Quality Assessment of Bee Pollen‐Honey Mixtures Using Thin‐Layer Chromatography in Combination with Chemometrics

The aim of this study is to develop a rapid, effect‐directed screening method for quality assessment of bee pollen‐honey mixtures. The comparative antioxidant potential and phenolic content of honey, bee pollen, and the bee pollen‐honey mixtures, was performed using spectrophotometry. The total phenolic content and antioxidative activity of bee pollen‐honey mixtures with 20 % bee pollen share were in the range 3.03–3.11 mg GAE/g, and 6.02–6.96 mmol TE/kg, respectively, while mixtures with 30 % bee pollen share contained 3.92–4.18 mg GAE/g, and 9.69–10.11 mmol TE/kg. Chromatographic fingerprint of bee pollen‐honey mixtures was performed by high‐performance thin‐layer chromatography with conditions developed by authors and reported for the first time. Fingerprint analysis hyphenated with chemometrics enabled authenticity assessments of honey in mixtures. Results indicate that bee pollen‐honey mixtures represent a food with highly, both, nutritious characteristics and health‐promoting effect.

[1]  Tomislav Tosti,et al.  Primary Metabolite Chromatographic Profiling as a Tool for Chemotaxonomic Classification of Seeds from Berry Fruits , 2022, Food technology and biotechnology.

[2]  S. Khalifa,et al.  Bee Pollen: Clinical Trials and Patent Applications , 2022, Nutrients.

[3]  Khaled S. Allemailem,et al.  Potential Therapeutic Benefits of Honey in Neurological Disorders: The Role of Polyphenols , 2022, Molecules.

[4]  L. Juszczak,et al.  Effect of Bee Pollen Addition on the Polyphenol Content, Antioxidant Activity, and Quality Parameters of Honey , 2021, Antioxidants.

[5]  E. Yeşilada,et al.  Monofloral and polyfloral bee pollens: Comparative evaluation of their phenolics and bioactivity profiles , 2021 .

[6]  E. Yeşilada,et al.  Importance of chromatographic and spectrophotometric methods in determining authenticity, classification and bioactivity of honey , 2020 .

[7]  Hua Wang,et al.  Comparative study of antioxidant activity of grape (Vitis vinifera) seed powder assessed by different methods , 2020, Journal of Food and Drug Analysis.

[8]  M. Farag,et al.  Honeybee products: An updated review of neurological actions , 2020 .

[9]  Vikas Nanda,et al.  Composition and functionality of bee pollen: A review , 2020 .

[10]  K. Sorkun,et al.  Bee bread and bee pollen of different plant sources: determination of phenolic content, antioxidant activity, fatty acid and element profiles , 2020, Journal of Food Measurement and Characterization.

[11]  Mohammad Ali Shariati,et al.  The Application of Pollen as a Functional Food and Feed Ingredient—The Present and Perspectives , 2020, Biomolecules.

[12]  U. Gašić,et al.  Phenolic Composition Influences the Health-Promoting Potential of Bee-Pollen , 2019, Biomolecules.

[13]  A. Kostić,et al.  Polyphenolic profile and antioxidant properties of bee-collected pollen from sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) plant , 2019, LWT.

[14]  I. Jasicka-Misiak,et al.  HPTLC Phenolic Profiles as Useful Tools for the Authentication of Honey , 2018, Food Analytical Methods.

[15]  S. Silici,et al.  Antioxidant activities of honeybee products and their mixtures , 2017, Food Science and Biotechnology.

[16]  L. Juszczak,et al.  Antioxidant activity of honey supplemented with bee products , 2016, Natural product research.

[17]  A. Kostić,et al.  Mineral content of bee pollen from Serbia / Sadržaj minerala u uzorcima pčelinjega peluda iz Srbije , 2015, Arhiv za higijenu rada i toksikologiju.

[18]  M. Cossu,et al.  Phenolic content, antioxidant and physico‐chemical properties of Sardinian monofloral honeys , 2015 .

[19]  S. Socaci,et al.  Predominant and secondary pollen botanical origins influence the carotenoid and fatty acid profile in fresh honeybee-collected pollen. , 2014, Journal of agricultural and food chemistry.

[20]  U. Gašić,et al.  Phenolic profile and antioxidant activity of Serbian polyfloral honeys. , 2014, Food chemistry.

[21]  M. Novaković,et al.  Comparative analysis of antioxidant activity of honey of different floral sources using recently developed polarographic and various spectrophotometric assays , 2013 .

[22]  O. Barth,et al.  Dried bee pollen: B complex vitamins, physicochemical and botanical composition , 2013 .

[23]  L. Estevinho,et al.  Commercial Bee Pollen with Different Geographical Origins: A Comprehensive Approach , 2012, International journal of molecular sciences.

[24]  L. Estevinho,et al.  Organic Bee Pollen: Botanical Origin, Nutritional Value, Bioactive Compounds, Antioxidant Activity and Microbiological Quality , 2012, Molecules.

[25]  L. Estevinho,et al.  Honeybee-collected pollen from five Portuguese Natural Parks: palynological origin, phenolic content, antioxidant properties and antimicrobial activity. , 2011, Food and Chemical Toxicology.

[26]  E. Yeşilada,et al.  In vivo activity assessment of a “honey-bee pollen mix” formulation , 2010, Pharmaceutical biology.

[27]  G. B. Mourão,et al.  Chemical composition and free radical scavenging activity of Apis mellifera bee pollen from Southern Brazil. , 2009 .

[28]  Stefan Bogdanov,et al.  Physico-chemical and bioactive properties of different floral origin honeys from Romania , 2009 .

[29]  G. Benelli,et al.  Lipid characterization of chestnut and willow honeybee-collected pollen: Impact of freeze-drying and microwave-assisted drying , 2017 .

[30]  Mojca Jamnik,et al.  Analytical, Nutritional and Clinical Methods Evaluation of the phenolic content, antioxidant activity and colour of Slovenian honey , 2007 .

[31]  S. Bogdanov,et al.  Harmonised methods of the European Honey Commission , 1997 .