Bee pollen in allergy and immunology. Short review. (original) (raw)
Related papers
Bee pollen: a dangerous food for allergic children. Identification of responsible allergens
Allergologia et Immunopathologia, 2010
Background: Bee pollen has been proposed as a food supplement, but it can be a dangerous food for people with allergy. We study an allergic reaction after ingestion of bee pollen in a 4-year-old boy who had developed rhinitis in the last spring and autumn. Methods: We performed a prick-by-prick test with bee pollen and skin prick tests with the most important local pollens, house dust mites, common fungi, and animal danders. The levels of serum tryptase, serum total IgE and specific IgE against bee venom and local pollen extracts were determined. The composition of the bee pollen was analysed and SDS-PAGE immunoblotting and blotting-inhibition were carried out. Results: Prick tests were positive to bee pollen and all local pollens extracts and negative to any other allergen sources. The bee pollen sample contained pollens from Quercus genus, and Asteraceae (Compositae) and Rosaceae families. Total IgE was 435 kU/l. Serum specific IgE to bee pollen was 6 kU/l and greater than 0.35 kU/L against pollens from Artemisia vulgaris, Taraxacum officinalis, Cupressus arizonica, Olea europaea, Platanus acerifolia and Lolium perenne as well as to n Art v 1 and other pollen marker allergens. Tryptase level was 3.5 mcg/mL. SDS-PAGE immunoblotting-inhibition points to Asteraceae pollen as the possible cause of the allergic reaction. Conclusion: Foods derived from bees can be dangerous to people with allergy to pollen.
Bee Pollen: Current Status and Therapeutic Potential
Nutrients
Bee pollen is a combination of plant pollen and honeybee secretions and nectar. The Bible and ancient Egyptian texts are documented proof of its use in public health. It is considered a gold mine of nutrition due to its active components that have significant health and medicinal properties. Bee pollen contains bioactive compounds including proteins, amino acids, lipids, carbohydrates, minerals, vitamins, and polyphenols. The vital components of bee pollen enhance different bodily functions and offer protection against many diseases. It is generally marketed as a functional food with affordable and inexpensive prices with promising future industrial potentials. This review highlights the dietary properties of bee pollen and its influence on human health, and its applications in the food industry.
Molecules
Bee pollen, because of its high content of nutrients, is a very valuable medicinal and nutritional product. However, since its composition is not completely studied, the consumption of this product may cause adverse effects, including allergic reactions. Therefore, this study aimed to discover and characterize the bioactive proteins of bee pollen collected in Poland, focusing mainly on the allergens. For this purpose, the purified and concentrated pollen aqueous solutions were analyzed using the nanoLC-MALDI-TOF/TOF MS analytical platform. As a result of the experiments, 197 unique proteins derived from green plants (Viridiplantae) and 10 unique proteins derived from bees (Apis spp.) were identified. Among them, potential plant allergens were discovered. Moreover, proteins belonging to the group of hypothetical proteins, whose expression had not been confirmed experimentally before, were detected. Because of the content of bioactive compounds—both beneficial and harmful—there is a c...
Bee pollen properties: uses and potential pharmacological applications-a review
Journal of Analytical & Pharmaceutical Research, 2018
Bee pollen is a food supplement widely used in the world due to the benefits promoted by the bioactive compounds present in it. In addition to the very attractive nutritional composition, the presence of phenolics, flavonoids, terpenes are responsible for the antioxidant activity, antimicrobial, antiinflammatory, possible action on benign prostatic hyperplasia, no cytotoxic. It is intended to show with this article the uses and potential of bee pollen application. Numerous studies are aimed at identifying these compounds in pollen samples around the world, because according to the region, climatic type, seasons, shift and bee species, the composition is influenced by the variety. The use of pollen is more recurrent in the food industry are comprehensively summarized in this review, but the biomedical could also take advantage of the potential that this product demonstrates.
Bee Pollen as Functional Food: Insights into Its Composition and Therapeutic Properties
Antioxidants
Bee pollen is a hive product made up of flower pollen grains, nectar, and bee salivary secretions that beekeepers can collect without damaging the hive. Bee pollen, also called bee-collected pollen, contains a wide range of nutritious elements, including proteins, carbs, lipids, and dietary fibers, as well as bioactive micronutrients including vitamins, minerals, phenolic, and volatile compounds. Because of this composition of high quality, this product has been gaining prominence as a functional food, and studies have been conducted to show and establish its therapeutic potential for medical and food applications. In this context, this work aimed to provide a meticulous summary of the most relevant data about bee pollen, its composition—especially the phenolic compounds—and its biological and/or therapeutic properties as well as the involved molecular pathways.
Food allergy to honey: Pollen or bee products
Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 1996
Objeetive: To characterize the allergenic components of honey, 23 patients allergic to honey were investigated. All displayed allergic symptoms after ingestion of honey or honey-containing products, ranging from itching in the oral mucosa to severe systemic symptoms to anaphyIactic shock. Methods and results: Immunoblot analyses of the patients' sera revealed IgE binding to proteins at a molecular mass of 54 kd, 60 kd, 72 kd, or to a 30 kd/33 kd double band, or to both in sunflower honey extracts. The three bands corresponding to higher molecular mass proteins could also be detected in the three other kinds of honey (locust tree, European chestnut and forest honey) that were tested and represented bee products because IgE binding to these proteins was inhibited by extracts of honeybee heads and extracts of isolated bee venom säcs. The 30 kd/33 kd bands could be identified as sunflower honey-specifiC. When testing sera from patients allergic to bee venom with honey extracts, in seven of 10 cases IgE binding to bee~specific components could be observed. Conclusion: Both proteins derived fi'om secretions of pharyngeal and salivary glands of honeybee heads and pollen proteins contained in the honey cause allergic reactions to honey. (J ALLERGY CLrN 1MMUNOL 1996;97:65-73,)
Current Pharmaceutical Design, 2012
The question what makes an allergen an allergen puzzled generations of researchers. Pollen grains of anemophilous plants are the most important allergen carriers in ambient air, and pollinosis is a highly prevalent multi-organ disease in civilized countries. In the past, research on the allergenicity of pollen has mainly focused on elucidating genetic predisposing factors and on defining certain structural characteristics of pollen derived allergens. Recently, studies extended to the analysis of non-allergenic, adjuvant mediators coreleased from pollen. Besides active proteases and oxidases, extracts of pollen contain low molecular weight molecules like pollenassociated lipid mediators or adenosine exhibiting a potential to stimulate and modulate cultured human immune cells. This article reviews our current knowledge on non-allergenic, protein and non-protein compounds from pollen and their in vitro and in vivo effects on the allergic immune response. To ultimately judge the physiological relevance of these compounds, a systematic approach will be needed comparing their releasability, content and activity in different, allergenic and non-allergenic, pollen species. System biology such as proteome and metabolome analysis will be a useful future approach to better understand pollen biology.
Acute allergic reaction after composite pollen ingestion
Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 1979
Three patients are presented who ingested a health food knon,n as "bee pollen" and who experienced an immediate ullergic reaction. Exumination revealed thut the bee pollen contuined dundelion pollen. kvhich belongs to the Compositaefumily as does ragweed. In vivo und in vitro studies demonstrated thut the patients were sensitive to severul Compositae fumily members, rather than to insect-derived untigens. In addition, rudioullergosorbent inhibition studies conjrmed the suspected cross-reuctivity bettijeen the health food und Compositae pollens. This ,stuc& indicates that atopic individuals may experience unuphyluxis from ingestion of untigens in c,crtain food stu8.s thut cross-reacl Gth pollens to which the?) are sensitive. In modern society, there is a great desire to find a panacea for health, beauty, strength, and virility. This has led to the popularity of certain health foods and, in some cases, the ingestion of some unusual materials not previously considered as foods. We have studied three patients who have had immediate anaphylactic reactions after ingesting the health food called "bee pollen" (BP). This material is a granular form of nonairborne pollen that is collected by bees in their daily routine and carried in pollen sacs on their hind legs. By restricting the entrance to the hive with a screen, the pollen granules are forced out of the pollen sacs, collected at the hive entrance, gathered by the beekeeper, and sold commercially as a health food.
Bee pollen resarch review published
The pollen is compress into the pollen basket by using their hind legs. The bees moistens the pollen with secretion from its mouth which helps the pollen stick together and to the basket hairs. The bees enrich the pollen with their own substances and made a pollen pellets. The secretion from the bees contains different enzymes like. Amylase and Catalase. A pollen load contains up to 10 percent nectar, which is necessary for packing [6]. According to bee collected pollen is the main source of nutrients to the development of bee colonies [7,8]. Pollen is a very important factor for the development of the bee brood and supplies the necessary foods like proteins, lipids and minerals [7]. Moreover, bee pollen has gained increasing attention for its antioxidant capacity and has been used as food supplement and additives contributing on the health benefits of human [9]. On this understanding the Egyptians describe the pollen as a life-giving dust. Pollen production allows beekeepers to diversify their sources of revenue, mitigating the effects of fluctuations in honey price and enabling beekeepers to diversify their products (Shelley et al., 2018). Pollen is collected with a pollen trap, made out of a grid, placed on the