Influence of the Storage Conditions (Frozen vs. Dried) in Health‐Related Lipid Indexes and Antioxidants of Bee Pollen

Abstract

Following harvest, bee pollen must be submitted to processing in order to maintain properties for consumers’ health insurance. In this study, the changes on the lipid profile, contents of vitamin C, β‐carotene and lycopene of bee pollen samples submitted to two conservation methods (freezing and drying) are evaluated. Eleven fatty acids, eight saturated, one monounsaturated, and two polyunsaturated are quantified. The PUFA/SFA ratio ranges from 1.18 to 3.95 g 100−1 g−1 and is significantly higher in the frozen extracts. On the other hand, the ratio n6:n3 (ranging between 0.36 and 0.86 g 100−1 g−1) did not differ among processing methodologies, for most of the cases. The atherogenicity (AI) and thrombogenecity (TI) indexes are similar among preservation processes and coherent with the found on other health‐promoting foods. The contents of vitamin C, β‐carotene and lycopene are, for all samples, significantly superior in the frozen bee pollen. Practical Applications: In the recent years the interest in natural products has mushroomed. Indeed, in addition to the good nutritional composition bee pollen possesses important bioactive compounds and promising health promoting activities that remain unstudied. In this study, it is evaluated the influence of the geographical origin and two storage methods (drying and freezing) in the fatty‐acid profile, lycopene, vitamin C and β‐carotene contents and on two lipid indexes of bee pollen. Results suggest that bee pollen may act as a complement for the prevention of atherosclerosis and thrombogenesis. Regarding storage it wi inferred that freezing allows preserving the bioactive compounds in a greater extent and, therefore, must be the preferred method. Further studies may be performed in order to take advantage of this natural products’ potential. From the nutritional point of view, it is better to consume bee pollen frozen in comparison to that of dried.

Bee pollen as a natural antioxidant source to prevent lipid oxidation in black pudding

“…It is well know that the chemical composition of bee pollen varies depending on the plant sources, growth conditions and storage conditions (Anjos, Paula, Delgado, & Estevinho, 2019;Atrouse, Oran, & Al-Abbadi, 2004;Bogdanov, 2011;Elamine et al, 2019;Estevinho et al, 2019;Estevinho, Rodrigues, Pereira, & Feás, 2012;Komosinska-Vassev, Olczyk, Kaźmierczak, Mencner, & Olczyk, 2015;Serra Bonvehí et al, 2001).…”

“…In this sense, one must highlight bee pollen as a functional food product, since this is rich in proteins, lipids, free sugars, carbohydrates, minerals, phenolic acids, flavonoids, sterols, terpenoids, carotenoids and vitamins (Bogdanov, 2011). In fact bee pollen has gained widespread attention due it's purported antioxidant (Estevinho, Dias, & Anjos, 2019), anti-inflammatory (Maruyama, Sakamoto, Araki, & Hara, 2010), antimutagenic (Tohamy, Abdella, Ahmed, & Ahmed, 2014) and antimicrobial (Morais, Moreira, Feás, & Estevinho, 2011) properties. Indeed, new applications for bee pollen are currently being developed (Almeida et al, 2017;Krystyjan, Gumul, Ziobro, & Korus, 2015) mainly due to its use as a free radical scavenger and as lipid peroxidation inhibitor.…”

Caracterización microbiológica de polen seco y congelado en Viracachá-Colombia

“…Los procesos de conservación del polen (secado o congelado), según Estevinho et al (31) muestran influencias estadísticamente significativas con respecto a su composición fisicoquímica, junto con factores medio ambientales como la temporada de recolección y las especies botánicas presentes, y quizá esto podría influir en las condiciones microbiológicas debido a que, como se evidenció anteriormente, el polen tiene capacidad antimicrobiana que puede ser afectada por esta concentración de nutrientes. Los mismos autores, mencionan que es mejor consumir polen congelado a una temperatura de -20ºC que polen seco.…”

Antioxidant Activity in Bee Products: A Review

“…However, the composition and antioxidant effect of bee pollen is species-specific, depending strongly on plant source together with biogeographical (regional) origin, ecological habitat, season, and entomological origin [ 89 , 118 , 120 ]. Additionally, beekeepers can introduce other changes to the chemical composition of bee pollen during cleaning, dehydration, packaging, and conservation procedures applied to fresh pollen to increase pollen shelf life [ 122 , 123 ]. Collection of this natural product is a relatively recent development, depending primarily on pollen being scraped off bees’ legs as they enter the hive [ 118 ].…”

“…Both parameters were higher in lyophilized samples, which could be related to reactions occurring during heating with air circulation, such as oxidation of some compounds, for example phenols. For pollen conservation purposes, freezing is also to be preferred over dehydration by heat, as natural antioxidants are better preserved [ 122 ].…”