Wei Wu1,2, Jiangtao Qiao1,2, Xingying Xiao1,2, Lingjie Kong1,2, Jie Dong1,2, Hongcheng Zhang1,2. 1. Institute of Apicultural Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China. 2. National Research Center of Bee Product Processing, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing, China.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Bee pollen is considered as a treasure trove of human and animal nutrients as a result of its extensive nutritional and therapeutic properties. However, the sophisticated pollen wall can largely limit the digestibility and bioavailability of these nutrients. RESULTS: An ultrasonication and high shear technique was used to break the walls of five species of bee pollen, including rape bee pollen, lotus bee pollen, camellia bee pollen, wuweizi bee pollen and apricot bee pollen. We compared the digestibilities of bee pollen with or without wall-disruption. After in vitro and in vivo digestion, unbroken bee pollen grains were still intact and the fragments of wall-disrupted bee pollen still remained as fragments. Mouse in vivo digestion results suggested that the wall-disrupted bee pollen was more easily emptied from the gastrointestinal tract than unbroken bee pollen. After dynamic in vitro digestion, the digestibilities of protein and crude fat in wall-disrupted bee pollen significantly increased to more than 80%; similarly, the release rates of amino acids and reducing sugars in all wall-disrupted samples were almost 1.5 and 2 times as much as those of unbroken samples. CONCLUSION: Based on the results obtained in the present study, we strongly recommend that bee pollen should be wall-disrupted.
BACKGROUND: Bee pollen is considered as a treasure trove of human and animal nutrients as a result of its extensive nutritional and therapeutic properties. However, the sophisticated pollen wall can largely limit the digestibility and bioavailability of these nutrients. RESULTS: An ultrasonication and high shear technique was used to break the walls of five species of bee pollen, including rape bee pollen, lotus bee pollen, camellia bee pollen, wuweizi bee pollen and apricot bee pollen. We compared the digestibilities of bee pollen with or without wall-disruption. After in vitro and in vivo digestion, unbroken bee pollen grains were still intact and the fragments of wall-disrupted bee pollen still remained as fragments. Mouse in vivo digestion results suggested that the wall-disrupted bee pollen was more easily emptied from the gastrointestinal tract than unbroken bee pollen. After dynamic in vitro digestion, the digestibilities of protein and crude fat in wall-disrupted bee pollen significantly increased to more than 80%; similarly, the release rates of amino acids and reducing sugars in all wall-disrupted samples were almost 1.5 and 2 times as much as those of unbroken samples. CONCLUSION: Based on the results obtained in the present study, we strongly recommend that bee pollen should be wall-disrupted.
Authors: Shaden A M Khalifa; Mohamed H Elashal; Nermeen Yosri; Ming Du; Syed G Musharraf; Lutfun Nahar; Satyajit D Sarker; Zhiming Guo; Wei Cao; Xiaobo Zou; Aida A Abd El-Wahed; Jianbo Xiao; Hany A Omar; Mohamed-Elamir F Hegazy; Hesham R El-Seedi Journal: Nutrients Date: 2021-05-31 Impact factor: 5.717