Chemical Composition and Biological Activities of Beebread – Review

Abstract

Beebread is a product of the hive obtained from pollen collected by bees, to which they add honey,digestive enzymes and subsequently is stored in the combs. The bees transform the bee pollen in beebread by an anaerobic fermentation process.A proper hive management promotes beebread collection, aimed at marketing it for human consumption since it can be considered a valuable food supplement due to its content of a wide range of nutrients. Its value is given by the content in protein, amino acids, fatty acids, carbohydrates, mineral salts, polyphenols and flavonoids, which depends on the botanical source of bee pollen. The nutritional and functional composition of beebread is widely reported; nevertheless, few studies on transformation processes of the pollen to improve the availability of the compounds present in this product were found. Overall, beebread is a recent collected and consumed bee product and at this stage it can be used as a food supplement.

Therapeutic efficacy of orally administered pollen for nonallergic diseases: An umbrella review

“…Additional information from narrative or nonclinical reviews was summarized in Supporting Information C (Campos et al, 2010;Capozzi & Lello, 2018;Denisow & Denisow-Pietrzyk, 2016;Komosinska-Vassev et al, 2015;P.F. Guine, 2015;Saraiva, Cunha, Léllis, & Nunes, 2018;Urcan et al, 2017;Xi et al, 2018). Interesting evidence from a narrative review recommends the use of a purified grass pollen extract in combination with other products like royal jelly to improve vasomotor symptoms and quality of life in premenopausal and postmenopausal women (Capozzi & Lello, 2018).…”

“…In two reviews including clinical studies, it was underscored that bee pollen may protect the cardiovascular system by lowering lipid levels and platelet aggregation and stabilize visual acuity in patients with atherosclerotic disease (Denisow & Denisow-Pietrzyk, 2016;Komosinska-Vassev et al, 2015). Evidence from three reviews also indicated that bee pollen and bread may be valid nutritional supplements for frail subjects like postsurgical patients or long-hospitalized elderly people (Campos et al, 2010;Denisow & Denisow-Pietrzyk, 2016;Urcan et al, 2017). Moreover, limited evidence suggests that bee bread might be useful for patients with anemia (Campos et al, 2010).…”

“…Bee pollen and bread are traditionally used for a wide range of conditions, mainly as a nutritional supplement, a tonic, and a multipurpose folk remedy (Ulbricht et al, 2009;Urcan et al, 2017). Flower pollen extracts with differently soluble fractions are rather used for the management of symptomatic prostate disorders (Chambliss, 2003;MacDonald et al, 2000;Preuss et al, 2003).…”

Botanical Origin and Nutritional Values of Bee Bread of Stingless Bee (Heterotrigona itama) from Malaysia

“…Information on bee bread as one of the bee products is overlooked with more highly acclaimed honey [1]. Acquisition of bee bread can be troublesome for some bee farmers because it requires the destruction of the bee hive for harvesting [2]. us, most studies were conducted on bee pollen of the honeybee Apis mellifera whereby bee pollen was obtained through the pollen trap installed at the bee hive's entrance.…”

Preliminary Study on Drying of Stingless Bee Pot Pollen Using Novel Fluidized Bed Dryer with Swirling Distributor

“…Often regarded as byproduct, pot-pollen are usually neglected by the farmers due to the lack of knowledge in harvesting and preservation method for pot-pollen. This is a wastage as they have high nutritive value as it contain high level of proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, vitamins and phenolic compounds [11]. Previous research on pot-pollen has shown that their extract contains antioxidant [12], besides having antibiotic and antimicrobial properties [12], [13].…”