ArticleScientific reports2018
Medicinal value of sunflower pollen against bee pathogens.
Article in Scientific reports, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
42 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Can floral nectars reduce transmission of Leishmania?PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2022Pooled it
- Sunflower Pollen and Bumble Bee Health: Mechanisms, Modifiers and Trade-Offs.Ecology and evolution · 2026Review
- Animal medical systems from Apis to apes: history, recent advances and future perspectives.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2025Review
- Dietary modulation of gut microbiota and functional enzymes in savannah honey bees (Apis mellifera scutellata Lepeletier).Applied microbiology and biotechnology · 2025Article
- Core symbionts, age at inoculation and diet affect colonization of the bumblebee gut by a common bacterial pathogen.The Journal of animal ecology · 2025Article
- Food as Medicine: A Review of Plant Secondary Metabolites from Pollen, Nectar, and Resin with Health Benefits for Bees.Insects · 2025Review
- The Role of Pathogens in Bumblebee Decline: A Review.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Editorial: Impact of landscape and feeding on the bees' gut microbiome shaping and pathogens development.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2025Article
- A guide to sunflowers: floral resource nutrition for bee health and key pollination syndromes.Frontiers in plant science · 2025Review
- Quality control of pollen products in the market by quantitative analysis of total amino acids with liquid chromatography.Heliyon · 2024Article
- Pollen chemical and mechanical defences restrict host-plant use by bees.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Article
- Gut Transplants from Bees Fed an Antipathogenic Pollen Diet Do Not Confer Pathogen Resistance to Recipients.Microbial ecology · 2023Article
- Methods matter: the influence of method on infection estimates of the bumblebee parasiteParasitology · 2023Article
- Chemical Composition of Four Industrial Hemp (Insects · 2023Article
- Sunflower plantings reduce a common gut pathogen and increase queen production in common eastern bumblebee colonies.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Differential bumble bee gene expression associated with pathogen infection and pollen diet.BMC genomics · 2023Article
- Pollen as Bee Medicine: Is Prevention Better than Cure?Biology · 2023Article
- Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Insect Pathogens: Implications for Plant Reproduction.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- An Evidence-based rationale for a North American commercial bumble bee clean stock certification program.Journal of pollination ecology · 2023Article
- Investigating the influence of diet diversity on infection outcomes in a bumble bee (Frontiers in insect science · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Global declines in pollinators, including bees, can have major consequences for ecosystem services. Bees are dominant pollinators, making it imperative to mitigate declines. Pathogens are strongly implicated in the decline of native and honey bees. Diet affects bee immune responses, suggesting the potential for floral resources to provide natural resistance to pathogens. We discovered that sunflower (Helianthus annuus) pollen dramatically and consistently reduced a protozoan pathogen (Crithidia bombi) infection in bumble bees (Bombus impatiens) and also reduced a microsporidian pathogen (Nosema ceranae) of the European honey bee (Apis mellifera), indicating the potential for broad anti-parasitic effects. In a field survey, bumble bees from farms with more sunflower area had lower Crithidia infection rates. Given consistent effects of sunflower in reducing pathogens, planting sunflower in agroecosystems and native habitat may provide a simple solution to reduce disease and improve the health of economically and ecologically important pollinators.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.