Bee Products and Oxidative Stress: Bioavailability of Their Functional Constituents
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Review Article Mod Appl Bioequiv Availab Volume 1 Issue 3 - June 2017 DOI: 10.19080/MABB.2017.01.555565 Copyright © All rights are reserved by Otilia Bobiş Bee Products and Oxidative Stress: Bioavailability of Their Functional Constituents Bobis O1*, Bonta V1, Varadi A2, Strant M2 and Dezmirean D3 1University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Romania 2Health with CasaBIO Asssociation, Romania 3Department of Apiculture and Sericiculture, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Romania Submission: June 05, 2017; Published: June 26, 2017 *Corresponding author: Otilia Bobiş, Life Science Institute “King Michael I of Romania”, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, Email: Keywords: Bee products; Oxidative stress; Bioavailability; Chemical composition Bee Products Introduction geographic distribution. Honey also depend on these factors, Many times, what we live, what we eat is reflected in our as bees collect nectar as main source for honey producing. For health. Natural foods or natural nutritive supplements must a better knowledge of honey properties, one must know its have an important place in human diet. Talking about natural botanical origin. Depending on the raw material from which bees products, implicitly we think in bee products. Main hive products produce honey, we can distinguish: nectar honey and honeydew are honey, bee collected pollen, propolis, royal jelly, wax and bee honey. Floral honey comes from the nectar of several plants, and venom. These products have different roles in bee colony and in if one is predominant we have monofloral honey, and if a mixture human health. of pollen and nectar is present, without the net dominance of a For men, honey, royal jelly and bee pollen are foods that may particular plant, we have multifloral honey. Honeydew honey improve the health through their functional properties. Propolis is produced by the bees from the sweet secretions which they and bee venom are used for their therapeutic properties. All collect from other parts of plants, resulting from the digestions of bee products have a high bioavailability due to their chemical plant seva sucked by aphides. The chemical composition of these composition (simple sugars, minerals, vitamins, enzymes, amino types of honey is quite different, depending on their origin. As a acids etc.). Honey is the most important bee product, both rule, lighter honey has a “simpler” composition, with nutrients quantitatively and economically. Is also the first bee product and biologically active compounds being present in a lesser used by man since ancient times. History of using honey goes in amount, whereas darker honey has a more complex nutritional parallell with human history and it can be found in any culture and biological composition, being more valuable from this point of the world proofs of using honey as food or simbol in religious of view. and therapeutic ceremonias Alvarez-Suarez et al. [1]. Propolis came from the greek “pro” and “polis”, meaning Honey is exclusively produced by the bees and “honey before the citadel. The Greeks called it so, noticing how bees denomination can’t be given to any similar product, in the build their bee hives and concluding that this substance plays manufacture of which bees do not participate exclusively” [2]. the role of shield against external aggressors, propolis making Chemical composition of honey is mainly gucidic (approximately the hive a true fortress. 70%) and water (20%), the rest being a large variety of importnt Propolis has been used since antiquity in ancient Egypt, substances, such as: enzymes, minerals, organic acids, phenolic where medicine was practiced by priests, who also monopolized acids and flavonoids and different substances [3], Mărghitaş et the chemistry or practice of mummifying corpses. The fact that al.[4]. propolis was also known in ancient Greece is demonstrated by The bioactive compounds in nectar depend on numerous its name [5]. factors, such as botanical origin, climatic conditions and Mod Appl Bioequiv Availab 1(3): MABB.MS.ID.555565 (2017) 001 Modern Applications of Bioequivalence & Bioavailability Chemical composition of propolis consists of various concentrations of sucrose, maltose, trehalose, ribose and erlose vegetable resins and balms, essential oils, micro and Barnutiu et al. [11]. Vitamins present in royal jelly are niacin, macroelements, flavonoids, as well as secretions of bees and pantothenic acid, pyridoxine, thiamine, riboflavin, folic acid and wax. The chemical composition of propolis varies depending on biotin. Royal jelly contains significant amounts of potassium, the predominant plant species from which the bee has collected calcium and magnesium. the resins. Propolis in Romania has as predominant sources The only substance the bees possess to defend itself from poplar buds, beech, pine, fir, plum, willow, elm, oak, chestnut, anyone or anything trying to attack them, is the venom. The ash and alder, but probably the bees may visit other species to needle and the venom bag are the bees’ defense apparatus. harvest this precious material. Floral pollen is defined as the Research to date has shown that bee venom has a complex male sexual cell of the plant, being present on the stamens of the chemi cal composition, consisting of both organic and inorganic flower. The bees take this powder in the harvesting process, mix substances, which gave it specific properties. The bee venom it with nectar and its own secretions, forming the well-known contains proteins, peptides, enzymes, phospholipids, biogenic colored grains that we can see on their early spring feet until late amines, sugars, mineral salts, ethereal oils and other volatile autumnBee useswhen pollen they return to prepare to the bee hive. bread, the lipid and protein substances [12]. The most important protein fraction of the venom is melitin, being considered the most active component part of their food. Floral pollen, due to the chemical composition of venom. It can increase capillary permeability, increasing blood rich in proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, vitamins, mineral salts circulation and lowering blood pressure. and amino acids, to which bees add a mixture of nectar and Another well-represented fractions are phospholipase A and honey or enzymes, forms the pollen we know and consume hyaluronidase. These are allergenic components, the first being [6], Mărghitaş et al. [7]. Pollen sugars are glucose, fructose and the strongest allergen in the venom. The third protein fraction of sucrose, as well as starch and cellulose. Pollen is very rich in B crude venom is represented by aphamine and histamine. In the vitamins and vitamin C, mineral elements (Zn, Ca, Mg, K, Na), or venom composition, a number of free amino acids, nucleic acids, carotenoids, which give colors from yellow, orange and reddish lipids, volatile acids have also been identified. Bioavailability and or purple anthocyans to some types pollen deArruda et al. [8]. An Therapeutical properties of bee products– their relation with important part of pollen’s chemical composition are omega 3 and oxidative stress. omega 6 unsaturated fatty acids Yang et al. [9]. Oxidative stress is not a symptom, a condition, or a syndrome, Because the bee do not consume raw pollen, knowing that the as is sometimes said, but is a biochemical and physiological floral pollen exin is very resistant and the compounds within this process in which the response is often inadequate. Endogenous cell are harder to assimilate, the pollen is brought into the hive oxidative stress and free radicals produced by the human body and stored in the honeycomb cells for controlled fermentation, are compatible with life, but due to free radicals that enter the producing beebread. Beebread is a lactofermented pollen, which body with food, drugs, generally the conditions of modern life, is the main protein source for the bee family. The chemical antioxidant internal mechanisms are often overcome. This is composition of beebread does not differ greatly from the pollen why antioxidants are needed to fight against free radicals that from which it originates, buta all the chemical components of can cause various diseases, leading to the disruption of normal the pollen become easily assimilable, thus providing the protein metabolism. source for the bee family. What does antioxidant activity really mean? In the human The miracle that the bee secrets to feed the young larvae (until body, unstable oxygen molecules, or free radicals, can create the 3rd day of life) and the queen throughout her life is called a state of chaos in the living system. Free radicals, also called Royal Jelly. Indeed, it is a royal substance because it contains all Oxygen Reactive Species (ROS), are caused by some leaks of the components needed for queen survival more than 3 years of normal metabolism caused by toxins present in the environment, life. The water content in the royal jelly is very high (60-70%), tobacco, aging or other destructive mechanisms. The life span of and the dry substance consists of carbohydrates, proteins, amino a free radical in the body is very short (by order of the millionths acids and fats. Small amounts of minerals and vitamins are also of seconds). But they can use their biochemical force to stabilize present. Proteins and peptides are the main ingredients with themselves. This can be extremely destructive for molecules that free amino acids belonging to the L series (mainly proline and O become donors, turning themselves into free radicals2 2 by losing lysine). Fatty acids are the most significant fraction of the lipid these electrons. Examples of free radicals are H (hydrogen2 class, followed by neutral lipids, sterols or hydrocarbons. peroxide), CO (carbon monoxide), O (singlet oxygen), O - Organic acids generally have 8 or 10 carbon atoms, most (superoxide) and OH (hydroxyl). What can be seen above is that notably 10-hydroxy-2-decenoic acid, which is of particular all molecules contain oxygen. These molecules are chemically importance in determining the authenticity of royal jelly.