Abstract
Bee products were historically used as a therapheutic approach and in food consumption, while more recent data include important details that could validate them as food supplements due to their bioproperties, which support their future use as medicines. In this review data, data collected from bee pollen (BP) and bee bread (BB) essays will be discussed and detailed for their nutritional and health protective properties as functional foods. Dietary antioxidants intake derived from BP and BB have been associated with the prevention and clinical treatment of multiple diseases. The beneficial effects of BP and BB on health result from the presence of multiple polyphenols which possess anti-inflammatory properties, phytosterols and fatty acids, which play anticancerogenic roles, as well as polysaccharides, which stimulate immunological activity. From the main bioactivity studies with BP and BB, in vitro studies and animal experiments, the stimulation of apoptosis and the inhibition of cell proliferation in multiple cell lines could be one of the major therapeutic adjuvant effects to be explored in reducing tumor growth. Tables summarizing the main data available in this field and information about other bio-effects of BP and BB, which support the conclusions, are provided. Additionally, a discussion about the research gaps will be presented to help further experiments that complete the tree main World Health Organization (WHO) Directives of Efficiency, Safety and Quality Control for these products.
Highlights
There is a change in the understanding of food production and consumption and the development of functional foods is an important sector in the food market
Countless reports demonstrated that bee pollen (BP) and bee bread (BB) could be explored to protect against anti-cancer agent-induced toxicities, in liver and kidney fibrosis
Specific extracts can do modulation of various biological activities involving protection via the anti-oxidative activity and inflammation, which is closely associated to some constituents, for example, phenolic and polyphenolic compounds found in BP and BB
Summary
There is a change in the understanding of food production and consumption and the development of functional foods is an important sector in the food market. Antioxidants 2019, 8, 568 basic nutritional features, such as value-added or health-oriented products that positively influence our well being and quality of life are known as “functional foods”. This term underlines the positive correlation of the bioactive compounds present in these products along with health [1,2,3]. This new concept is assimilated to Hippocrates, the founder of medicine, with the nearly 2500 year old philosophy: “Let food be the medicine and medicine be the food”: paying more attention to a healthy nutrition. The research with bee products has come to a point that where a possible role in those protocols, namely efficacy, safety and quality control, will be assured
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