Brazilian Brown Propolis: an Overview About Its Chemical Composition, Botanical Sources, Quality Control, and Pharmacological Properties.

Brazil is one of the largest propolis producers in the world. Propolis is produced by bees from plant exudates and tissues, leading to many variations in the types of propolis. Generally, Brazilian propolis types are green, brown, and red. Despite not being the main research focus as the green and red propolis, brown propolis is the second most produced propolis type in Brazil and has tremendous economic and medicinal importance. Propolis has drawn attention with the rise in the search for healthier lifestyles, functional foods, biocosmetics, and natural products as therapeutic sources. This review covers the main chemical constituents identified in different types of Brazilian brown propolis, and their botanical sources, chemistry, and biological activities. The economic aspect of brown propolis is also presented. There are many gaps to be filled for brown propolis regarding the development of analytical methods, and quality control to allow its standardization, limiting its applicability in the food and pharmaceutical industries. Future perspectives regarding brown propolis research were discussed, especially biological activities, to support the medicinal uses of different types of brown propolis. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s43450-023-00374-x.

Botanical Origin of Galician Bee Pollen (Northwest Spain) for the Characterization of Phenolic Content and Antioxidant Activity.

Bee pollen is considered a natural product, relevant for its nutritional and antioxidant properties. Its composition varies widely depending on its botanical and geographical origins. In this study, the botanical characteristics of 31 bee pollen samples from Galicia (Northwest Spain) were analyzed; samples have not been studied until now from this geographical area. The study focused on the evaluation of the influence of plant origin on total phenol and flavonoid contents and antioxidant activity measured by radical scavenging methods. The multivariate statistical treatment showed the contribution of certain pollen types in the extract of bee pollen as to phenols, flavonoids and antioxidant capacity. Specifically, the bee pollen samples with higher presence of Castanea, Erica, Lythrum and Campanula type indicated higher total phenol and flavonoid contents and antioxidant activities according to the principal component analysis. On the contrary, Plantago and Taraxacum officinale type contributed a lower content of these compounds and radical scavenging activity. The cluster analysis classified the bee pollen samples into three groups with significant differences (p > 0.05) for the main pollen types, total phenol and flavonoid contents and antioxidant capacities. These results demonstrate the richness and botanical diversity in the pollen spectrum of bee pollen and enhance the possible beneficial nutraceutical properties of this beekeeping product.

Quality assessment of Portuguese monofloral honeys. Physicochemical parameters as tools in botanical source differentiation.

The quality evaluation and physicochemical parameters assessment of Portuguese monofloral honeys were performed. Fifty-one monofloral honeys were collected from several regions from mainland Portugal, and from the Azores islands, producer labelled as carob tree (n = 5), chestnut (n = 2), eucalyptus (n = 5), bell heather (n = 6), incense (n = 4), lavender (n = 8), orange (n = 9), rape (n = 2), raspberry (n = 2), rosemary (n = 1), sunflower (n = 3), and strawberry tree (n = 4). Pollen analysis and microbiological safety were evaluated, and the parameters such as colour index, moisture content, electrical conductivity, hydroxymethylfurfural, pH, free and total acidity, diastase activity, proline, and sugar profile were assessed for physicochemical characterization, in all 51 monofloral honeys. After melissopalynological examination, the honeys were either confirmed as monofloral, or classified as multifloral with predominance of a specific pollen type or multifloral. Microbiological analysis showed that honeys were safe for human consumption. Pairwise comparisons of physicochemical parameters, using only honey types with n ≥ 3, revealed significant differences between honey types. Despite some homogeneity in sugar profile among honeys, eucalyptus honey was significantly different in glucose, maltose and maltulose content compared to incense, orange and sunflower honeys, and also exhibited a higher isomaltose amount compared to all analyzed honeys. Electrical conductivity, colour index, free and total acidity, and diastase activity showed significant differences between the analyzed honeys, indicating that these parameters may provide an additional tool in monofloral honey identification.

Honey proteomic signatures for the identification of honey adulterated with syrup, producing country, and nectar source using SWATH-MS approach.

Honey is widely consumed by humans, due to its multiple applications as a food constituent and its therapeutic effects. This study reports on the discrimination of honey products from different geographical and botanical sources, as well as honey products containing distinct forms of syrup used in honey adulteration. Sequential window acquisition of all theoretical fragment ion spectra mass spectrometry (SWATH-MS)-based proteomic analysis combined with chemometrics was successfully applied in identifying characteristic proteins that can be used as biomarkers of the original source of honey. Honey samples from different producing regions (Tainan, Changhua, and Taichung), countries (Taiwan and Thailand), and distinct botanical sources (longan and litchi) were clearly distinguished by the developed orthogonal projections to latent structures discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) model with good fitness and prediction ability. Furthermore, we successfully discriminated the adulteration of honey with syrup in different proportions (even with honey content as low as 20%) with this proteomic SWATH-MS platform.

Honey Volatiles as a Fingerprint for Botanical Origin-A Review on their Occurrence on Monofloral Honeys.

Honeys have specific organoleptic characteristics, with nutritional and health benefits, being highly appreciated by consumers, not only in food but also in the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. Honey composition varies between regions according to the surrounding flora, enabling its characterization by source or type. Monofloral honeys may reach higher market values than multifloral ones. Honey's aroma is very specific, resulting from the combination of volatile compounds present in low concentrations. The authentication of honey's complex matrix, according to its botanical and/or geographical origin, represents a challenge nowadays, due to the different sorts of adulteration that may occur, leading to the search for reliable marker compounds for the different monofloral honeys. The existing information on the volatiles of monofloral honeys is scarce and disperse. In this review, twenty monofloral honeys and honeydews, from acacia, buckwheat, chestnut, clover, cotton, dandelion, eucalyptus, fir tree, heather, lavender, lime tree, orange, pine, rape, raspberry, rhododendron, rosemary, strawberry tree, sunflower and thyme, were selected for volatile comparison purposes. Taking into consideration the country of origin, the technique of isolation and analysis, the five main volatiles from each of the honeys are compared. Whereas some compounds were found in several types of monofloral honey, and thus not considered good volatile markers, some monofloral honeys revealed characteristic volatile compounds independently of their provenance.

Chemical characterization, antioxidant and anti-HIV activities of a Brazilian propolis from Ceará state

ABSTRACT Propolis (bee glue) a product of Apis mellifera L. is a resinous mixture containing chiefly beeswax and resin harvested by bees from plant leaves, buds and exudates. Extracts of a propolis sample from Salitre, a municipality of Ceará state (northeast Brazil) were obtained with solvents of increasing polarity (hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and methanol). A chemical profile was carried out by GC-EI-MS and HPLC-DAD-ESI-MS/MS. Lupenone, lupeol, octanoic acid tetracosyl ester and octanoic acid hexacosyl ester were identified by GC-EI-MS. Antioxidant activity was evaluated by the DPPH and β-carotene discoloring methods, and anti-HIV activity by the in vitro inhibition of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase. The ethyl acetate extract exhibited the highest antioxidant and anti-HIV activity and was fractioned by column chromatography using silica gel and seven different eluents. The active fractions were submitted to semi preparative HPLC and the following compounds were isolated: caffeic acid, p-coumaric acid, diprenylcinnamic acid, quercetin, naringenin, isorhamnetin, quercetin-3-O-diglucoside,4,2′,4′-trihydroxy-2-methoxychalcone, gossypetin-3,3′,4′,7-tetramethyl ether, myricetin-3,7,3′-trimethyl ether and 5-hydroxy-3,6,7,8,4′-pentamethoxyflavone. The ethyl acetate extract and its fractions F5-F7, as well as quercetin, isorhamnetin, myricetin-3,7,3′-trimethyl ether and p-coumaric acid exhibited high antioxidant activity on both DPPH and β-carotene antioxidant methods. Isorhamnetin exhibited moderate inhibitory effect against HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (56.99 ± 3.91%), followed by naringenin (44.22 ± 1.71%), quercetin (43.41 ± 4.56%) and diprenylcinnamic acid (41.59 ± 2.59%). These results agree with previous authors who reported anti-HIV activity of flavonoids.

Effects of starches from different botanical sources and modification methods on physicochemical properties of starch-based edible films.

The effects of starches from different botanical sources (waxy corn, cassava, sweet potato, potato, wheat, and corn) and different commercial modified cassava starches (esterified cassava starch, cross-linked cassava starch, and oxidized cassava starch) on the physicochemical properties of starch-based films prepared by solution casting method were investigated. The mildew resistance test showed that the cassava starch (CAS) film-forming dispersion had the best mildew resistance and all the modified starch film-forming dispersions had less mildew resistance than that of the native starch film-forming dispersion. The color and transparency of the films depended on the plant sources and modification methods of the starch. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis verified the formation of hydrogen bonds between the starch and plasticizer (glycerol) and possible sites for hydrogen bonds on the starch. The atomic force microscope (AFM) results showed that the surface of all starch films was homogeneous except waxy corn starch (WCS) film, wheat starch (WS) film, and corn starch (CS) film. Mechanical properties and water vapor permeability (WVP) tests suggested that CAS film had the best comprehensive properties in native starches. For modified cassava starches, the comprehensive properties of the cross-linked CAS film were better than those of other modified CAS films.