ArticlePDF Available

Chemical Composition and Biological Activities of Beebread – Review

DOI:10.15835/buasvmcn-asb:12646

License
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Authors:

Adriana Urcan

University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine

Daniel Severus Dezmirean

University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine

Otilia Bobis

University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine

Show all 7 authorsHide

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.

Content uploaded by Rodica Mărgăoan

Content may be subject to copyright.

Available via license: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Content may be subject to copyright.

Comparative Study on Quality Parameters of Royal

Jelly, Apilarnil and Queen Bee Larvae Triturate





















Abstract









 

       

              





royal jelly, apilarnil, queen bee larvae, 10-HDA, amino acids

INTRODUCTION

      

     



       

     

       











      





    

et

al.et al.et al.

et al.

et al.    et al. 

et al.  et al.  

Kasmaie et al.   et al. 

et al.et al.

et al. 

et al.

  et al.   

  et al.  

 et al.    

et al.et

al.

Bulletin UASVM Animal Science and Biotechnologies 74(1) / 2017



     

        

     



     



       

       

       

      





    





      









      





products are listed.

    

 

     

et al.  

et al.

        



  et al. 

      

     

      

 

   

et al.

      

    

     

       









      







et al.

    





        

     

     

      

           

 et al

Table1.



 





et al.

et al.

et al.

 et al.

  

  

    

 

    

    

    

 

   

   

   

   

Bulletin UASVM Animal Science and Biotechnologies 74(1) / 2017

   et al.   

        





et al.

     



    

 

 





      

    

   et al.  











MATERIALS AND METHODS



        

         



      





       







       



      



      

     

  

       





    



     

       

        

      





      

     

     



       

         

      

    

   

     



      

      

     

      

replicates.

   

      







       









      

         



      

   



     







three replicates.

      

     

  

       











     

      





Bulletin UASVM Animal Science and Biotechnologies 74(1) / 2017

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

 





       

   



       









       







et al.  

        

        











      





    

     

      

        

    

      

    



       

 et al.      

       

     

     

      

      



        



   





et al.

      

     

       

      

      



  





   

et al.

 et al

Table 2.

 

triturate 

   

   

   

   

 

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

Bulletin UASVM Animal Science and Biotechnologies 74(1) / 2017











       



       

    de novo  

       

   



       

supplements in human diet.



      



    

      

       

Table 3.

 

 

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

Isoleucine (ILE   

   

   

   

   

   

Bulletin UASVM Animal Science and Biotechnologies 74(1) / 2017



   

  



     

      

     

     









natural supplements.



       







      



       

       

      

      

      

      

       

       

      

     

      

 

    







        





     

     





      

     



     



     

      







       

  

     

    et al.   et

al.   et al.    



these products.

CONCLUSIONS

      



        



       

     

     

other diseases.

      



      





     

       

 





    



      



      





Aknowledgements:   

      

       





REFERENCES

 

 



        



 



 et al

Bulletin UASVM Animal Science and Biotechnologies 74(1) / 2017





 



  



  





 

       

       



 

        





      

     

  

   





    



         















        

      



      

      



 



       







         

 

      



       

      









        

       



   

 



 





       





        

     

      



         

  



      

     



       



         

         





        

        

      





     



 













         

      

   















      



       



       

     



 

         

Bulletin UASVM Animal Science and Biotechnologies 74(1) / 2017

        

      





         

      



         







    









         



       



 et al

Irradiation effects on phenolic content in Bulgarian honey bee products and correlation to the antioxidant activity

Article

Apr 2023

Bee pollen and bee bread are considered for a good source of nourishing and polyphenol substances which may act as powerful antioxidants. Some main phenolic compounds of studied non-irradiated and irradiated samples were identified and compared by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The effects of irradiation treatment of bee pollen and bee bread on their phenolic content were studied. For this purpose, the samples were γ-irradiated with 2, 5, 10 and 20 kGy. The results show that the ionizing radiation affect phenolic content of analyzed samples depends on the dose and the chemical composition of honey bee product. The identified phenolic substances and changes in their amount after irradiation were related to free radical scavenging activity (FRSA) of studied samples. FRSA of bee pollen and bee bread were determined by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). Gamma treatment with 5 kGy has a positive effect on antioxidant potential at both honey bee products.

Total Protein Content of Bee Bread in Apis Cerana Combs and Tetragonula pegdeni Storage Pots of Different Plant Sources from Chanthaburi Province, Thailand

Article

Full-text available

Aug 2023

Bee bread is produced from fermented pollen. It is a popular bee product with high levels of protein and nutrients. The bee bread samples were collected from eight indigenous bee colonies in Chanthaburi province: three colonies of Apis cerana and five colonies of Tetragonula pegdeni. The study aims to compare the total protein content of bee bread using the Bradford assay and to identify the plant families that are food sources for these bees using the acetolysis. The results revealed that the protein content of bee bread from A. cerana ranged between 1.48±0.14 and 7.03±0.54 g/100 g, whereas it ranged between 1.78±0.43 and 2.60±0.13 g/100 g in T. pegdeni. Moreover, this result reveals a correlation between the food plant diversity and bee foraging. The pollen grains from bee bread of A. cerana and T. pegdeni were dominant in the family Fabaceae, high-protein plants. Besides, A. cerana (AC3) had the highest protein content of the main mixture of Asteraceae, Fabaceae, and Malvaceae pollen. Furthermore, the major plant families in this bee bread were Acanthaceae, Amaranthaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Euphorbiaceae, and Juncaceae. Tetragonula pegdeni had a greater pollen diversity of bee bread than A. cerana, which was dominant in the families Xyridaceae, Dipterocarpaceae, Fagaceae, Poaceae, and Rutaceae. As a result, the total protein content of the A. cerana colonies was higher than that of the T. pegdeni colonies. As a result, bee bread may be used as a protein source derived from bee products.

Phenolic Profile, Antioxidant, Gastroprotective and Ulcer Healing Activities of Pot-pollen Produced by the Stingless Bee [Melipona compressipes fasciculata (Smith, 1854)]

Article

Jun 2023

Comparing the biological properties and chemical profiling of chestnut bee pollen and bee bread collected from Anatolia

Article

May 2023
BRAZ J MICROBIOL

Bee bread (BB) and bee pollen (BP) are accepted as functional food and considered in medical properties due to its important bioactive components. These bee products show different biological properties, but researches on these aspects have not been clear yet. In present study, Anatolian BB and BP extracts were analyzed for the first time for their pollen type, total phenolic (TPC) and flavonoid content (TFC), and antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. Samples were analyzed for their antimicrobial efficacy by the agar well diffusion and MIC methods. HPLC analysis was used to identify the compounds in the BB and BP samples. Antioxidant activity was measured by the FRAP and DPPH methods. As a result of microscopy for pollen identification, Fagaceae family was dominant. Phenolic compound analysis showed that the amounts of p-coumaric acid and rutin were found to be the highest in BB and BP, respectively. Stronger antioxidant activity was obtained from BP. MIC values of BB were range from 250 to 12.5 μg/mL. The most susceptible bacterium was Mycobacterium smegmatis. The extract of BP was effective on all gram-negative bacteria with doses range from 250 μg/mL to 500 μg/mL. The lowest MIC value was detected with the concentration of 12.5 μg/mL against M. smegmatis. Anatolian BB and BP could be considered as a functional foods due to antioxidant activity and may be beneficial in the management and treatment of pathogenic bacteria because of high antimicrobial activity.

Characterization of Bee Bread Produced with Defined Starter Cultures Mimicking the Natural Fermentation Process

Article

Full-text available

Feb 2023

Bee bread is a product with unique properties for humans and bees that is produced through the fermentation of pollen in the honeycomb, mainly caused by lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and yeast strains present in the environment. It is a rich source of nutrients such as proteins, polyphenols and vitamins. Despite the potential nutritional value of bee bread, it is consumed at low levels, as harvesting bee bread from the hives is costly and difficult. This study aimed to produce a standard bee bread by using different strains of the fructophilic lactic acid bacteria (FLAB) Lactobacillus kunkeei and the yeasts Starmeralla magnolia MP-2 and Zygosaccharomyces siamensis MP-14, previously isolated from bee products. In this context, bee bread was produced from pollen by solid-state fermentation using selected FLAB and yeast species, which were then compared with spontaneously developed and commercially available bee bread in terms of microbial stability, physicochemical properties, total phenolic component amounts, in vitro digestibility and amino acid profiles. As a result, it was determined that bee bread made from bee pollen fermented with starter cultures showed improved characteristics than commercial bee bread and was more advantageous in terms of absorption as well as production processes.

Determination of the Ideal Extract Options for Bee Bread by Ultrasound- Assisted Extraction

Conference Paper

Full-text available

Jun 2023

Bee bread, known as a natural fermented food, was made by combining pollen and nectar with bee saliva and storing it in a beehive. This bee product contains many bio-features. However, accurate analysis of these features is possible with the right extraction technique. If the extraction techniques are supported by advanced instrumental devices, the extraction efficiency of the sample also directly increases. In fact, if these techniques are integrated with scientific mathematical methods, analyses can be performed with a more accurate approach in the trial design. For this reason, in this study, extraction options were determined using surface response methodology in bee bread with known bioactive properties. For this purpose, the bee bread sample was extracted with the ultra-sound homogenizer by using different percentage ratios of ethanol (30, 50, and 70%), different times (5, 10, and 15 min), and different ultrasonic amplitudes (10, 15, and 20%). The antioxidant activities of the extracts were determined using ferric-reducing antioxidant power and cupric ion-reducing antioxidant capacity assays and supported with total phenolic content values. According to the results obtained, the extraction condition in which 10 min, 70% ethanol, and 10% ultrasonic amplitude were used in the experimental design was determined to be the most ideal extraction condition. In this condition, the total phenolic content was 16.007±0.076 mg GAE/g sample, the FRAP value was 44.376±1.706 μmol FeSO4.7H2O/g sample, and the CUPRAC value was 198.533±5.163 μmol Trolox/g sample, which were analyzed as the highest values. Supporting the study-related modeling approach with a diverse set of alternatives would shed light on future investigations and allow the bio-component quantity of this natural product to be revealed with more accuracy.

ARI EKMEĞİNİN BAZI FİZİKSEL VE KİMYASAL ÖZELLİKLERİ VE SAĞLIK ÜZERİNE ETKİLERİ

Article

Aug 2023

Arılar tarafından farklı bitki kaynaklarından toplanan polenlerde meydana gelen laktik asit fermantasyonu sonucunda oluşturulan bir ürün olan arı ekmeği yapısında karbohidratlar, proteinler, aminoasitler, yağ asitleri, organik asitler, enzimler, vitaminler, fenolik bileşikler ve mineraller gibi birçok biyoaktif bileşen bulundurmaktadır. Arı ekmeğinin bileşimi polen kaynağına ve üretildiği ortamdaki coğrafik ve iklimsel özelliklere bağlı olarak değişkenlik gösterebilmektedir. Arı ekmeği zengin kimyasal bileşimi sayesinde antimikrobiyal, antioksidan, antikanser ve probiyotik özellikler olmak üzere sağlık üzerine çeşitli olumlu etkilere sahiptir. Belirtilen etkilerine ilişkin ortaya konulan çalışmalar ile arı ekmeğinin bilinirliği ve arı ekmeğine karşı olan ilgi artmaktadır. Buradan hareketle bu derlemede arı ekmeğinin üretimi, bazı fiziksel ve kimyasal özellikleri, sağlık üzerine etkileri ve bir gıda olarak kullanım potansiyelinin değerlendirilmesi amaçlanmıştır.

Antimicrobial and Antiproliferative Activity of Green Synthesized Silver Nanoparticles Using Bee Bread Extracts

Article

Full-text available

Jun 2023

Bee bread (BB) is a fermented mixture of bee pollen, is rich in proteins, amino acids, fatty acids, polyphenols, flavonoids, as well as other bioactive compounds, and is considered functional food for humans. In this study, we explored an innovative green synthesis of colloidal silver nanoparticles, using BB extracts as reducing and stabilizing agents. A preliminary chemical characterization of the BB extracts was conducted. The plasmonic response of the as-synthesized silver nanoparticles (BB-AgNPs) was evaluated by UV–Vis spectroscopy, while their hydrodynamic diameter and zeta potential were investigated by dynamic light spectroscopy (DLS). Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis pointed out polydisperse NPs with quasi-spherical shapes. The newly synthesized nanoparticles showed good antioxidant activity against the tested free radicals, DPPH, ABTS•+, and FRAP, the best results being obtained in the case of ABTS•+. BB-AgNPs exhibited good antibacterial activity on the tested Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial strains: herein S. aureus, B. cereus, E. faecalis, E. coli, P. aeruginosa, S. enteritidis, and on yeast C. albicans, respectively. The inhibition diameters varied between 7.67 ± 0.59 and 22.21 ± 1.06 mm, while the values obtained for minimum inhibitory concentration varied between 0.39 and 6.25 µg/mL. In vitro antiproliferative activity was tested on colon adenocarcinoma, ATCC HTB-37 cell line, and the results have shown that the green synthetized BB-AgNPs induced a substantial decrease in tumor cell viability in a dose-dependent manner with an IC50 ranging from 24.58 to 67.91 µg/mL. Consequently, more investigation is required to comprehend the processes of the cytotoxicity of AgNPs and develop strategies to mitigate their potentially harmful effects while harnessing their antimicrobial properties.

Recent advances and opportunities related to the use of bee products in food processing

Article

Full-text available

May 2023

Nowadays, natural foods that can provide positive health effects are gaining more and more popularity. Bees and the products they produce are our common natural heritage that should be developed. In the article, we presented the characteristics of bee products and their use in industry. We described the development and importance of beekeeping in the modern world. Due to their high nutritional value and therapeutic properties, bee products are of great interest and their consumption is constantly growing. The basis for the use of bee products in human nutrition is their properties and unique chemical composition. The conducted research and opinions confirm the beneficial effect of bee products on health. The current consumer awareness of the positive impact of food having a pro-health effect on health and well-being affects the increase in interest and demand for this type of food among various social groups. Enriching the daily diet with bee products may support the functioning of the organism. New technologies have appeared on the market to improve the process of obtaining bee products. The use of bee products plays a large role in many industries; moreover, the consumption of bee products and promotion of their medicinal properties are very important in shaping proper eating habits.

A combination of the frequent fungicides boscalid and dimoxystrobin with the neonicotinoid acetamiprid in field-realistic concentrations does not affect sucrose responsiveness and learning behavior of honeybees

Article

Apr 2023
ECOTOX ENVIRON SAFE

The increasing loss of pollinators over the last decades has become more and more evident. Intensive use of plant protection products is one key factor contributing to this decline. Especially the mixture of different plant protection products can pose an increased risk for pollinators as synergistic effects may occur. In this study we investigated the effect of the fungicide Cantus® Gold (boscalid/dimoxystrobin), the neonicotinoid insecticide Mospilan® (acetamiprid) and their mixture on honeybees. Since both plant protection products are frequently applied sequentially to the same plants (e.g. oilseed rape), their combination is a realistic scenario for honeybees. We investigated the mortality, the sucrose responsiveness and the differential olfactory learning performance of honeybees under controlled conditions in the laboratory to reduce environmental noise. Intact sucrose responsiveness and learning performance are of pivotal importance for the survival of individual honeybees as well as for the functioning of the entire colony. Treatment with two sublethal and field relevant concentrations of each plant protection product did not lead to any significant effects on these behaviors but affected the mortality rate. However, our study cannot exclude possible negative sublethal effects of these substances in higher concentrations. In addition, the honeybee seems to be quite robust when it comes to effects of plant protection products, while wild bees might be more sensitive.

Flavonoid Composition and Antitumor Activity of Bee Bread Collected in Northeast Portugal

Article

Full-text available

Feb 2017
MOLECULES

Bee bread (BB) is a fermented mixture of plant pollen, honey, and bee saliva that worker bees use as food for larvae, and for young bees to produce royal jelly. In the present study, five BB samples, collected from Apis mellifera iberiensis hives located in different apiaries near Bragança, in the northeast region of Portugal, and one BB commercial sample were characterized by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to a diode array detector and electrospray mass spectrometry (HPLC-DAD-ESI/MS) in terms of phenolic compounds, such as flavonoid glycoside derivatives. Furthermore, the samples were screened, using in vitro assays, against different human tumor cell lines, MCF-7 (breast adenocarcinoma), NCI-H460 (non-small cell lung cancer), HeLa (cervical carcinoma) and HepG2 (hepatocellular carcinoma), and also against non-tumor liver cells (porcine liver cells, PLP2). The main phenolic compounds found were flavonol derivatives, mainly quercetin, kaempferol, myricetin, isorhamnetin and herbacetrin glycoside derivatives. Thirty-two compounds were identified in the six BB samples, presenting BB1 and BB3 with the highest contents (6802 and 6480 μg/g extract, respectively) and the highest number of identified compounds. Two isorhamnetin glycoside derivatives, isrohamnetin-O-hexosyl-O-rutinoside and isorhamnetin-O-pentosyl-hexoside, were the most abundant compounds present in BB1; on the other hand, quercetin-3-O-rhamnoside was the most abundant flavonol in BB3. However, it was not possible to establish a correlation between the flavonoids and the observed low to moderate cytotoxicity (ranging from >400 to 68 μg/mL), in which HeLa and NCI-H460 cell lines were the most susceptible to the inhibition. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first report characterizing glycosidic flavonoids in BB samples, contributing to the chemical knowledge of this less explored bee product.

Fatty Acid and Proximate Composition of Bee Bread

Article

Full-text available

Dec 2016

Palynological spectrum, proximate and fattyacid (FA) composition of eight bee bread samples of different botanical origins were examined and significant variations were observed. The samples were all identified as monofloral, namely Castanea sativa (94.4 %), Trifolium spp. (85.6 %), Gossypium hirsutum (66.2 %), Citrus spp. (61.4 %) and Helianthus annuus (45.4 %). Each had moisture content between 11.4 and 15.9 %, ash between 1.9 and 2.54 %, fat between 5.9 and 11.5 %, and protein between 14.8 and 24.3 %. A total of 37 FAs were determined with most abundant being (9Z,12Z,15Z)-octadeca-9,12,15-trienoic, (9Z,12Z)- -octadeca-9,12-dienoic, hexadecanoic, (Z)-octadec-9-enoic, (Z)-icos-11-enoic and octadecanoic acids. Among all, cotton bee bread contained the highest level of ω-3 FAs, i.e. 41.3 %. Unsaturated to saturated FA ratio ranged between 1.38 and 2.39, indicating that the bee bread can be a good source of unsaturated FAs.

LC/MS/MS analysis of α -tocopherol and coenzyme Q 10 content in lyophilized royal jelly, beebread and drone homogenate: LC/MS/MS analysis of some bee products

Article

Full-text available

Jul 2016
J MASS SPECTROM

This study shows the results of application LC/MS/MS for assay of the content of α-tocopherol and coenzyme Q10 in bee products of animal origin, i.e. royal jelly, beebread and drone homogenate. The biological matrix was removed using extraction with n-hexane. It was found that drone homogenate is a rich source of coenzyme Q10 . It contains only 8 ± 1 µg/g of α-tocopherol and 20 ± 2 µg/g of coenzyme Q10 . The contents of assayed compounds in royal jelly were: 16 ± 3 µg /g and 8 ± 0.2 µg/g of α-tocopherol and coenzyme Q10 , respectively. Beebread appeared to be the richest of α-tocopherol. Its level was 80 ± 30 µg/g while the level of coenzyme Q10 was only 11.5 ± 0.3 µg/g.

Fatty acid profiles of monofloral clover beebread and pollen and proteomics of red clover ( Trifolium pratense ) pollen

Article

Full-text available

Jul 2016

Fatty acids were identified in monofloral beebread (BB) and bee pollen (BP) loads collected from Trifolium pratense L. A gas chromatography method was used to identify and quantify fatty acids: Thirty-five fatty acids were identified in BB and 42 in BP. A high amount of the healthy n-3 fatty acids was found. The ratio of polyunsaturated fatty acids n-3 to n-6 reached a value of 8.42 and 3.35 in the latter products. The proteomic analysis also was performed on the manually collected T. pratense pollen, and the most abundant protein groups were subjected to mass spectrometry analysis. Proteins identified in T. pratense pollen are involved in the main cellular functions (cell membrane formation, organelles traffic, and mainly metabolic processes). Because of the composition of fatty acids in BB and BP and a variety of proteins present in pollen, these products are considered to be favorable for human nutrition and health. Trifolium pratense pollen protein 2DE analysis.

GC-MS investigation of the chemical composition of honeybee drone and queen larva homogenate

Article

Full-text available

Jun 2016

Honeybee larva homogenate appears to be underrated and insufficiently explored but this homogenate is an exceptionally valuable honeybee product. Drone larva homogenate is very nutritional due to its high content of proteins, free amino acids, lipids, and carbohydrates. Moreover, the biological characteristics of honeybee larvae indicate the presence of chemical substances that may be pharmacologically active. In spite of the above, the chemical composition of honeybee larva has not gained as much attention as that of other bee products. In this study, the chemical composition of honeybee brood homogenate has been investigated using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. As a result, it was possible to isolate as many as 115 extractive organic compounds from 6 samples of crude queen and 9 samples of drone homogenate. The main groups of substances extracted from either type of homogenate were composed of free amino acids and carbohydrates. The relative content of amino acids in queen homogenate as well as the share of essential amino acids were found to be higher than in the drone homogenate. Disaccharide trehalose was the dominant sugar in the queen larvae, whilst glucose prevailed in the drone larvae. Comparative chemical analyses of honeybee queen and drone larva homogenates have allowed us to make a preliminary inference about a higher overall value of the former.

Evaluation of Antioxidant Activity and Flavonoid Composition in Differently Preserved Bee Products

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2016

Antioxidant potential and composition of phenolic compounds were studied in pure bee products (beebread - BB, bee pollen - BP) and in their mixtures with honey and vegetable oils [sea buckthorn (SBO), flax seed (FSO), royal jelly (RJ)], and the alga Spirulina (SA). The values of total phenolic content (TPC) found in the raw weight (RW) of material of BP, BB, SA, and RJ were 23.3, 21.2, 15.4, and 10.7 GAE mg/g, respectively. The methanolic extract of pure BP possessed higher ABTS(.+) scavenging capacity (5.37-6.47 TE mg/g RW) than BB (4.86-5.70 TE mg/g RW). The values of oxygen radical absorbance capacities (ORAC) of methanolic extracts of BB and BP were 626.30 and 894.04 TE mg/g RW, respectively. An analysis of flavonoids in the products by the ultra performance liquid chromatography showed that pure BP possesses a broader spectrum of compounds than pure BB. Three forms of glycosides were identified in BP: quercetin 3-O-sophoroside, quercetin dihexoside and isorhamnetin 3-glucoside. Rhamnetin and isorhamnetin as well as their glycosides and kaempferol 3-O-alpha-l-(2 ''-E-p-coumaroyl-3 ''-Z-p-coumaroyl)-rhamnoside were determined in the samples of pollen mixed with honey (BPH).

Chemical composition and antioxidant activity of beebread, and its influence on the glioblastoma cell line (U87MG)

Article

Full-text available

Dec 2013

Beebread is processed pollen stored in the cells of the honeycomb, with the addition of various enzymes and honey, which undergoes lactic acid fermentation. Ethanolic extracts (EBBs) were obtained from three different samples of beebread from Poland. Assays were carried out for the determination of chemical composition (GC/MS), for the total phenolic content, and for the antioxidant and cytotoxic activities. The effects of beebread extracts (10, 20, 30, 50, 100 μg/mL) on the viability of the glioblastoma cell line (U87MG) were studied after 24 h, 48 h, and 72 h. Our results indicated a time-dependent inhibitory effect on the viability of U87MG cells treated EBB. The main inhibitory effect of EBB was observed after 72 h; EBB treatment decreased cell viability to 49 - 66%.

The nutritional and bioactive aptitude of bee pollen for a solid-state fermentation process

Article

Sep 2016

Interest in bioprocess-based products has increased in recent years due to their applications and advantages. Solid-state fermentation, as a part of this technology, has been used in different industries, including food. Among the products produced with this type of process, bee bread is one of the most important. Bee pollen is a valuable raw material because of its nutritional characteristics, in particular its protein (10–52%), lipid (.15–20%), dietary fiber (.3–20%), and mineral contents, as well as its bioactive qualities related to the presence of vitamins and antioxidants, which ultimately should allow micro-organism development during fermentation processes. Pollen grains possess, however, a natural protection that greatly limits nutrient transportation to the exterior of the grain. In fact, bees naturally induce bioprocesses in the interior of their hive to make pollen nutrients more bioavailable. The objective of this work is therefore to review the characteristics of bee pollen, and its aptitude as a raw material for a solid-state fermentation process.

Amino acid composition of royal jelly harvested at different times after larval transfer

Article

Aug 2016
GENET MOL RES

The amino acids in royal jelly (RJ) have a wide range of pharmacological and health-promoting functions in humans. Multiple studies on the amino acid quality and composition in RJ have investigated RJ harvested at 72 h after larval transfer. In contrast, the concentration of amino acids in RJ harvested before 72 h remains unknown. In this study, the concentration of free amino acids (FAAs) and total amino acids (TAAs) in RJ harvested at 13 time points between 24 and 72 h after transfer of ten Apis mellifera colonies were measured. Our results indicated that the most abundant FAAs were Pro, Phe, Lys, Glu, and Tyr, whereas the most abundant TAAs were Asp, Glu, Leu, Lys, and Val. The total FAA concentration in RJ increased with increasing harvest time, from 4.30 mg/g at 24 h to 9.48 mg/g at 72 h. In contrast, the variation in concentration of TAAs observed was a decrease-increase-decrease trend with 40 h (149.53 mg/g) and 52 h (169.62 mg/g) as inflection points. The highest and lowest concentrations of TAA were 197.96 and 121.32 mg/g at 24 and 72 h, respectively. To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the concentration changes of FAAs and TAAs prior to 72 h after transfer. Our results will provide theoretical support to guide production practices of beekeeping, as well as elucidate the relationship between the harvest time point and RJ content.

Macro- and oligo-mineral elements from honeybee-collected pollen and beebread harvested from Transylvania (Romania)

Article

Jan 2009

Chemical Composition and Biological Activities of Beebread – Review

Abstract

Recommendations

Modeling a sustained cell allocation pattern in the comb of honey bees (Apis mellifera)

The effect on the foraging behaviour of honey bees of the relative location of the hive entrance and...

Absconding Behavior and Management of Apis cerana F. Honeybee in Chitwan, Nepal

Notas sobre a bionomia de "Melipona asilvai" (apidae: meliponini) como subsídio à sua criaçao racion...