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Bee pollen is recommended as dietary supplement due to immunostimulating functions including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-carcinogenic properties. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of such properties is still not well understood. As diet can be associated with animal performance, microbiota modulation and potentially factor for cancer, this study aimed to analyze if bee pollen could influence growth, gut microbial and skin cutaneous melanoma development in zebrafish. Control diets based on commercial flakes and Artemia were compared with the same diet supplemented with bee pollen. Fish weight gain, increased length, intestinal bacteria metagenomics analysis, serum amyloid A gene expression and cutaneous melanoma transplantation assays were performed. Bee pollen affected microbiota composition and melanoma development. Differential abundance revealed higher abundance in the control group for Aeromonadaceae family, Aeromonas and Pseudomonas genus, A. sobria, A. schubertii, A. jandaei and P. alcaligenes species compared with pollen diet group. Pollen group presented higher abundance for Chromobacterium genus and for Gemmobacter aquaticus, Flavobacterium succinicans and Bifidobacterium breve compared with control group. Unexpectedly, fish fed with bee pollen showed higher tumor growth rate and larger tumor size than control group. This is the first study to report intestinal microbial changes and no protective cancer properties after bee pollen administration.

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In this study, exploratory methods and the simplex-centroid design were applied in the development of food bars with cocoa shell, soy and green banana flours that were evaluated sensorially. The results of the chemical composition and texture were submitted to the Scott-Knott test and the Principal Component Analysis, and was observed a significant difference between the treatments (P < 0.05), as well as a tendency to form five groups, according to its nutritional characteristics. The design used to optimise the sensorial acceptance of the food bars was effective, whose contour surface indicated an optimal region with greater acceptance, with all formulations having good acceptance (scores above 5.52). Check-All-That-Apply, Contingency Analysis and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis allowed describing the products, demonstrating the sensory differences between treatments with the presence/absence of cocoa shell. It is concluded that the studied ingredients can be used in food bars, providing nutritional and sensory characteristics acceptable to the consumer.

The ultrasound-assisted method was used to extract oil from the red mombin seed, mainly aiming to analyze yield. A multivariate analysis served to define optimized parameters (6.46 minutes and S/S ratio of 1:23.10 mass:volume) for ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) with the objective of maximizing yield, using the response surface methodology (RSM) and desirability graph with central variables and axial points determined by the central composite rotatable design (CCRD). In addition to the optimization of oil extraction, oil was chemically characterized in terms of antioxidant capacity and nutritional aspects to test the quality and chemical characteristics of red mombin seed oil extraction residue (cake). Analyses showed 32% unsaturated fatty acids, such as palmitoleic acid, linolelaidic acid, and α-linolenic acid, and the presence of phenolic compounds, especially catechin. High dietary fiber content and the presence of phenolic compounds, such as chlorogenic acid, vanillin, and gallic acid, were found in the cake, which allows the possibility of incorporating this material into food products.