Proximate, nutritional, phytochemical and stability analysis of stingless bee pollen from Sarawak, Malaysia

Abstract

Bee pollen, as one of the products of bees, is often claimed as nature’s most complete food. The present work aimed to evaluate and compare the physicochemical properties, proximate composition, and phytochemical content of stingless bee pollen Heterotrigona itama from eight different geographical origins in Sarawak, Malaysia. Storage studies of the stingless bee pollen samples at four different temperatures were also conducted. The pH and water activity of the pollen samples were in the range of 3.45 to 3.69 and 0.39 to 0.51, respectively. Pollen samples contained 51.96% carbohydrates, 16.31% protein, 4.85% lipid, and 2.24% minerals on average. In addition, the total phenolic content (TPC) and antioxidant activity of pollen extracts ranged from 27.99 to 63.17 mg GAE/g and 66.73 to 94.03% radical scavenging activity, respectively. The phytochemical screening test revealed that saponin, terpenoid, and flavonoids were present in all the pollen extracts under investigation. Processed bee pollen is relatively stable at a storage temperature of or below 40 °C. In addition, no obvious degradation in terms of protein content, TPC or antioxidant scavenging activity was observed, even at an incubation temperature of 50 °C. The results of the present study indicated that processed stingless bee pollen of Sarawak origin is a natural product that could last a long time at an ambient temperature of 25 °Cin addition to its good source of nutritional and bioactive compounds.