Edible Bird’s Nest: The Functional Values of the Prized Animal-Based Bioproduct From Southeast Asia–A Review

Abstract

Edible Bird’s Nest (EBN) is the most prized health delicacy among the Chinese population in the world. Although some scientific characterization and its bioactivities have been studied and researched, no lights have been shed on its actual composition or mechanism. The aim of this review paper is to address the advances of EBN as a therapeutic animal bioproduct, challenges and future perspectives of research involving EBN. The methodology of this review primarily involved a thorough search from the literature undertaken on Web of Science (WoS) using the keyword “edible bird nest”. Other information were obtained from the field/market in Malaysia, one of the largest EBN-producing countries. This article collects and describes the publications related to EBN and its therapeutic with diverse functional values. EBN extracts display anti-aging effects, inhibition of influenza virus infection, alternative traditional medicine in athletes and cancer patients, corneal wound healing effects, stimulation of proliferation of human adipose-derived stem cells, potentiate of mitogenic response, epidermal growth factor-like activities, enhancement of bone strength and dermal thickness, eye care, neuroprotective and antioxidant effects. In-depth literature study based on scientific findings were carried out on EBN and its properties. More importantly, the future direction of EBN in research and development as health-promoting ingredients in food and the potential treatment of certain diseases have been outlined.

Edible Bird’s Nest: Recent Updates and Industry Insights Based On Laboratory Findings

“…EBN-related publications remained scarce between 2000 and 2011, but the number of publications has increased significantly since 2012-2019. Discussions about the functions of EBN can be found in this review article by Lee et al (2021) while our review will be focusing on recent discoveries of bioactive components in EBN and the functions of EBN that have never been discussed before.…”

“…Lastly, the freeze-dried EBN powder is stored at 4°C or −80°C freezers for future use. In industrial setting, freeze-dried EBN could be made into cosmetics, tablets, ready-to-drink beverages, tonics, spices and baking powder among others (Lee et al, 2021). In the industrial processing of whole raw EBN, it is started with sorting and grading of EBN based on the difficulty to clean the EBN.…”

“…), and microbial contamination in EBN have increased in recent decade (Lee et al, 2021). Our review will discuss on EBN extraction methods, nutritional values, health benefits, and the risk of EBN consumption by including the latest findings about EBN.…”

“…Our review will discuss on EBN extraction methods, nutritional values, health benefits, and the risk of EBN consumption by including the latest findings about EBN. There is an existing review about EBN which includes publications up to 2019 indexed in Web of Science (Lee et al, 2021). Our review aims to provide an update by including those publications which were not discussed in previous reviews and discuss on additional topics including industrial EBN processing based on laboratory findings.…”

House and cave edible bird’s nest: Characteristics and quality of sterilised beverages containing the selected bird’s nest

“…B nest from different habitats have different characteristics and quality. Lee et al (2021) reported that the house-B nest and cave-B nest have been graded, based on the dry mass, size, colour, impurity, and amount of feathers via physical appearance. Additionally, quality, physicochemical properties, and nutritional composition of house-B nest and cave-B nest are varied, depending upon swiftlet species and geographical origins (Quek et al, 2018).…”