Portuguese bee pollen: palynological study, nutritional and microbiological evaluation

Abstract

Bee pollen is one of the richest and purest natural foods, used in the folk medicine, clinical practices, and food and pharmaceutical industries. This work aims to characterise, for the first time in Portugal, the palynological origin, nutritional value and microbiological safety of this beehive product. It identified ten botanical families, and the more frequent were Boraginaceae and Ericaceae. We have evaluated the water content, a w , pH, reducing sugars, ash, carbohydrate, proteins, lipids, fatty acids and energy. The microorganisms studied were the aerobic mesophiles, moulds and yeasts, faecal coliforms, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella and sulphite-reducing clostridia. The studied pollens are nutritionally well balanced, and contain high levels of moisture, proteins, fat, energy, ash, carbohydrates, reducing sugars, essential n-3 fatty acids and good ratios of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) ⁄ saturated fatty acids. In fact, the PUFA represent 66% of the total fatty acids. The samples had good microbiological quality, as none of the samples had toxigenic species.

Computational intelligence applied to discriminate bee pollen quality and botanical origin

“…The values of physicochemical were similar to the reports available in the literature (Arruda et al, 2013;Campos et al, 2008Campos et al, , 2016Estevinho et al, 2012).…”

“…Bee pollen has a variable chemical composition, being the major compounds proteins, carbohydrates, sugar, lipids, fibres, vitamins and minerals (Arruda, Pereira, de Freitas, Barth, & de AlmeidaMuradian, 2013;Campos et al, 2016;Estevinho, Rodrigues, Pereira, & Feás, 2012;Yang et al, 2013) and depends of the floral origin (Morais, Moreira, Feás, & Estevinho, 2011). According Campos, Olena, and Anjos (2016) bee pollen contain all the essential amino acids needed for the human organism.…”

Physicochemical composition and antioxidant potential of bee pollen from different botanical sources in Alagoas, Brazil

“…Even bee pollen from the same plant species harvested in distinct areas will contain differences in their chemical quality (Denisow;Denisow-Pietrzyk, 2016), and extensive research is required before bee pollen can be used in therapy, although it can unequivocally be recommended as a valuable dietary supplement. After studying bee pollen from Portugal, Morais et al (2011) and Estevinho et al (2012) reported that one of the fundamental aspects for the beneficial qualities of bee pollen is its botanical and geographical declaration of origin. Generic pollen composition data were previously considered sufficient, but now, the usefulness of specific data is increasingly being acknowledged since several studies indicate appreciable differences among the compositions of bee pollen from variable regions.…”

Pólen apícola desidratado: composição físico-química, qualidade microbiologica, compostos fenólicos e flavonoides, capacidade antioxidante e origem botânica

“…Os valores obtidos por Estevinho et al, (2012), Nogueira et al, (2012) e Feas et al, (2012), em amostras desidratadas de pólen apícola orgâncio e pólen apícola comercial portugueses foram inferiores aos determinados neste estudo. Do ponto de vista microbiólogico os valores de bolores e leveduras estão relacionados com as condições ambientais, e são indicativos de uma gestão adequada ou ineficiente dos apiários (NOGUEIRA et al, 2012).…”

“…Os aeróbios mesófilos estiveram presentes em 56% das amostras, Os indicadores de segurança (esporos de clostrídios sulfito redutores) estiveram ausentes em todas as amostras analisadas, assim como observado por Estevinho et al, (2012), Nogueira et al, (2012), Feas et al, (2012) e Coronel, et al, (2004.…”