Phenolic compound, nutritional and antioxidant profile of pollen collected by the genus melipona in North Eastern Brazil

Rosane Gomes De Oliveira,Edilson Divino De Araújo,Lisiane Dos Santos Freitas,Sona Jain

doi:10.1590/1981-6723.07918

Rosane Gomes De Oliveira, Edilson Divino De Araújo + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/1981-6723.07918

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Abstract

Abstract The pollen collected by eusocial bees is often reported as being healthy food due to its important nutritional and therapeutic properties. However, studies reporting such properties are rare, especially for pollen collected by the genus Melipona in northeastern Brazil, which is the focus of this research. Pollen from seven species of stingless bees was analysed for its nutritional composition (sugar, lipid, protein and amino acids). The phenolic compound profile was described based on fourteen phenolic compounds (apigenin, kaempferol, luteolin, naringin, rutin, gallic acid, ferulic acid, caffeic acid, p-coumaric acid, chlorogenic acid, abscisic acid, protocatechuic acid, vanillic acid and trans-cinnamic acid). The antioxidant property was analysed by quantifying of total phenolic compounds, total flavonoids and DPPH. Chromatographic methods were used to identify and quantify the phenolic compounds and amino acids. The pollen samples from the bees under study showed good concentrations of proteins and amino acids and good antioxidant potential. The phenolic compounds luteolin, trans-cinnamic acid and apigenin were identified and described in pollen for the first time. Of the amino acids analysed, asparigine, glutamic acid, leucine and proline showed the highest concentrations. The research related to the theme showed that this is one of the first studies to identify and quantify the phenolic compounds and amino acids in stingless bee pollen, reflecting its importance in therapeutic use and as a food supplement.

Highlights

Pollen is collected by worker bees during foraging, and later mixed with nectar and substances released from their hypo-pharyngeal glands
This study presents the phenolic compound profile, nutritional values and the antioxidant potential of twenty one pollen samples from seven different stingless bee species from north eastern Brazil, which can contribute to several subsequent studies searching for new functional and therapeutic food products
The lipid content varied between 18.8 ± 0.8 and 47.9 ± 1.0 g kg-1, values higher than those established by Normative Instruction 3, of January 19th, 2001 of ANVISA (Brasil, 2001), which determined a maximum of 18 g kg-1 of lipids on a dry weight basis for bee pollen

Summary

Introduction

Pollen is collected by worker bees during foraging, and later mixed with nectar and substances released from their hypo-pharyngeal glands. Pollen collected by species of the genus Melipona is deposited and stored in beehive pots where it undergoes fermentation, resulting in decreases in the pH and oxygen tension, after which it becomes known as Samburá or Sabura in Brazil (Freitas, 2003). The characterization of this type of pollen is difficult, since there are large numbers of native stingless bee species and huge variations in the pollen types (Silva et al, 2006; Bogdanov, 2014). Studies that deal with the identification of the phenolic compounds and amino acid are rare (Silva et al, 2006; Silva et al, 2013)

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