Influence of the commercial processing and floral origin on bioactive and nutritional properties of honeybee‐collected pollen

Abstract

Pollen is characterised for having a low fat content, a relatively high content of dietary fibre and an important amount of minerals and essential amino acids. With regard to bioactive compounds, honeybeecollected pollen exhibits an important source of phytochemical compounds and antioxidant activity. The purpose of this research was to study how the nutritional properties and the stability of the bioactive compounds found in honeybee-collected pollen were affected by the commercial processing and its floral origin. To achieve this goal, pollen pellets of different floral origin were harvested directly from hives and immediately stored at )80°C. Pollen pellets were dried by placing them into hot-air chambers (traditional drying methodology) or by means of freeze-drying. We found a slight influence of floral origin on the nutritional properties of pollen pellets (multifloral pollen had higher contents of fat, carbohydrates, proteins and mineral elements than monofloral-type pollen), whereas the abundance of bioactive compounds was correlated with the origin factor as well as the methodology employed to dry the fresh pollen pellets, especially carotenoid pigments such as lutein (5.73 ± 1.80, 4.93 ± 1.16 and 0.81 ± 0.16 lg of lutein per g of pollen for fresh, lyophilised and hot-air-dried multifloral pollen).Influence of the commercial processing and floral origin D. Domínguez-Valhondo et al.Influence of the commercial processing and floral origin D. Domínguez-Valhondo et al.

Bee Pollen in Transylvania (Romania): Palynological Characterization and ORACFL Values of Lipophilic and Hydrophilic Extracts of Monofloral Pollen Pellets

“…The high variety of the plant families' recorder in this study may be considered as a good indication of the flora diversity of this specific area of Romania, which can be considered as valuable assets of the multifloral bee pollen harvested from here. The phenolic content varied greatly amongst the different types of monofloral bee pollen, similarly with the authors' previous reports [19], where the [5,27,28]. Each pollen type has its own specificity, mainly linked to the floral species or cultivars [26].…”

“…Almeida-Muradian et al [14] registered TC values ranged between 12.38 µg/g and 126.4 µg/g for multifloral Brazilian samples analyzed by open column chromatography. Similar TC values were reported by Dominguez-Valhondo et al [5], but they analyzed only two different types of bee pollen, one monofloral (Cistus ladanifer L.) and one multifloral sample, both as fresh, lyophilized and hot-dried form. The TC of fresh samples were 20.40 µg/g and 5.51 µg/g, respectively.…”

“…As pollen includes many kinds of polyphenols, carotenoids and vitamins, it has been suggested that it may be a useful supplement to prevent oxidation [4,5].…”

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

“…For the preservation of freshly collected pollen, different drying techniques-hot-air drying, freeze-drying, microwave drying, vacuum drying, and microwave-assisted vacuum drying, are used [58,61,62,64,[67][68][69] (freeze-drying and hot-air drying are most commonly applied [58,61,62,[67][68][69]). Drying the pollen with hot air is recommended at the temperature of 40 • C, while at higher temperatures the physicochemical properties, morphological structures, and organoleptic characteristics of pollen are disturbed [62].…”

Carbohydrate composition of Slovenian bee pollens

“…Bee pollen represents a natural source of carbohydrate, protein, lipids and dietary fibre and also includes minor components such as amino acids, saturated and unsaturated fatty acids, minerals, trace elements, vitamins, carotenoids and phenolic compounds. The levels of these ingredients in bee pollen depend on its botanical and geographical origin and also on the climate, weather conditions, season, storage conditions and processing of the fresh pollen (Campos et al, 2008;Dom ınguez-Valhondo et al, 2011;Yang et al, 2013;Bogdanov, 2016;Salazar-Gonz alez & D ıaz-Moreno, 2016).…”