Bee Pollen: Chemical Composition and Therapeutic Application (original) (raw)
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Bee Pollen as a Promising Agent in the Burn Wounds Treatment
Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2016
The aim of the present study was to visualize the benefits and advantages derived from preparations based on extracts of bee pollen as compared to pharmaceuticals commonly used in the treatment of burns. The bee pollen ointment was applied for the first time in topical burn treatment. Experimental burn wounds were inflicted on two white, domestic pigs. Clinical, histopathological, and microbiological assessment of specimens from burn wounds, inflicted on polish domestic pigs, treated with silver sulfadiazine or bee pollen ointment, was done. The comparative material was constituted by either tissues obtained from wounds treated with physiological saline or tissues obtained from wounds which were untreated. Clinical and histopathological evaluation showed that applied apitherapeutic agent reduces the healing time of burn wounds and positively affects the general condition of the animals. Moreover the used natural preparation proved to be highly effective antimicrobial agent, which wa...
Food and Chemical Toxicology, 2014
Bee pollen is considered, since memorable times, a good source of nourishing substances and energy. The present study aimed to evaluate the biological activities of eight commercial bee pollens purchased from the market. The origin of sample A was not specified in the labeling; samples B, C, D and G were from Portugal and the remaining were from Spain. The sample E presented the highest value of phenolics (32.15 ± 2.12 mg/g) and the H the lowest (18.55 ± 095 mg/g). Sample C had the highest value of flavonoids (10.14 ± 1.57 mg/g) and sample H the lowest (3.92 ± 0.68 mg/g). All the samples exhibited antimicrobial activity, being Staphylococcus aureus the most sensitive and Candida glabrata the most resistant of the microorganisms studied. All the samples exhibited antimutagenic activity, even though some samples were more effective in decreasing the number of gene conversion colonies and mutant colonies. Regarding the antioxidant activity, assessed using two methods, the more effective was sample B. The anti-inflammatory activity, assessed using the hyaluronidase enzyme, was highest in samples B and D. Pearson's correlation coefficients between polyphenols, flavonoids, antioxidant activity and antimicrobial activity were computed. It was also performed a discriminant analysis.
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.
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.
International Journal of Bioscience, Biochemistry and Bioinformatics, 2020
Bee pollen is a natural product from honeybees which is rich in bioactive compounds. Bee pollen grain and powder were extracted using conventional and sonication extraction methods. All bee pollen crude extracts could not inhibit growth of test pathogenic bacteria. The antioxidant activity was analyzed via DPPH free radical scavenging activity assay and found that the ethanolic extract of bee pollen grain obtained by conventional method had the highest antioxidant activities (p<0.05), 40.69±3.01 mg GAE/g extract. When phenolic content was evaluated, the aqueous extract of bee pollen grain by conventional method showed the highest total phenolic content (103.06±1.96 mg GAE/g extract) while ethanolic extract of bee pollen powder by conventional method exhibited the highest flavonoid content, 56.40±4.85 mg QE/g extract. The data obtained provides the guideline for insightful evaluation of bee pollen biological activities for designation of novel supplementary food products in the future.
Bee Collected Pollen and Bee Bread: Bioactive Constituents and Health Benefits
Antioxidants, 2019
Bee products were historically used as a therapheutic approach and in food consumption, while more recent data include important details that could validate them as food supplements due to their bioproperties, which support their future use as medicines. In this review data, data collected from bee pollen (BP) and bee bread (BB) essays will be discussed and detailed for their nutritional and health protective properties as functional foods. Dietary antioxidants intake derived from BP and BB have been associated with the prevention and clinical treatment of multiple diseases. The beneficial effects of BP and BB on health result from the presence of multiple polyphenols which possess anti-inflammatory properties, phytosterols and fatty acids, which play anticancerogenic roles, as well as polysaccharides, which stimulate immunological activity. From the main bioactivity studies with BP and BB, in vitro studies and animal experiments, the stimulation of apoptosis and the inhibition of c...
The Effects of Solvent Fractions of Bee Pollen Crude Extract in an Animal Model of Inflammation
Journal of Babol University of Medical Sciences , 2021
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Conventional anti-inflammatory drugs, despite their beneficial effects, have serious and irreversible side effects. Due to the remarkable anti-inflammatory properties of bee pollen crude extract, the present study was conducted to investigate the effects of 100% methanol fraction (MF) and dichloromethane fraction (DF) in an air pouch model of inflammation. METHODS: This experimental study was performed on 42 male Wistar rats in 7 groups of six. First, the hairs on the back of the rats were shaved. Subcutaneous injection of sterile air (20 and 10 mL) was performed on the dorsum of anaesthetized rats (day 1 and day 3, respectively). On day 6, inflammation was induced by intra-pouch injection of carrageenan. Group I: Normal saline; Group II, III, and IV: the rats treated with 100, 500 and 2500 μg MF; Group V, VI, and VII: the animals treated with 100, 500 and 2500 μg DF by intra-pouch injection simultaneously with carrageenan after 24 and 48 h. Three days after carrageenan administration, the inflammatory parameters and angiogenesis were measured. FINDINGS: Compared to the control group (5.3±0.5 g), granulation tissue weight was significantly decreased (p<0.001) by approximately 30% and 40% by all three doses of MF and DF, respectively. Inflammatory parameters such as exudate volume and angiogenesis were significantly reduced by DF (p<0.001) and MF (p<0.01), respectively. In both fractions, a dose of 2500 μg increased the number of leukocytes. CONCLUSION: Although different effects were observed in the two fractions of extract due to different amounts of flavonoids, a promising inhibitory effect on granulation tissue and angiogenesis was obtained, which could be considered as a natural source of anti-rheumatoid and anti-cancer agents.