Inbred mice fed only bee pollen

Abstract

We previously reported that three different inbred strains of mice (CBA/Ki, C3H/f/Ki and C57BI/Ki) survived in a healthy condition when fed only a bee pollen granules diet and drinking water for 365 days. Similarly, Sprague-Dawley rats showed comparable skeletal and organ growth and development when fed a similar bee pollen diet during a twelve-week period as compared to control animals fed a standard laboratory diet. It was the purpose of this study to determine how long the survival time of CBA/Ki mice could be extended beyond 365 days when fed only bee pollen granules and water as compared to controls. Control mice survived a mean of 477 days (389-548) with 100% diagnosed with renal amyloidosis at autopsy which characterized this strain of mice in our laboratory. All pollen fed mice appeared healthy when euthanized at 600 days of age. Survival times were compared with a log rank test (p < 0.001). Also, there was no evidence of pathology particularly in the kidneys. These unexpected findings could be interpreted as being consistent with the genetotrophic disease concept proposed more than fifty years ago, namely, that bee pollen contains either a unique nutrient or a higher level of one or more nutrients that may be lacking or at a lower concentration in the standard diet which will then circumvent partial genetic blocks in the metabolic assembly line. If correct, this finding could provide an experimental model for study in the emerging field of nutrigenomics.