Bee Collected Pollen and Bee Bread: Bioactive Constituents and Health Benefits

Abstract

Bee products were historically used as a therapheutic approach and in food consumption, while more recent data include important details that could validate them as food supplements due to their bioproperties, which support their future use as medicines. In this review data, data collected from bee pollen (BP) and bee bread (BB) essays will be discussed and detailed for their nutritional and health protective properties as functional foods. Dietary antioxidants intake derived from BP and BB have been associated with the prevention and clinical treatment of multiple diseases. The beneficial effects of BP and BB on health result from the presence of multiple polyphenols which possess anti-inflammatory properties, phytosterols and fatty acids, which play anticancerogenic roles, as well as polysaccharides, which stimulate immunological activity. From the main bioactivity studies with BP and BB, in vitro studies and animal experiments, the stimulation of apoptosis and the inhibition of cell proliferation in multiple cell lines could be one of the major therapeutic adjuvant effects to be explored in reducing tumor growth. Tables summarizing the main data available in this field and information about other bio-effects of BP and BB, which support the conclusions, are provided. Additionally, a discussion about the research gaps will be presented to help further experiments that complete the tree main World Health Organization (WHO) Directives of Efficiency, Safety and Quality Control for these products.

Bee Bread: Physicochemical Characterization and Phenolic Content Extraction Optimization

“…As bee bread is a fermented mixture of plant pollen, honey, and secretions of the salivary glands of bees [ 3 , 4 ] its FT-IR spectra resembled that of crude pollen, which we have characterized in a previous study [ 33 ]. In the region 4000–2000 cm −1 , bee bread shared similar absorption bands to pollen at 3286.25 cm −1 , which corresponded to O–H stretching vibrations and was due to the presence of water [ 60 ], and also at 2916.78 cm −1 and 2849.01 cm −1 , where the peaks were attributed to symmetric and asymmetric stretching of the C–H groups in carbohydrates (glucose, fructose, sucrose, arabinose) and lipids contained by the sample [ 13 , 61 ]. Other peaks related to the lipid fraction were observed at 1734.67 cm −1 and 1417.20 cm −1 and were assigned to C=O stretching in the ester bond and C–H deformation vibrations of lipids, respectively [ 61 , 62 ].…”

“…It can be considered an important source of nutrients and bioactive compounds such as proteins, vitamins (C, B, K, P and E), and polyphenols (flavonoids, phenolic acids) which are influenced by the source of pollen and different factors that influence the growth of the pollen plant (geographic origin, soil, climate) [ 6 , 7 , 8 ]. The studies carried out on volatile profile components showed a high concentration of unsaturated aliphatic acids, amino acids, terpene and terpene derivates, carbohydrates (e.g., glucose, fructose), and nitriles [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ]. Bee bread is a rich source of polyphenols which includekaempherol, p -coumaric acid and isorhamnetin [ 10 ], apigenin, chrysin, naringenin, caffeic, ferulic and gallic acids, and quercetin [ 11 , 15 ].…”

The Application of Pollen as a Functional Food and Feed Ingredient—The Present and Perspectives

“…In the literature, numerous review papers focus on a detailed overview of the pollen nutrients (carbohydrates, protein, amino acids, lipids, and minerals), their phytometabolites (carotenoids, phenols, flavonoids, and vitamins), and their positive effects on human health and possible therapeutic properties [5,6,17,18]. Recently, due to the increased awareness of consumers that the consumption of functional foods can improve their health, pollen began to be considered as a functional food and feed ingredient.…”

Antioxidant, Nutraceutical Properties, and Fluorescence Spectral Profiles of Bee Pollen Samples from Different Botanical Origins

“…Bee pollen could be used as a dietary supplement and its commercial interest is growing due to its high nutritional value and medical properties such as hypolipidemic [ 9 ], anti-inflammatory [ 10 ], and antiallergic activity [ 11 ]. These effects on human health [ 12 ] have been correlated with the polyphenols content and chemical composition of bee pollen, regardless of the aforementioned wide species-specific variation of nutrients and beneficial compounds that it could contain [ 2 ]. Moreover, the antioxidant properties of bee pollen and its content in terms of bioactive compounds is essential in determining the nutraceutical properties of honey and propolis, too [ 13 , 14 ].…”