Polyamine profiling in honey bee products: A contribution to functional nutrition

Abstract

Polyamines are small ubiquitous molecules that have various implications in health and disease. Since the diet is an important source of polyamines, the aim of this study was to determine the content of major natural polyamines (putrescine, spermidine, and spermine) in honey bee products used in human nutrition whose botanical origin was previously determined. The total content of polyamines was the highest in bee pollen (125–712 mg/kg), slightly lower in bee bread (288–602 mg/kg), much lower in royal jelly (68.9–121 mg/kg) and negligibly small in honey samples (2.80–10.8 mg/kg). Spermidine predominated in bee pollen, bee bread and honey, and putrescine in royal jelly. Botanical origin did not affect the total content or the proportion of individual polyamines, which were always representative of the bee product. This study shows that a significant content of polyamines in bee products could contribute to their high nutritional value.