Objectives From the viewpoints of functional ingredients of health foods, this paper delineates many functional ingredients involved with pollen and directs the research and development of pollen health foods. Methods Based on the main types and functions of various functional ingredients, the analyses introduce a lot of functional ingredients in pollen. Results According to the requirements of functional ingredients of health foods, it is very impor-tantance to adapt pollen health food to international health food trends, i.e. rich in well - known functional ingredients in health food. All in all, it is concluded that the kinds and contents of functional ingredients in pollen are very abundant and pollen is a valuable health food.