Bee Pollen: Clinical Trials and Patent Applications

Jari S Algethami; Aida A Abd El-Wahed; Mohamed H Elashal; Hanan R Ahmed; Esraa H Elshafiey; Eslam M Omar; Yahya Al Naggar; Ahmed F Algethami; Qiyang Shou; Sultan M Alsharif; Baojun Xu; Awad A Shehata; Zhiming Guo; Shaden A M Khalifa; Kai Wang; Hesham R El-Seedi

doi:10.3390/nu14142858

Bee Pollen: Clinical Trials and Patent Applications

Nutrients. 2022 Jul 12;14(14):2858. doi: 10.3390/nu14142858.

Authors

Jari S Algethami¹, Aida A Abd El-Wahed², Mohamed H Elashal³, Hanan R Ahmed³, Esraa H Elshafiey³, Eslam M Omar⁴, Yahya Al Naggar^{5

6}, Ahmed F Algethami⁷, Qiyang Shou⁸, Sultan M Alsharif⁹, Baojun Xu¹⁰, Awad A Shehata^{11

12

13}, Zhiming Guo¹⁴, Shaden A M Khalifa¹⁵, Kai Wang¹⁶, Hesham R El-Seedi^{3

17

18

19}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, College of Science and Arts, Najran University, P.O. Box 1988, Najran 11001, Saudi Arabia.
² Department of Bee Research, Plant Protection Research Institute, Agricultural Research Centre, Giza 12627, Egypt.
³ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Menoufia University, Shebin El-Kom 32512, Egypt.
⁴ Plant Protection Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Assiut University, Assiut 71526, Egypt.
⁵ Zoology Department, Faculty of Science, Tanta University, Tanta 31527, Egypt.
⁶ General Zoology, Institute for Biology, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Hoher Weg 8, 06120 Halle, Germany.
⁷ Alnahalaljwal Foundation Saudi Arabia, P.O. Box 617, Al Jumum, Makkah 21926, Saudi Arabia.
⁸ Second Clinical Medical College, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou 310053, China.
⁹ Biology Department, Faculty of Science, Taibah University, Al Madinah P.O. Box 887, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁰ Food Science and Technology Program, BNU-HKBU United International College, Zhuhai 519087, China.
¹¹ Avian and Rabbit Diseases Department, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Sadat City, Menoufia 22857, Egypt.
¹² PerNaturam GmbH, An der Trift 8, 56290 Gödenroth, Germany.
¹³ Prophy-Institute for Applied Prophylaxis, 59159 Bönen, Germany.
¹⁴ School of Food and Biological Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China.
¹⁵ Department of Molecular Biosciences, The Wenner-Gren Institute, Stockholm University, S-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden.
¹⁶ Institute of Apicultural Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100093, China.
¹⁷ Pharmacognosy Group, Department of Pharmaceutical Biosciences, Uppsala University, Biomedical Centre, P.O. Box 591, SE 751 24 Uppsala, Sweden.
¹⁸ International Joint Research Laboratory of Intelligent Agriculture and Agri-Products Processing, Jiangsu Education Department, Jiangsu University, Nanjing 210024, China.
¹⁹ International Research Center for Food Nutrition and Safety, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China.

Abstract

Bee pollen is a natural cocktail of floral nectar, flower pollen, enzymes, and salivary secretions produced by honeybees. Bee pollen is one of the bee products most enriched in proteins, polysaccharides, polyphenols, lipids, minerals, and vitamins. It has a significant health and medicinal impact and provides protection against many diseases, including diabetes, cancer, infectious, and cardiovascular. Bee pollen is commonly promoted as a cost-effective functional food. In particular, bee pollen has been applied in clinical trials for allergies and prostate illnesses, with a few investigations on cancer and skin problems. However, it is involved in several patents and health recipes to combat chronic health problems. This review aimed to highlight the clinical trials and patents involving bee pollen for different cases and to present the role of bee pollen as a supplementary food and a potential product in cosmetic applications.

Keywords: bee pollen; cosmetics; diseases; functional foods.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Animals
Bees
Male
Minerals / metabolism
Plant Nectar* / metabolism
Pollen* / chemistry
Polyphenols / metabolism
Vitamins / analysis

Substances

Minerals
Plant Nectar
Polyphenols
Vitamins

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32172791).