Honeybees produce honey, royal jelly, propolis, bee venom, bee pollen, and beeswax, which potentially benefit to humans due to the bioactives in them. Clinical standardization of these products is ...hindered by chemical variability depending on honeybee and botanical sources, but different molecules have been isolated and pharmacologically characterized. Major honey bioactives include phenolics, methylglyoxal, royal jelly proteins (MRJPs), and oligosaccharides. In royal jelly there are antimicrobial jelleins and royalisin peptides, MRJPs, and hydroxy-decenoic acid derivatives, notably 10-hydroxy-2-decenoic acid (10-HDA), with antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, neuromodulatory, metabolic syndrome preventing, and anti-aging activities. Propolis contains caffeic acid phenethyl ester and artepillin C, specific of Brazilian propolis, with antiviral, immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory and anticancer effects. Bee venom consists of toxic peptides like pain-inducing melittin, SK channel blocking apamin, and allergenic phospholipase A2. Bee pollen is vitaminic, contains antioxidant and anti-inflammatory plant phenolics, as well as antiatherosclerotic, antidiabetic, and hypoglycemic flavonoids, unsaturated fatty acids, and sterols. Beeswax is widely used in cosmetics and makeup. Given the importance of drug discovery from natural sources, this review is aimed at providing an exhaustive screening of the bioactive compounds detected in honeybee products and of their curative or adverse biological effects.
This study aimed to investigate the effects of in ovo injection of bee pollen (BP) extract on some hatching traits, glycogen reserves and production performance in broilers. A total of 886 eggs was ...randomly assigned to 5 treatments: the 0.9% NaCl diluent-injected control group, and the groups that were injected with BP extract at 3 different concentrations: BP-1.5%, BP-2.5% and BP-5.0% (7, 12 and 25 mg/egg, respectively). The last group received a carbohydrate solution (CS). At 18 d of incubation, 500 µL of each solution was injected into the air sac of each egg of the injected groups. After hatching, a total of 570 one-day-old chicks were distributed into 5 groups (in ovo injection) with 3 replicates with 38 birds. The in ovo injection of BP at a dose of 5% and CS resulted in lower hatching rates (P < 0.05) as compared with the control group. The level of glycogen in the muscle tissue of newly hatched birds was not significantly different (P > 0.05). Supplementation of embryos with BP extract also caused a significant increase in the length of chicks in the BP-1.5% group (P < 0.001). Hatched chicks from the injected eggs had a lower liver glycogen content than that of the control. Based on the results, it was concluded that high-quality day-old chicks could be obtained by in ovo injection. Supplementation of chicks with 1.5% BP extract had a beneficial effect on BW during the first rearing period and showed a hypocholesterolemic effect in young chicks. At the same time, an adverse effect of a high dose of BP (5%) and a carbohydrate solution administered in ovo on the hatchability level of chicks was shown. The implementation of the carbohydrate mixture resulted in a deterioration of biochemical indices in the plasma of newly hatched chicks, especially in the case of transaminase activity.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Pollen grains are the male reproductive part of the flowering plants. It is collected by forager honey bees and mixed with their salivary secretions, enzymes, and nectar, which form fermented pollen ...or “bee bread” which is stored in cells of wax honeycombs. Bee pollen (BP) is a valuable apitherapeutic product and is considered a nutritional healthy food appreciated by natural medicine from ancient times. Recently, BP has been considered a beneficial food supplement and a value-added product that contains approximately 250 different bioactive components. It contains numerous beneficial elements such as Mg, Ca, Mn, K, and phenolic compounds. BP possesses strong antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antiviral, analgesic, immunostimulant, neuroprotective, anti-cancer, and hepatoprotective properties. It is used for different purposes for the welfare of mankind. Additionally, there is a growing interest in honey bee products harvesting and utilizing for many purposes as a natural remedy and nutritive function. In this review, the impacts of BP on different organisms in different ways by highlighting its apitherapeutic efficacy are described.
The article presents data on changes in the protein content of bee pollen due to different storage methods. In May, during the collection of bee pollen by bee colonies, in the conditions of the farm ...located in the Stryi district of the Lviv region, more than 30 types of flower pollen entered the nest. At the same time, for species identification, acetolysis of seven types of flower pollen was carried out, which differed in the maximum amount of arrival: apple (Malus), dandelion (Taráxacum), winter rape (Brassica napus), buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum), clover (Trifolium pratense), chestnut (Castánea) and raspberry (Rúbus idáeus). To study the nitrogen content according to the Kjeldahl method, all pollen was divided into three groups according to the storage method. Bee pollen of the first group was considered fresh. In it, the nitrogen content was determined immediately after determining the species. Calculations showed the maximum crude protein content in this group. Of all types of bee pollen that were determined to be fresh, the maximum amount of protein was found in bee pollen collected during the flowering of winter rape (Brassica napus) and apple (Malus). Its average content is 24.9 ± 2.09 and 23.4 ± 1.77 %, respectively. As a result of freezing at a temperature of 18 ºС and its storage for 8–12 months, the protein content practically did not change and decreased by only 0.3–0.9 %. A slight tendency to decrease the amount of nitrogen in bee honey was also found when stored in a dried state. Bee pollen, stored for 8–12 months under different conditions, was fed to newborn honey bees and kept in entomological boxes. It was found that bee pollen storage conditions affect honey bees' food consumption rate. The minor attractiveness of the feed was found in the dried bee pollen. The absence of a connection between the content of crude protein in feed and the rate of its consumption by bees was investigated.
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•ChCl: Ethylene glycol is promising for vitamin extraction from bee pollen.•Vitamin extraction from bee pollen was optimized.•Water-soluble vitamins were extracted with DES.•The ...practical applicability of method evaluated with AGREEprep, BAGI and ComplexGAPI tools.
In this study, different deep eutectic solvents (DESs) were used for vitamin extraction from bee pollen. The DES combination with the highest total amount of individual vitamins was choline chloride: ethylene glycol (molar ratio 1:2). The response surface method was then used to optimize the extraction conditions. The independent variables used for optimization were ultrasonic power, time, and temperature, while the dependent variables were the total individual amino acids, total individual phenolic compounds, and total individual vitamin contents. Spectrophotometric analyses and antimicrobial activity were also determined in the extracts. In addition, AGREEprep, ComplexGAPI and BAGI tools were used to evaluate the greenness of the method. The results obtained with DES were compared with water, ethanol, and methanol extracts, which were considered control groups. As a result of optimization, the optimum conditions were found to be 75 % for ultrasonic power, 71.5 min for sonication time, and 40 °C for ultrasonic bath temperature. The model’s composite desirability value (d) was found to be 0.81. The predicted value and the experimental values were close to each other. Furthermore, the most dominant vitamin in DES extracts was ascorbic acid, the most dominant amino acid was proline, and the most dominant phenolic compound was myricetin. The amounts of these compounds were higher than those obtained from water, ethanol, and methanol extracts. The spectrophotometric analysis results obtained higher yields with DES compared to the control groups. Antimicrobial activity analysis showed that pollen extracts prepared using choline chloride: ethylene glycol had a weak inhibitory effect for Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria but not yeast-like fungal strains. In conclusion, DES has been successfully used to extract vitamins and other bioactive compounds from bee pollen. The results obtained showed that DESs can be an alternative to organic solvents for the extraction of vitamins, which are among the minor components of bee pollen. Besides, the potential of the application different DESs for more efficient extraction of vitamins and components with important pharmaceutical properties from bee pollen needs to be evaluated in detail.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Beside honey, honeybees (Apis mellifera L.) are able to produce many byproducts, including bee pollen, propolis, bee bread, royal jelly, and beeswax. Even if the medicinal properties of these ...byproducts have been recognized for thousands of years by the ancient civilizations, in the modern era, they have a limited use, essentially as nutritional supplements or health products. However, these natural products are excellent sources of bioactive compounds, macro- and micronutrients, that, in a synergistic way, confer multiple biological activities to these byproducts, such as, for example, antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties. This work aims to update the chemical and phytochemical composition of bee pollen, propolis, bee bread, royal jelly, and beeswax and to summarize the main effects exerted by these byproducts on human health, from the anticancer and immune-modulatory activities to the antidiabetic, hypolipidemic, hypotensive, and anti-allergic properties.
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IJS, KILJ, NUK, PNG, UL, UM, UPUK
The food industry today is returning to natural foods after emphasizing the processed products due to the higher consumer demand for foods which are well recognized by healthy nutrients. Bee pollen ...is known as a natural super food due to its indispensable nutritional and medicinal properties. However, the physico-chemical and nutritional properties of bee pollen are ambiguous which vary greatly due to the difference of botanical and geographical origin.
The current study, therefore, presents an updated overview by critically reviewing the literature for chemical constituents (sugars, amino acids, fatty acids, minerals, vitamins, and phenolic compounds) of bee pollen since 2009 from more than 20 nations of the world. The functional properties of different plant-derived bee pollen and their food applications are also discussed for the first time.
As per the systematic review of above 100 studies, the bee pollen contains average 54.22% (18.50–84.25%) carbohydrates, 21.30% (4.50–40.70%) proteins, 5.31% (0.41–13.50%) lipids, 8.75% (0.15–31.26%) fibre, 2.91% (0.50–7.75%) ash, 13.41 g/100 g (2.77–28.49 g/100 g) glucose, 15.36 g/100 g (4.9–33.48 g/100 g) fructose, 4.25 g/100 g (0.05–9.02 g/100 g) sucrose, 4951.61 mg/kg (3.06–13366.60 mg/kg) potassium, 4157.86 mg/kg (234.40–9587.00 mg/kg) phosphorus, 1751.22 mg/kg (1.09–5752.19 mg/kg) calcium, 1246.99 mg/kg (44.00–4680.53 mg/kg) magnesium, 46.97 mg/kg (0.10–105.80 mg/kg) zinc, 197.41 mg/kg (2.60–1180.00 mg/kg) iron, and 30.59 mg GAE/g (0.69–213.20 mg GAE/g) total phenolic content. Bee pollen, based on its functional properties can be recommended as a natural food ingredient in several processed food products. Further, the present paper strongly focuses to investigate the mono-floral bee pollen from different geographical regions and related safety issues to establish the global pollen quality and safety standards in coming years.
•Physicochemical and functional properties of bee pollen from varying sources are summarized.•Bee pollen has average 54.22% carbohydrates, 21.30% proteins, 5.31% lipids and 2.91% ash content.•Functional properties are reviewed as key elements for valorization of bee pollen.•Investigating the mono-floral bee pollen from diverse botanical and geographical origin is proposed.•The need of harmonized global standards for bee pollen safety is also addressed.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Pollen grains are located on the anthers of the flowers, bees collect them and mix them with secretions from their salivary glands and nectar and carry them to the hives in the baskets situated on ...their hind legs. According to the chemical composition, bee pollen is a mixture of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and other useful substances for the development of bees in the hive. Due to its nutritional value and potential healthful properties, it is valuable product for beekeeper’s income. The aim of this research was to evaluate the physicochemical characteristics of bee pollen in relation to the period of collection and geographical origin from different localities in Virovitica-Podravina County. Eleven bee pollen samples were collected from stationary apiaries in the period of April and May 2022.Palynological analysis showed that dominated pollen in five samples was pollen from Brassica sp.; Malus spp. and Salix spp. pollen dominate in two bee pollen samples while two samples had dominating pollen coming from Asteraceae family. Physicochemical analysis showed that pollen collected in the period of April had a lower proportion of ash, total fat and phenols, but a higher proportion of moisture content, proteins and carbohydrates.