What is the future of Bee-Pollen?

Abstract

In the last two decades many papers have been published on issues concerning bee pollen. Some have related to nutritional and therapeutic claims supported by scientific based evidence and many have dealt with quality control questions and validation of the methodologies that allow bee pollen producers to have sufficient knowledge to provide the market with high quality products. The quality of the product starts to be influenced by the bees at pollen collection, and includes harvest by beekeepers and technologies used during storage. This review summarises information available at each of these stages. In the near future research needs to develop legislation in order to have Harmonised Standard Quality Control. It is clear that there is quite a long road until bee pollen will be able to take a place in modern phytomedicine. The main difficulty for the use of bee pollen in therapy lies in the wide variation of its composition, and thus of its biological activity, depending on its botanical origin. In the first place beekeepers should offer a good selection of different specific bee pollen. Indeed, the harvest of monofloral pollen is possible, but for the time being it is a relatively rare specialty. Another possibility of having more standardized bee pollen is to mix different pollen types to obtain a constant composition, and thus also consistent biological activity. For this purpose biological parameters like antioxidant activity and vitamin content should be included in a future bee pollen standard. Monofloral or standardized bee pollen should be tested in future biological and clinical studies. The biological and pharmacological properties of the monofloral pollen types should be determined and the biologically active substances identified. Then pollen types with optimal pharmacological properties can be evaluated for human therapy.

Chemical Composition and Biological Activities of Beebread – Review

“…The results in most of the research show large variations and significant differences in the amount and content of phenolic compounds found in beebread (Carpes et al, 2007). This is due to the variation of the floral sources origin of analyzed pollen (Campos et al, 2010). Some variation can also be due to the different quantification methods that have been used in the different studies.…”

“…Despite the absence of conclusive data, the common view of different researchers is that bee pollen is insufficiently digested and a breaking of this outer wall would improve the digestibility and bioavailability (Campos et al,2010;Rimpler et al, 2003).…”

“…Different simulations in vitro of human digestion suggest that the beepollen is partially digested between 48% and 59% (Campos et al,2010) and anthropological studies found coprolites (dried human excretions) with intact pollens, which has been used by some researchers as evidence of the strength of the outer wall of pollen, even to gastric acid (Rimpler et al, 2003).…”

Assessment of Beneficial Effect of Propolis against Cadmium Induced Toxicity and Oxidative Stress in Rats.

“…Crude propolis contains more than 300 of active and nutritional compound such as amino acids, phenolic acids, phenolic acids esters, flavonoids, cinnamic acid, terpenes and caffeic acid, and its compositions alter resulting from variation in geographical and botanical origin 11 . It is a popular folk medicine possessing a broad spectrum of biological activities including anti-inflammatory, antiviral, antibacterial, antimicrobial, antioxidative, anti-ulcer and antitumor activities, immune-stimulatory and carcinostatic activities 12 . Propolis was suggested to have powerful antioxidant activity.…”

Influence of the administration of propolis and bee pollen preparation on the concentration of mercury in the muscles, kidneys and liver of white storks

“…It is mainly used in construction, adaptation and protection of bee hives (5,7). Bee pollen is composed of amino acids, proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, enzymes, phenolic compounds as well as vitamins (4,10). Among other properties it has been reported that bee pollen has the ability to guard against intoxication from heavy metals through its anti-oxidative effect (10).…”