust is beginning to bathe everything. Everything. The cars outside, the sidewalk, and if we happen to have a rainstorm it will pool and be washed into thin lines of yellow- everywhere. It’s a sight to behold and people here in the south HATE it.
I get it. My eyes are puffy and I look like I haven’t slept in years (also true due to small children in my house), my chest and sinus cavities have a constant “am I getting sick, or is it just allergies?” dialogue with my brain. It could really be felt in the body as misery, if I let my emotions go there. Hence the necessity of this reframe.
Soon, there will be a veritable explosion of growth in plant life. It will appear as though the small transplants in our garden, and the young shrubs and trees we’ve planted, the forest all around- everything- will have taken a quantum leap and grown a foot since yesterday morning. The new leaves onthe deciduous trees in the forest around all of a sudden look wow, so lush, vibrant, and GREEN. Have I ever really seen that particular shade green, green.
They’ve all just been bathed in growth hormone, in botanical Jing. That pine pollen that’s been settling and soaking into the soils around is an absolute superpower of a complex phytochemical factory. In fact, this is critical to healthy forest ecosystems. Sterols and other plant based steroidal compounds are justthat are essentially growth hormone are just one class of the many, many constituents found in pine pollen. Plants soak that up and convert it into vitality and growth. The effect of plant steroidson germination and plant growth is actually well researched in agricultural science and pine pollen contains many of them, including those in the class of brassinosteroids and gibberellins. I am not a phytochemist and I generally loathe to reduce complex plants down to just their constituent parts, but these particular chemicals are a huge reason why I’m bothering to write this.
Pine trees are usually dioecious, the female part being the seed producing cone (or pinecone) and the male parts being the pollen producing catkin. This pollen is what fertilizes the cone in order to produce seeds. Pines are also wind pollinated, and this pine pollen is under a microscope shaped perfectly with large “ears” or sails to catch the wind.
Our bodies obviously process nutrition in a different way than plants, but there is so much historical and prehistorical information on record about traditional uses of pine pollen, as well as clinical study, that we can make a statement like “It can be of benefit to the human body to consume pine pollen.”
Pine catkins in the dehydrator to dry fully before sifting the powder
Pine pollen is one of the plant medicines that Dan and I have worked with for the longest time. We first became aware of pine pollen as a nutritional supplement when we lived in Madrid, Spain. There were many pine trees around, mostly Pinus pinaster or maritime pine, and we began to harvest pine pollen forour own consumption. Although there was some information to be found on why it was beneficial to consume, there was little information on how to actually process it into a consumable powder. It’s full of tiny little insects in need of filtering out, the moisture content is very high and your pollen powder will actually mold quite quickly, the fine powder becomes airborne so easily and you can lose hours of processed powder with one unfortunate sneeze.
As a food, it is nourishing and building. In fact it is quite high in protein. This is one of the reasons it is a traditional postpartum food for women- it replenishes some of the vital force that is inevitable lost during childbirth.Pine pollen also shines in the vitamin department, with clinically significant amounts of Vitamins B1, B2, B6, E, C, A and D3 as well as numerous trace but essential minerals such as zinc, selenium, magnesium, copper, calcium, iron and more. I generally use pine pollen powder as a smoothie add in, or if I am making a batch of no-cook energy balls. There are many recipes for adding pine pollen powder as a portion of the cornmeal in cornbread. I don’t tend to make cornbread a lot, but I have added it into my gluten-free pancake batter many times. I’m not sure how it changes when exposed to heat, which is why I tend to eat it in ways that it remains in it’s raw form.This is purely anecdotal, but during my first pregnancy I was vegan and I CRAVED pine pollen powder. I came up with so many recipes- raw cacao and nettle brownies with pine pollen frosting, pine pollen cashew white chocolate, lemon and pine pollen cake bites. Suffice it to say, I consumed quite a bit of pine pollen at this time. During my second pregnancy, I was not vegan and I did not crave pine pollen in the same way. In fact, I don’t think I consumed it even once until the postpartum period.
A version of said nettle raw brownies with pine pollen frosting, made to share at one of our early public talks
When pine pollen is tinctured, it becomes an entirely different medicine. Standard dosages of pine pollen tincture are absolutely a masculine body medicine and not generally suitable for the health goals of female identified folks.It is tonic, nutritive, adaptogenic, androgenic, antioxidant, antiviral, immune support, hepatic, supportive to the endocrine system, and more!The androgenic effect of pine pollen is that it elevates testosterone and DHEA (a master hormone) levels in the blood, and balances the ratio of androgens to estrogens. Many men find this to be highly beneficial in terms of overall ability to build strength, healthy libido, stable mental and emotional states and a general feeling of virility.
There is some interesting data coming out of the trans community, showing that pine pollen could be an important ally for transmasculine folks during transition especially when access to pharmaceutical hormone therapy isn’t available.
I do not want to speak for this community, and information is hard to come by- I am compiling links below and will add to this as I am able:
https://www.dylanwilderquinn.com/single-post/2017/07/26/herbs-for-resistance
https://theoutline.com/post/2494/can-herbal-hormone-therapy-help-the-transgender-community
http://www.sfherbalist.com/holistic-health-for-transgender-gender-variant-folks/
A fat half gallon of pine pollen tincture for the menfolk ❤
It appears that the effect of pine pollen, specifically the plant steroid compounds, have a modulating effect on hormone levels not just a simple increase. In the case of the prostate- they do decrease inflammation in enlarged prostate, but if the prostate is too small (such as in castrated rats), it increased the size and prevented atrophy.
It seems that the use of pine pollen for men as an aid to vitality and vigor is most effective as the testosterone levels begin to naturally decline in middle age. It is generally not recommended for younger men under the age of around 40, primarily because testosterone levels are naturally high enough that there isn’t a need for supplementation. My husband Dan, who is now in his mid 40s, has been taking pine pollen tincture long term now. Like with any herb, he cycles in and out of use with it, but pine pollen has been part of his routine for almost 20 years now. His experiences with pine pollen are that it isn’t so much about increasing brute strength and virility in the way that we think of in popular culture of maleness, that is truly toxic masculinity. He feels that Pine calls in clarity of thought, quick and decisive decision making, quicker reaction speeds. These might not be what you think of in terms of archetypal male traits necessarily, but perhaps a recalibration of our ideas around what masculinity really is, is quite overdue.
Another specific usage for pine pollen would be in the case of chronic conditions such as chronic fatigue, Lyme disease, hepatitis B and C, AIDS and other chronic diseases where low energy and fatigue are common and debilitating conditions. In this case, pine pollen would work in a fundamentally different way to a stimulant which simply steals energy from the body that can’t possibly be recovered in a way that creates a vicious cycle of dependence in order to function, and then ultimately feeling more depleted.
An interesting thought to ponder is the idea of xenoestrogens- the estrogen like chemicals that absolutely flood our environment and bodies. They are found in plastics, which are found in…everything now, even our breastmilk. I am not aware of research specifically on the impact of phytoandrogens on xenoestrogens, but it certainly something to consider in our search for balance in all things.
To increase androgen levels, only pine pollen tincture works. Once it goes past the GI tract, it isn’t effective in that way anymore as the acidic environment along with the simple process of digestion renders the hormonal component inert. Being alcohol based, a tincture bypasses the digestive system to go straight into the bloodstream.
To give credit where credit is due, the vast majority of the information on the impact of pine pollen on male health, Stephen Harrod Buhner and his book Pine Pollen: Ancient Medicine for a New Millenium is definitely the go to for information, especially the clinical research from China and Russia.
A note- as someone who is absolutely reactive to airborne pollen, I do not have a systemic allergic reaction to ingesting pine pollen. My experience is that it works entirely different in the body when ingested as opposed to breathing it in. That said, please be safe and do your due diligence if you have known allergies. Your experience may be different to mine. As with any new food or herb, go slowly and see how you feel.
I would love to hear your experiences with pine pollen! Whether you have eaten it as a food, used it as medicine or experienced “the pollening” this time of year, leave a comment and let me know.
