Abstract
Bee bread is a natural product obtained from the fermentation of bee pollen mixed with bee saliva and flower nectar inside the honeycomb cells of a hive. Bee bread is considered a functional product, having several nutritional virtues and various bioactive molecules with curative or preventive effects. This paper aims to review current knowledge regarding the chemical composition and medicinal properties of bee bread, evaluated in vitro and in vivo, and to highlight the benefits of the diet supplementation of bee bread for human health. Bee bread extracts (distilled water, ethanol, methanol, diethyl ether, and ethyl acetate) have been proven to have antioxidant, antifungal, antibacterial, and antitumoral activities, and they can also inhibit α-amylase and angiotensin I-converting enzyme in vitro. More than 300 compounds have been identified in bee bread from different countries around the world, such as free amino acids, sugars, fatty acids, minerals, organic acids, polyphenols, and vitamins. In vivo studies have revealed the efficiency of bee bread in relieving several pathological cases, such as hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, inflammation, and oxidative stress.
Highlights
Academic Editor: Piotr SzwedaBee products are natural products that are either secreted by the body of bees through glands, i.e., venom, wax, and royal jelly, or collected and processed by the bees, i.e., nectar, pollen from flowers, and resin [1]
Turkish bee bread was analyzed by Kaplan et al [24,25] in two studies using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-mass spectroscopy (MS)) analysis and gas chromatography coupled with flame ionization detection (GC-FID) analysis, and the results indicated that seventeen saturated fatty acids and twenty unsaturated fatty acids were detected in eight monofloral samples in the first study, and five monofloral samples in the second study
The results showed that the bee bread was effective at decreasing blood glucose levels, it protected against loss weight induced by diabetes, it possessed a hypolipidemic effect, and it protected diabetic rats against the increase in the coronary risk index, atherogenic index, and cardiovascular index [64]
Summary
Bee products are natural products that are either secreted by the body of bees through glands, i.e., venom, wax, and royal jelly, or collected and processed by the bees, i.e., nectar, pollen from flowers, and resin [1]. The process of making bee bread begins with the collection of pollen from flowers, which is mixed by bees with the nectar or honey and saliva containing digestive enzymes [6]. At this stage, the pollen from flowers is transformed into bee pollen, stored in the pollen basket in the bee’s hind legs, and carried to the hive, where the non-flying bees fill the cells of the hive with a mixture of bee pollen and honey.
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