Physicochemical composition and functional properties of bee pollen produced in different locations

Abstract

This work aimed to investigate the physicochemical and functional composition of bee pollen produced in different municipalities in the state of Rio Grande do Norte/Brazil (RN) and commercial samples produced in other places. To perform these experiments, samples of dehydrated bee pollen were crushed and subjected to physicochemical evaluation, instrumental color, fatty acid profile, evaluation of the presence of bioactive compounds [Total Phenolic Compounds (TPC), carotenoids] and antioxidant activity (reduction of DPPH radical). The pH of the pollen samples varied from 4.55 to 5.08, the protein from 19.01% to 29.71%, and the ash from 2.44% to 4.27%. All pollen samples showed a yellowish-red hue (a* and b* positive), and the pollen produced in Touros/RN/BR stood out with a lighter color (L* = 32.91). The pollen produced in Touros/RN/BR showed a higher (p < 0.05) percentage of saturated fatty acids (41.60%), whereas the pollen collected in Taipu/RN/BR had a higher percentage of monounsaturated fatty acids (7.44%). Pollen samples showed a low concentration of Total Carotenoid Content (TCC) (0.81 to 22.82 µg/g), as well as a high content of TPC (1.79 to 2.28 mg GAE/g) and antioxidant activity (1.40 to 5.70 µmol TE/g) when compared with the consulted literature. According to the obtained results, we could infer that pollen samples from different locations showed variations in physicochemical composition, coloration, fatty acid profile, TPC and antioxidant activity which reflects the geographic diversity inherent to the production sites.

Monofloral Corn Poppy Bee-Collected Pollen—A Detailed Insight into Its Phytochemical Composition and Antioxidant Properties

“…Based on the results obtained for carotenoid content, it can be concluded, in line with the literature, that PBP possessed a significantly higher content of carotenoids compared with a monofloral coconut sample from Brazil (2.17-3.55 µg/g dw) [31] or an artichoke bee-collected pollen sample from Serbia (5.00 µg/g dw) [26]. This difference may be related to the lighter color intensity observed in both coconut and artichoke bee-collected pollen samples [26,31] compared with that in PBP. Among the different phenolic subclasses, spectrophotometric analyses showed a significantly higher content for all phenolics in the extractable fraction compared with the bound fraction.…”

“…According to TPC results, the PBP extractable fraction contained a significantly higher amount of total phenolics compared with a sample with similar botanical origin-P. somniferum bee-collected pollen from Slovakia (0.82 mg/g GAE) [23]. However, the TPC result was in line with several beecollected pollen samples from Brazil [32], particularly with monofloral Mimosa caesalpiniifolia bee-collected pollen (12.1 mg/g GAE dw), while it was significantly higher compared with that of coconut (~2 mg/g GAE dw) [31], sunflower (extractable-2.9-3.8 GAE dw) [10] and artichoke (extractable-5.3 mg/kg GAE dw; bound-0.5 mg/g GAE dw) [26] monofloral bee-collected pollen samples from Brazil and Serbia, respectively. Moreover, a beecollected pollen sample from Morocco (Coriandum sativum + Cistaceae) showed a similar TPC value-13.73 mg/g GAE [33].…”

“…Fatty acids are one of the most important nutrients present in bee-collected pollen, with great diversity observed depending on the botanical origin of the samples [31,[53][54][55]. However, to the best of our knowledge, there are no data for the fatty-acid profile of corn poppy pollen, although there are extensive data on the lipid composition of poppy seeds and some other corn poppy plant parts.…”

“…101(24), 103 (77), 106(15), 106(12), 117(58), 118(20), 118(16), 119 (100), 120(15), 121(12), 122(19), 129(10), 143(18), 150(31) …”

Chemical Composition and Bioactivity of Laboratory-Fermented Bee Pollen in Comparison with Natural Bee Bread

“…Bee bread tested by the same authors showed pH values between 4.11 and 4.37 [13]. Similarly, pollen from different plants obtained from different regions of Brazil ranged from 4.55 to 5.09 [23]. The dependence of the pH decrease on the type of starter culture used for pollen fermentation was observed by Poyraz et al [24], and the largest decrease (from 5.13 to 4.15) was noted for the sample fermented with the fructophilic lactic acid bacteria (FLAB), Lactobacillus kunkeei, and the yeasts Starmeralla magnolia (MP-2) and Zygosaccharomyces siamensis (MP-14).…”